2ndThoughts

Treasuring

2011-06-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Have you thought about what you treasure lately? I have been presented with that question several times in the past month or so. What do I treasure. Right now I'm trying to remember what I treasured as a kid. What were those special items I stored away in the top drawer of my dresser or in that little box I kept hidden under my t-shirts and socks? What have I treasured through the years? What do I treasure today? I will be living with this question for awhile.

On burning books and taking revenge...

2010-09-09T05:34:00.000-07:00

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Jesus (Luke 6:27-36)

The End of History

2010-08-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

When did history end for you? Is there a "moment" that you remember and wish it could be that way forever? Or are you perhaps living that "moment" now either consciously or unconsciously? Or are you one of those restless ones who keep looking for a better tomorrow or are discontent with the way things are?

Over the years I've participated in conversations/discussions/arguments or witnessed the same about how things ought to be. After one recent such conversation, I was reflecting on the various comments and arguments presented in the discussion, a discussion by-the-way that didn't come to a resolution of the topic being discussed and it occurred to me that what might be keeping the participants in this conversation from reaching such resolution was a sort of "the end of history" mentality on the part of some of the participants.

The phrase or idea of "the end of history" comes form the German philosopher,Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and has to do with the culmination of human society arriving at maturity in the form of liberal democracy. Francis Fukuyama seeks to make case for this in his "The End of History and the Last Man" (Free Press, 1992 and 2006.) though I personally don't buy into liberal democracy or capitalism as the end of history.

I'm not pretending to make a direct transfer of Hegel's meaning or use of the phrase into my observation about this recent conversation. But the idea is fitting in that for some of the participants history ended at some point in their personal experience and understanding of the topic at hand. This sense of the end of history means that there is no further conversation possible with regards to the particular topic because all that can be said has been said and there is no more development or progress or change possible. What remains is implementation and maintenance of the "fullness of time" so to speak. In fact to suggest that there is more to be said, and to think that things could be otherwise, is for all intents and purposes at best a matter of naiveté and at worst a betrayal of the truth represented in the final form of things.

But have we reached the end of history? In every way that counts, Yes - in his resurrection, Jesus is the end of history since in his resurrected being he is all that creation can and will become. No - in that the creation still awaits the final transformation that will come at the second advent of Jesus and thus we are exhorted "to grow up in all aspects into... Christ." Scripture uses what we call apocalyptic language to describe this indescribable event.

So, beware "end of history" thinking as you decide what you are defending against change. Until the prayer, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." is fully answered, we live in a world in which God is at work in all things to bring about his creations fulfillment.

Sometimes I Weep

2010-05-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

Pablo Picasso's Weeping Woman

Sometimes I weep. I know that there is so much wonder and energy, so much grandeur and nobility, so much that is amazing and awesome and inspiring... and yet so much of all that is lost to me... to us! Sometimes I weep. I live in the foothills of the majestic Sierra Mountains. We just had one of the wettest winters and springs in several years which has brought about some rather vigorous spring growth. As I drive along the two lane roads of our rural setting I take in vistas of oak and grass covered hills, colored by the spring spray of wild flowers with the distant snow covered peaks of the soaring Sierra Mountains as a backdrop... or on the day following a spring rain, I come around from behind a hill and am presented with a panoramic vista of the great Central Valley stretching to the coastal range... Sometimes I weep. In that valley and scattered throughout those foothills and mountain ranges there are children suffering violence, families being decimated by the excesses, abuses and misuses of life, nature, community, family. I weep because of the prejudices, hatreds, ignorance that plagues the human experience perpetrating the anger, injustice, poverty, intolerance that fuels war and strife and the decimation of the environment that we depend on to sustain our lives. I weep because of the darkness, evil and suffering that permeates and toxic-ally pollutes our environment, our communities, our homes, our very souls. Sometimes I weep... the beauty of the world seems a lie in the face of the evil lived out every moment of every day in a world that seems to promise life but delivers... death. Sometimes I weep.

Tongue-in-cheek... but...

2010-05-09T22:01:00.001-07:00

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

One of those statments...

2010-04-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard anyone say something like, "He (or she) really knows the Bible!" usually uttered in tones of respect and almost awe? It's amazing to me how many folks I've known through the years that will listen to someone "teach" about religious things and no matter how far fetched that person's ideas are because they can quote verses form one end of the Bible to the other it will be said of them in respectful tones that they really know the Bible.

Come on people! Knowing the Bible doesn't mean you know the Bible... that's why Jesus could say to those who "knew" the Bible, "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'"

Thouhgts on 2nd Thoughts

2010-04-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

I had a brief conversation with a young man today. We've had conversations several times over the past few years. He says he is "searching" but I get the distinct feeling that he pretty much has his mind made up about things... like he knows it all. He reminds me of myself when I was his age.

Paul writes to the Corinthian sisters and brothers, “You think that everyone should agree with your perfect knowledge. While knowledge may make us feel important, it is love that really builds up the church. Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one God knows and cares about.”

I call this blog 2nd Thoughts. Here is some history about that. Many years ago I came to the conclusion that I knew it all. Of course at the time if you asked me if I thought I knew it all I would have certainly responded, “Of course not!” But, in reality I was living as if I did know it all which made it IMPOSSIBLE for me to hear anyone who questioned what it was I knew I knew… NOT EVEN GOD! So, the Lord waited and in time my arrogance became known to me (there is a bit of irony for you), and suddenly I knew how little I knew and I began to have 2nd thoughts about a lot of things.

We have a proverb, “Knowledge is power.” We are Oh so susceptible to the trap of thinking we know what we need to know and that we know it fully. This is true in so many areas of our lives. However, we also say something like, “The more you know, the more you know how little you know.” This second bit of wisdom is the better path.

But, Paul takes this whole discussion in a surprisingly different direction. In his words to the good folks of Corinth, I discover that it’s not so much about “knowledge” at all as it is about love. Paul plays a little game here in his concluding comment- “…the one who loves God is KNOWN by God!”

If we can take to heart these wise words tucked away in this letter written so long ago it will revolutionize our lives, our church, our world! BUT! loving is such a threatening thing. Come on now, we can’t just LOVE people! We have to make sure they KNOW the truth! But, it is those who love who truly know and are in turn known.

Lord of all knowledge and wisdom, teach me to be a lover! And give me the grace to be a learner and to forsake the false security of ‘knowing it all.’

You Become Like the People You Hang Around... Donald Miller

2010-04-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

Donald Miller is.... Donald Miller, an author and communicator of some repute. I haven't read any of Donald Miller's stuff except a few of his blog posts and just to be part of the crowd and to get some tweets, I follow him on Twitter. I know of him because some friends of mine who have read his stuff respect him (One of my friends even knows him! Now I can say, "Donald Miller? Oh, yeah, my friend, Jim Chaffee, knows him." (of course I won't mention that I haven't seen Jim since soon after high school from which we graduated in 1970! and I'll say it is such a way that you should obviously know who Jim Chaffee is.)

It appears he has a new book out, "Father Fiction: Chapters for a Fatherless Generation" and on his blog he has posted some excerpts. Today's excerpt had to do with choosing friends and how our friends influence us. His advice is good sense and reminds me of the kind of things you would find in a book like Proverbs or even from Paul ("Do not be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character.'" 1 Cor 15:33).

So, I was reading Donald Millers' thoughts on how we are influenced by those we hang around and I got to wondering... what kind of influence do I have on those who hang around with me? Once that thought started percolating in my head I soon got to thinking about how many times has someone, anyone, sought me out to be a friend.... because they hoped I would be a positive influence on them... Now that is something to think about.

Have I chosen to shape myself in such a way that someone else would look at me and see something that would cause them to seek out my friendship?

My battery is getting close to empty so I'll go for now... but this is certainly something to think about.

"Behold the Man"... Behold the Lamb

2010-04-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

My reading this morning took me form Leviticus 3 & 4, where Moses is given the procedures for the peace and sin offerings, to Psalm 2, where David describes a vision of God and his Son whom he has chosen as his Messiah and with whom we should come to terms with all due diligence, to Colossians 1, where Paul, whether consciously or unconsciously, brings these images together -

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Leviticus 4, our sin offering).

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy (Psalm 2 God's chosen Messiah). For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Leviticus 3, our peace offering).

And in all of this was LIVED OUT in our world, in our history in the events of what we now call Holy Week. May the passion of our Lord, and his resurrection be fully revealed and realized in your life!

To Blog or Not to Blog

2010-03-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

I have not given any time to blogging for a long while now. My past few "posts" have simply been inserting stuff from elsewhere. For a while I was playing around with Facebook but since the first of the year I haven't even put much on my wall there. Of course, I never have put much on this blog even when I was more "active." On top of all that, I've cut way back on even visiting any other blogs... just not enough time to stay up with the "conversations."

Be that as it may, I have navigated to my personal Blogger space at least once a week and have opened up the "New Post" tab and then stared at the empty box for a few minutes, did a mental shrug, closed the page and went on to other things. It seems I don't have much to say though I certainly have plenty of thoughts.

What would be worth taking time each day to set down at my laptop and create a daily post? Perhaps create a more personal journal type blog where I chronicle the events of the days as I experience each one, sharing bits and pieces of Teresa's and my journeys? I've thought about using this to do running reflections on books I'm reading. Not so much critics or reviews, as much as reflections on what I'm reading and how the author's thoughts are impacting my thinking and doing. Another idea I've had is to use this as a place to do some on-going thinking about the texts I use for Sundays. Then again, I've thought about using this forum to share thoughts and reflections flowing from devotional reading of Scripture.

Awhile back I came across a book by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett entitled "PROBLOGGER: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income." Now that sounds enticing! Since it was on the "these books have got to go" table at a major bookseller I went ahead an bought it (thus adding to the perhaps six-figure income of the authors?) and I'll give it a read. If nothing else, it may give me some ideas about the world of blogging from the commercial point of view.

Well, how about that! I just created a new post that came fully from my own mind! Maybe I'll get back at this and work on it... it could be fun.

On The Way to The Cross « Videos « The Skit Guys

2010-03-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

On The Way to The Cross « Videos « The Skit Guys

An old Larry King interview

2010-03-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

I would be intereseted in your responses to this excerpt form a Larry King show some time ago. I'm stunned by MacArthur's use of Jesus' words here... I can't believe he used what he did to defend his personal point of view.

And we wonder...

2010-01-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

And we wonder why we USAmericans are staying away form the church...
Haiti Earthquake Reactions

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

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Health Care Crisis

Charity: who cares?

2010-01-09T14:28:00.000-08:00

Charity Stats researched by Mint.com

PreOccupied

2010-01-08T17:44:00.000-08:00

So... I was taking some time each of the 12 days of Christmas to contemplate... Christmas! and the gift of grace that comes to me in Jesus. As part of doing so I was putting updates on FaceBook about each of the "gifts" given in the 12 Days of Christmas song. Then I got back home and back to work and didn't take time to comment on the tenth, eleventh and twelfth days of Christmas, the twelfth day being Epiphany... a day that came and went with nary a mention here abouts... and now we are in the Ordinary Time leading up to the next season of the Christian Calendar - Lent - which begins with Ash Wednesday (this year, Feb. 17).

Sometimes it may seem as though such things as these days and seasons preoccupy me... maybe they do. But then again, it's not really these days and seasons in particular that preoccupy me but the vast and glorious history - past, present, and future - to which they point. Actually, where the "preoccupation" really lies is with the One in, through and to whom all this glorious experience we call life, the world, the universe, to which these days and seasons try to point, that is the preoccupation! Yes, I do tend to get preoccupied with the God stuff.

So let me ask: What preoccupies you? Don't kid yourself; something preoccupies you. The question is, is what preoccupies you worthy of such preoccupation?

Powerful Art

2010-01-08T11:44:00.001-08:00

Something Jesus said...

2009-12-30T00:31:00.000-08:00

It was the night that Jesus was arrested. He and 11 of his disciples had made their way to an olive grove across the Kidron Valley form Jerusalem. During the night a posse deputized by the Temple leadership came looking for Jesus to arrest him. At one point in the confrontation, Peter pulls out a sword and took a swing at Malchus (a servant of the high priest). Jesus immediately intervened to stop the escalation of violence commanding Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"

Over the years, I've often wondered at what great lengths I'm willing to go to keep form "drinking the cup given to me." My default attitude is to escape, avoid, medicate, complain, rebel, hide, run, deny, anything that smacks of pain, threat, heartache, suffering, weakness, etc. I want to live a carefree life that requires nothing extraordinary of me or mine yet gives me everything I could desire in a risk free environment - and woe be to the government, institution, person, people, circumstance, happenstance that threatens that pain free risk free life.

No wonder the words of Deuteronomy sound so strange to my ears:

"Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted..." (8:2-3)

Walter Brueggemann makes this observation, "Israel's testimony concerning Yahweh who leads concerns Yahweh's availability to Israel in every circumstance, Yahweh's readiness to enter into situations of risk, vulnerability, and exile, in order to be in dangerous and transformative sloidarity with Yahweh's at-risk people." (Theology of the Old Testament, p201).

Jesus in that olive grove at the moment described above is indeed living out this insight into just who this God is with whom we have to do. My problem is that I don't want to be an at-risk person! We have all kinds of ways of seeking to REDUCE or ELIMINATE as much of if not all risk.

As I continue to follow Jesus, I continue to grapple with my own faithlessness as I am called, LEAD by this God to "take up my cross" - enter into the life of risk, trusting only in God and in God only to see me thorough. What is the cup that has been given to me? Will I continue to avoid it? Or will I in faith, drink that cup?

Moltmann - Science & Wisdom

2009-11-20T17:48:00.000-08:00

I went to CBD to order some workbooks for our CR group and when I went to check out I discovered I had a copy of Jurgen Moltmann's Science and Wisdom in my shopping cart. So I included it in my order and checked out. The box arrived today and once again I was surprised when I found "Science & Wisdom" in the bottom of the box, since I had promptly forgotten it was included in the order. A bit latter, I sat down for a late afternoon cup of coffee and there sat that book. So I picked it up and flipped to the first chapter and read this...

The scientific explanation of the forces of nature and the constitution of the human being, of social conditions and historical movements - all that is the fate of modern times. Scientific and technological civilization is the task of facing it. What meaning can Christian theology have in a world which has become the world of human beings, and will become so more and more? Where is the compulsion for theological reflection in a world where people no longer have to live with gods and demons, or with mysterious forces in nature and human destiny, but where we are living with 'the bomb' and with revolution? A world in which human beings are no longer dependent on nature, but where nature is dependent on human beings, and where human beings are increasingly delivered over to themselves and to what people like themselves do?

That is quite the opening paragraph. I think this will be a good read!

Switchfoot's "Mess of Me" & Romans 1, 5, 7

2009-11-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

Facing the brutal truth is one of the keys that Jim Collins and his research team discover in his book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
as measured by profitablity. But the concept of facing or denying the brutal truth about ourselves has been part of the human experience from the get go no matter how you understand the "get go" got going.

In Romans, Paul pulls no punches when it comes to facing the brutal truth about ourselves and our world. Check out Romans 1:18-3:20 then Romans 5:12-21 and then Romans 7:7-24. We have truly made a "mess of me!"

The Gospel answer? Romans 3:21-26, 5:12-21 and 7:25-8:39.

Who Am I?

2009-11-07T09:35:00.000-08:00

Part of the conversation that's been going on for... Oh, I don't know... a long time, but seems fresh with each generation, is about "nomenclature" or naming conventions. It's an identity thing perhaps... anyway, check out this video and if you have the time some comments posted at Out of Ur which were triggered by a Facebook post by Brian McLaren.

For some reason I couldn't get past the ReCaptcha spam filter to post a reply on Out of Ur, then it hit me that I could post my thoughts right here at 2ndThoughts! So here is my insightful and pithy addition to the current "naming game" conversation among us Christians [:-0] between the use of the words "Christian vs. Christ-follower."

Do any of you remember the "Jesus People?" (Check this out and then Check this out whether you remember or not.) The current naming game highlighted in the vid seems to me to be the current manifestation of an old issue that is certainly not limited to the church (i.e. the ad campaign this vid and many others is cloned form and what gives it it's potency, "I'm a Mac. I'm a PC.".) I hear in this conversation more than just echoes of 1 Corinthians 1 where Paul takes to task the believers who were naming themselves and dividing themselves. (I am of Paul. I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas..." and then there were the really cool folks (i.e. the Mac folks) (...I am of Christ!). ALL of whom were taken to task for taking a tack that was not at all copacetic.

Back to "Jesus People" and "Christian" and any other identity nouns we might come up with. The 1960's were a dynamic time and mixed in with that dynamism was a rather significant outbreak of Christianity among the youth of the time. This ferment among the youth including returns and turns to Christ became so pronounced that names started to be given to those in the movement such as "Jesus Freaks" and/or "Jesus People." This wasn't a self naming within the movement but a name given by those outside who were observing the movement. Same with "Christian." It was a name given by outside observers to a movement that was spreading across the 1st century Roman Empire. "The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." This naming seems to have stuck because a number of years latter the Roman official, king Agrippa responds to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?"

The point being not to defend the use of "Christian" as the only legitimate identity nomenclature for those who are disciples of Jesus Christ. I'm not convinced that such naming is at all useful in the first place. The point is that the naming was done by the "observing" community and not by the believing community or members of the believing community except when those doing the naming were in fact doing a disservice to the Lord and his church by creating divisions, something we have never seemed to get beyond no matter how enlightened we think ourselves to be evidenced by our on going need to self-differentiate and self-identify. If there was a self-identity term used, it was probably "disciple" and we know that "the Way" was also used early on to describe the movement spawned by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Still in the end, none of this makes one wit of difference since it is the Lord alone who can and will sort things out and the sorting will have nothing to do with self-identity nomenclature. Here's how the sorting will go, "When I was hungry, you fed me. When I was naked, you clothed me, when I was sick, you comforted me. When I was in prison, you visited me..." and the mark of the disciple will be, "When did we ever see you...."

Now for an aside: I'm just a tad uneasy with the stereotyping going on in the above video and I'm just a bit put off by the assumption that if i use a windows based machine I'm somehow "uncool" as if being "uncool" is somehow less human than the "cool" mac guy. I somehow think that the good folk at Apple aren't quite as concerned with my self-perception in anyway other than to exploit my need to fit in in order to sell me their product. I have the strangest feeling they are manipulating me to get my money (good ol' late capitalist exploitation) more than that they are either truly concerned with or trying to truly help me with my identity issues. ;-)

Work of the People

2009-11-05T12:06:00.000-08:00

The short vid with Hauerwas raises the issue of just what are Christians doing when they attend a worship service. My friend Gavin points out the context of Hauerwas' remarks when he responds to my comment on his facebook link with "I appreciate Hauerwas' comments though in this short segment he isn't able to get into what he would see as legitimate liturgy would look like." and Gavin responds, "Go to Mass."

If you have never attended Mass, I'd encourage you to do so. If you do attend Mass and you have never been to Mass before, you will feel awkward because of your unfamiliarity with the liturgy, but set that aside and give yourself the to the prayer and response that the Mass calls for. If you will engage the readings, responses and prayers, you may be surprised at how profoundly you will be engaged by the Gospel and the Word of God.

2009-11-04T16:34:00.000-08:00

i would be interested in any of your feedback on this short critique of "church growth" movement and worship.

this is not a new critique and i'm not convinced that the "entertainment" factor is not new with the now generation+ old "church growth" movement in the u.s. church experience. The one hint i get in this vid that might define what he would see as a non-entertaining liturgy is his passing reference to the worshiper's involvement in prayer and his critique seems to be toward an overemphasis on the sermon or the sermon as entertainment, but i'm guessing that Hauerwas is trying to get at a perceived/real passivity on the part of the attendees.

i went to the website advertised at the end of this vid to see if there would be some discussion about an effective/affective worshiper involving liturgy only to discover that it's a web site that produces and or markets short videos to churches. so, if i include short videos in my worship services will that restore the "work of the people"? this is especially ironic with the juxtaposition of a woman watching tv with Hauerwas' comments... let alone that this is itself a video that leaves the viewer completely passive to begin with.

Dry Spell

2009-10-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

I'm in a bit of a dry spell these days. My creative juices, what there are of them, seem to be at an especially low ebb over the past few weeks. Some of the ebbing has to do with the seasonal slump that I have during this time of year. But I suppose it is also due to several other factors that are adding up points on the ol' stress meter these days. I've had a busy schedule for the past couple of months along with presenting some ideas to my organization that, if realized, will bring about more than superficial changes in the texture of the organization.

I have to be careful when I venture out on such endeavors since the path form conception of ideas to the realization of those ideas can be a treacherous one for me. Nevertheless, ideas have sprung up, conceptualization has matured, planning has begun, conversations have been initiated, and questions are flowing.

So, I reckon that in reality, it hasn't been as dry a dry spell as I first set out to describe... it's more that my creative juices have been flowing strongly leaving me with less than normal creative energy for blogging... not that there has been that much in the way of creativity going on here anyway.

Graveyards to Gardens

2009-10-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

This is a meditation that was spoke at the interment service for John Edgar Wykle, M.D. Dr. Wykle served the good folk of the County of Calaveras for many years before his retirement in the 1980's

Graveyards to Gardens: A reflection on the words of Jesus as recorded in John 12 on the occasion of the committal of John Edgar Wykle’s body to the earth from which it came.

Great is the mystery of life. O, we’ve made great strides in our understanding of what I suppose we can call the “mechanics” of life. Your beloved John gave his life to the practice of those skills that helped sustain life in this county for many years. Yet with all our knowledge and science and technology, still, when you stop to contemplate this world and all that goes on in it, it is a mystery – a wonderment – or at least it should be. One of the mysteries of life is what brings us here to this place today – to this graveyard – the death of a loved one.

We live with death and have come to believe that death is the natural order of things. And so we have graveyards, where our dead are laid to rest. But listen again to these words we find recorded in the Gospel of John:

The time has come for the Son of Man to be given his glory. ²⁴I tell you for certain that a grain of wheat that falls on the ground will never be more than one grain unless it dies. But if it dies, it will produce lots of wheat.

Graveyards to gardens! You see, it was never the Creator’s intention that this world nor all creation was to be filled with graveyards. The Creator, after all is the Lord of Life! The Living God! Jesus was once asked by a group of theologians who had bought into the story of the graveyard a question that seemed to them to seal the deal. Jesus replied:

"You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. … But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: 'I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."

Graveyards to gardens! Death was not a part of the creation from the beginning but enter into creation through certain actions and choices we creatures made. Dr. John Wykle as a practitioner of the medical arts understood how a foreign body, whether a living organism or some inert object could gain entrance to our bodies and wreck havoc on our health - Graveyards! But with proper treatment and intervention, health could often be restored – Gardens. Still, with all our understanding and advancements, the day comes when our weak mortal bodies finally give in – Graveyards!

Then Jesus makes this comment on the day before his own execution:

Within 24 hours, the grain of wheat dies and is “thrown into the ground” in another graveyard many miles and many years form this place and this time. A night and a day and another night pass… all creation waited, like the farmer who had gone out and sown wheat seed in his fields waited day and night, and then on the morning of the third day the dead seed broke forth from the tomb into LIFE!

Jesus turned the graveyard into a garden! Was Mary confused when she encountered Jesus and thought he was the Gardener?

Years later St. John describes his experience of seeing the Lord of Life:

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.”

Graveyards to Gardens! And Jesus is the first fruits of this great healing of creation.

²⁰But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. ²¹For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. ²²For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. ²³But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, ²⁴then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

²⁵For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶The last enemy that will be abolished is death!

Graveyards to Gardens!

We come to this place today to commit the body of our beloved John Edgar Wykle to the earth from which it was taken in full hope that this graveyard will become a garden at the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Identity

2009-09-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

Identity. The, "Who am I?" question. Have you ever heard it said about someone that they are having an identity crisis? When I was in my teens a certain idea became popular becoming an excuse for many of my generation to "drop out" so that we could go "find ourselves." Identity. Who am I? Who determines my identity? Can I have an identity apart from relationship with others?

Here are some of the identity words used for/by me:

Child
Son
Brother
Cousin
Nephew
Student
Friend
Jerk
Chicken
Bashful, shy
Husband
Boyce
Dan, Danny, Daniel
Husband
Honey
Dad
Driver
Employee
Christian
Pastor

There are probably a bunch of identity statements that have been made about me that I'm not aware of since they were never used to my face or in my hearing. Perhaps some of these words could be better used in terms of roles I fulfill at given times. But doesn't such a role somehow speak to my identity too?

Then there are the various personality indicators out there that try to help one discover one's identity - I'm an INFP according the Meyers/Briggs (btw, only 2% of the assesed population has this combination! which makes me feel special... and this "fact" may explain why I always felt like such a misfit! Or does everybody feel like a misfit?)

Still, how do I figure out who I am? Identity. Who am I? Here's one of Paul's answer to this question:

"Paul, servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God..." In my earlier list I left out some things:

Creature
Called
Sinner
Forgiven, redeemed
Loved
Lover
Servant of Jesus Christ
Child of God

Identity. What impact does my sense of Identity have on what I do, how I fit in with my community, how I spend my time and energy? It's a big deal. It's worth giving some thought to. Identity. Who am I? What is the source of my identity. Who determines it? I suppose it's like everything else, I'm either on my own to figure it out, or I let others determine it for me, or some combination of both, however I'm thinking others weigh heavily on the whole personal identity issue, or I can turn to my Creator and learn my identity form him.

The graphic comes form http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2005/art/IDENTITY-MIND-MAP.jpg via http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2005/art/IDENTITY-MIND-MAP.jpg

"Pray without ceasing..." Are you Nuts?

2009-09-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

Do I have time for God in my life? What preoccupies me? Just what do I think about (or avoid thinking about?)? The fall of humanity, the fall of an individual is that turn away from God to "not-gods" or "idols." It is a choosing not to have time for God. With this turn comes an irresistible move toward alienation ending in desperation and despair.

Perhaps putting it like that is overkill... after all look at how many people have succeeded and live happy and fulfilled lives. Four things: One, if that were so, why are we driven to greater and greater levels of consumption without regard to the damage such consumption does to our environment both social and ecological, convinced that life, liberty and happiness some how consists in the things we own or the freedom we have to accumulate things and/or experiences, in other words why is anything ever enough; Two, why is fear so much a part of our daily lives in the most medically, technologically and scientifically advanced culture to to date; Three, can one human being be truly happy and fulfilled if even one other human being is destitute whether from poor choices of their own or because of victimization by "The System" that allows some to "prosper" while others live is unremitting poverty; Four, No matter how much one accumulate or consume and no matter how many safety features one puts in place and no matter how advanced ones science has become, in the end it comes to nothing since death is the end of us all.

But back to the point:

There are two typical responses to our "no time for God" lifestyle: One is to simply throw off all restraint and live purely for oneself seeking one's own fulfillment regardless of cultural mores, even going so far as to challenge those mores as bogus and unfounded except of some kind of power/control thing keeping me from enjoying life the way I want to. The other is to hold fast to the cultural mores whatever they may be, or are thought to may be and then to go about the business of insuring at all costs that everyone tows the line summarily condemning any and everyone who doesn't. Again, perhaps this comes across as a bit extreme or hyperbolic. Nevertheless, when I take a good hard look at myself and the world in which I live, there is definitely something wrong and so I come back to my original thought, "Do I have time in my life for God?"

The most honest answer to that question is, "No." The longing in that question is that I would re-think, no, repent, and spend time realizing that all my time comes to me as a gift form God and that if I want my life and my world to become a healthy life producing and life honoring place, I will need to rethink the use of my time and use more of that time with God. This will be a work of grace if it is to happen at all.

Do I have time for God? Yes, I do. Will I send that time with God? By the grace of God I will. Pray for me.

Logan Goes Mobile

2009-09-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

Coming Soon - NIV 2011

2009-09-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

A new rendition of the NIV is on its way. Here is a link to a webcast on the new revision.

NIV Bible 2011

And here are Dr. Ben Witherington III's coments on this announcement.

A study of Stats

2009-09-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting view of the Seven Deadly Sins in the USA:

American Vice Mapping

Slave

2009-09-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

That is one nasty word... unless you are talking in mechanical or technical terms of devices that are "slaved" to some other device. But when speaking in human terms in the 21st century among liberal democracies, it is appalling to think that slavery is still perpetrated on 27 million people around the world today of all ages and both genders in multiple societies. Humans as commodities to be bought and sold, used up and thrown away. Is there any dignity in servitude?

And yet, this is the very word Paul used to describe himself, "Paul, slave of Jesus Christ..." An identity statement. It is popular these days to use another identity statement, "Follower of Jesus..." which certainly has a different sound to it, though it still connects ones identity in some way and at some level to Jesus. Another identity statement that perhaps at one time meant something along the lines of what Paul uses, is Christian. However, this identity statement in the US setting at least is carries a certain confusion with a certain political stance that has nothing to do with the original significance of the term though those who claim it and use it that way don't seem often to realize they are confusing the original identity issues with current political issues.

But for Paul, "slave" is an identity statement he is more than willing to embrace to describe his sense of who he is and to whom he belongs. To whom he belongs. Yes, that is indeed quite a statement. To say that you belong to someone to the extent that you lose or give up control of your own destiny, surrender your rights, live at the behest of an other's desires, wishes, commands, pleasure. For Paul, this was a no brainer once he learned who Jesus was! We certainly may focus on the idea that "Jesus had purchased" Paul through what turned out to be a sacrificial death on all humanities part, but I don't think that is the key element behind Paul's willingness to take to himself such an identity as "salve." I think it has more to do with a predisposition in Paul based his Jewish Scriptures worldview - as a Jew and as a Pharisee, Paul would have already understood himself as a servant, slave, of the LORD.

Once the LORD revealed Jesus as Lord, Messiah, Christ, it was a natural way for Paul to understand himself as the slave or servant of Jesus Christ.

Do I see myself as a slave of Jesus Christ? What would it mean for me to fully embrace such an identity for myself - Dan, slave of Jesus Christ. That does not come easy for a child of western late 20th early 21st century thinking. But, it is the truth. Now, may the Spirit of the Lord work in me both to will and to do the will of my Lord and my God.

Romans... coming up

2009-09-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will begin a series of sermons through the New Testament book of Romans. There are certainly no lack of resources for the study of Romans from such popular works as How to Be a Christian Without Being Religious: Discover the Joy of Being Free in Your Faith: A User-Friendly Study of Romans by Fritz Ridenour to Karl Barth's The Epistle to the Romans (Galaxy Books) or the more recent Paul's Letter to the Romans: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary by Ben Witherington III. (Ben has 23 pages of bibliography for work done on Romans.) Indeed, I will tap into only a VERY small fraction of all these resources including Barth and Witherington's commentaries. At the more popular level I've been reading D. Stuart Briscoe's The Preacher's Commentary: Romans Vol. 29, James D. G. Dunn's Romans: A Guide for Reflection and Prayer (Daily Bible Commentary) (I also have Dunn's Word Biblical Commentary: Volume 38A, Romans 1-8 and vol. 38B is on order) and Paul J. Achtemeier's Romans (Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching) (commendable enough as a popular level commentary to be mentioned by Witherington III as commendable (p. xix))

These, then, are some of the resources I'll be using as I read, study, pray, meditate on and teach through Romans over the next few months (tentatively through March 7, 2010). I pray that this will be a rich and life transforming encounter with Jesus Christ, the gospel of God.

Reading List Update

2009-09-07T21:28:00.000-07:00

So here is and update on my current reading:

Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law for Unity in Physical Law

Finished! Peter Woit gives a reasoned critique of string theory concluding that with so much effort by so many physicists that as a theory it still fails to make any confirmable predicitons. So, be careful if you are basing Biblical interpretaion on string theory... it doesn't look like this one is working out.

Dissenter in a Great Society: A Christian View of America in Crisis (William Stringfellow Reprint)

Still reading this one.

A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology

Close to finishing this one. Alister McGrath interacts with current research in a case for a powerful understanding of "natural theology."

The Epistle to the Romans (Galaxy Books)

Romans (Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching)

Achtemeier is an insightful commentator. This commentary on Romans is worth reading.

Ezekiel (Brazo's Theological Commentary on the Bible)

Jenson is always a thought provoking and insightful read. I'm still working onthis one and enjoying the process.

Heaven

2009-09-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

(The artist who created this image is Daniel L. Dew. The image is hyperlinked to the enlarged version.)
There are some real emotions circling around the idea of "heaven" out there. It's nothing new in western thought, but wow, there really are some folks who get heated up that anyone would be so naive, foolish, insane, or ignorant as to believe in such a concept. Actually, it's not so much the idea of "heaven," though that's bad enough, I suppose, as the idea of life beyond our experience in the here and now ("here and now" of course meaning the ages long "here and now" of the physical universe as we currently understand it through the rational scientific method. There is just this and no more so GET OVER IT! there are of course any number of books, blogs, You Tube vids, etc. debunking the idea life as more than what we experience in this physical universe, and in the reasoning of these fine folks, there is their own rationality/rationalization for their stern and absolute belief in such a closed system/world view.

If you care to read the thoughts of some of the voices that have staunchly held to the idea that there is nothing else then this pick up a copy of The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever. You can probably find a copy at your local library. Or you can search You Tube for videos by Richard Dawkins or check out this segment of Penn Says. (Not sure the demographic comment that younger = better educated holds true nor that better educated somehow equates with atheism as implied, but hey, it is Penn Says.)

The problem with all of this is that we decide what to believe about things and then what we decide becomes the truth... no matter what anyone else says. If I'm looking for a reason not to believe in any reality beyond our "immediate" experience of it (which by any one's assessment is extremely limited in every way despite how much me may think we know) there are certainly many reasons to be found. This in and of itself doesn't justify my commitment to such beliefs... whatever they may be.

Atheism (no-god-ism) is in the position of denying the possibility of any source of knowledge other than human reasoning. It, by nature, denies and then disqualifies anyone who claims that there is another source of knowledge, revelation. The atheist then proceeds to hammer away at the point of view arrived at by some supposed prior authority for human rationality not just over revelation as a source of knowledge, but by denying the very possibility, it boxes itself in to a nice safe little world supposedly under it's own control and then blames all the worlds problems on foolish beliefs in something greater.

Now, we need to be honest. Religion, like all human created systems and frameworks have wrecked havoc on the world, or better, humans have wrecked havoc in the world and religion as well as other human created systems have been the means of justifying it. Atheism puts on the table as answers to the human experience such ideas as humanism and existentialism. These are two ways to try to come to terms with the human experience (bequeathed to us by an unmerciful Darwinian evolutionary natural selection process that couldn't stop with unthinking, unreasoning, non-tool making, non-culture creating creatures!) without the need for or recourse to something beyond us. Both try to come to terms to some degree with the seeming human need to find meaning in life. Existentialism, being I think the more honest of the two, comes right out and says, "there IS NO meaning to life" so get over it and get on with it. Humanism is a bit more gentle and tries to say that meaning, while ultimately meaningless since there is nothing else than this, nevertheless, meaning is in your nature and all you need to do is nurture yourself in just the right way and you will grow into what you are and thus find meaning... just in time to die... or perhaps before you die, but then death arrives and that's it... as if you never existed in the first place! And atheism is supposed to bring comfort and world peace?

I do need to say this: It does no real good to argue or debate over these things. The arguments end up going nowhere. The idea of no god is not as recent a development as our modern debate makes it out to be. Humans have been saying, "No god" from the get go... just as long as God doesn't say, "No creation" on the back side we'll make it through.

Psalm 14

¹ Only fools say in their hearts,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their actions are evil;
not one of them does good!

² The Lord looks down from heaven
on the entire human race;
he looks to see if anyone is truly wise,
if anyone seeks God.
³ But no, all have turned away;
all have become corrupt.^{a]" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">}
No one does good,
not a single one!

⁴ Will those who do evil never learn?
They eat up my people like bread
and wouldn’t think of praying to the Lord.
⁵ Terror will grip them,
for God is with those who obey him.
⁶ The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed,
but the Lord will protect his people.

⁷ Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel?
When the Lord restores his people,
Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice.

Booklist

2009-07-28T20:51:00.000-07:00

So here is my current reading:

Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law for Unity in Physical Law

Dissenter in a Great Society: A Christian View of America in Crisis (William Stringfellow Reprint)

A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology

The Epistle to the Romans (Galaxy Books)

Romans (Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching)

Ezekiel (Brazo's Theological Commentary on the Bible)

More on Conversation

2009-07-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

If you followed the link in the last post and read the post it pointed to then you can see how the conversation once it gets online "leaves the building" and can spread across the community through the current social networking bridges. For another opinion about conversation check out what Deb Ng has to say at blogtalkradio. The conversation, of course, is only going on among those who are showing up wherever that showing up happens and only if once showing up there isthe risk of listening and responding.

Now a quote form Robert W. Jenson form his recent theological commentary Ezekiel (Brazo's Theological Commentary on the Bible) that directs us to the fountainhead for the possibility of conversation in the first place:

...The duality of word and vision, hearing and seeing, runs through scripture, and there are great differences in the way the poles are balanced. Israel at Sinai must not climb the mountain, since "no one shall see [God] and live" (Exod. 33.20), while they are commanded to approach and hear him speak (19.9) But when that same word of God comes in his own person, it is in order that we may see his glory (John 1:1-14).

It is something deep in the reality of God that appears in these phenomena. Both in Scripture and doctrine, the second person of the triune God is sometimes "Son" and sometimes Word. As Son he is the "image" of the Father (Col. 1.15; Heb 1.3), so that one who has seen him has seen the Father (John 14.9). As Word, he is the message from the Father, the "gospel" of which he is at once the messenger and the content.

This duality carries into the tradition of developed trinitarian doctrine. In one strand - of which Origen of Alexandria is perhaps the great teacher - the Father sees himself in the Son, whose being is the reflection of the Father's glory. In another - which we may find in Martin Luther - the Logos is so perfect an expression of the Father that he in turn is a speaker who answers the Father, to establish the Trinity as a conversation, even community. (bold emphasis mine)

On Conversation

2009-07-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

One thing about a blog or any other form of communication is that if one partner in the "conversation" stops showing up, the "conversation" dies. There are different ways of not showing up of course. There is the possibility that the conversation partners are physically present to each other but neither one attends to the others in any way that would count as engaging in conversation. Or the conversation partners are physically present to each other and one of the partners ignores or simply does not respond to the attempts of the other partner to engage in conversation. Then there is the possibility that one or the other or both partners communicate prodigiously but there is no real content in what is spoken. There could be the situation where the conversation partners are all addressing each other but are speaking past each other or perhaps - to use a battle field analogy - are 'shooting' at each other. Here it is not a matter of conversation at all, but of entrenchment i.e. the Hatfield's and McCoy's. Of course there is the possibility that one or another of the conversation partners just simply does not show up at all or so randomly and infrequently as to be virtually not at all.

There is also the possibility that one is simply talking to oneself... on the other hand here is a post that considers the evolution of conversation in todays online world.

I'm back form vacation and I think I'll jump back into the conversation... at least a bit.

Teaching the Bible

2009-06-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

After dinner last night, our host turned to me and asked if she could ask me a question. The context of our friendship is that I served as here pastor for a number of years. We are visiting friends form those years, including our host for last night and tonight. After a quip about not being sure if I can answer any questions, she went ahead and asked, "Why doesn't anyone teach the whole Bible anymore?" What a question!

To my shocked and blank stare, this precious friend asked if I understood the question... then helped me out by asking specifically why no one teaches on the book of Revelation. To this I gave a little internal flinch as the "prophecy" minefield expanded before my mental horizon. I quickly decided on a direct approach and waded "fearlessly" into the minefield trusting in the trust of our friendship to protect those of us sitting around the table from the little explosions this topic can cause.

The conversation wound on past this topic in the course of time, but it left me thinking and now to the point for this post: When I "teach" the Bible, am I really teaching the Bible? In the context of last evening's conversation we (or at least I) eventually re-shaped the question form the original, "Why doesn't anyone teach the whole Bible any more?" to, "Why doesn't anyone teach dispensational theology anymore?" This is the real question. But, my friend had been taught for many years, if not her entire life as a Christian, that dispensationalism was the "Bible" and that anyone who did not teach dispensationalism was not teaching the Bible.

So, again, the question: When I teach the Bible, am I really teaching the Bible or am I teaching an interpretive framework? For me, the question is whether or not I am aware of my interpretive framework or perhaps, am I at least aware of the lenses I'm reading through, for indeed we have become perhaps disturbingly aware (or we persist in being disturbingly unaware) that we all do indeed wear glasses with particular lenses that affect how we see our world and interpret the events and experiences of our lives.

As I become more aware of this reality myself, I begin to see that many of the things I've argued over, even gone to war over, was/is the lenses that I currently wear rather than the reality or truth I thought I was fighting to defend.

I'm not saying that we can somehow rid ourselves of the need for lenses. After all, even the illustrious St. Paul was aware of his/our lenses... indeed, becoming aware of our lenses is a huge part of the 'battle' which can perhaps allow us to move toward fuller experience of the Gospel and community.

Portland and Beyond

2009-06-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

Teresa and i left San Andreas this morning at about 8:10. We spent the day driving north mostly on I-5 and arrived in Portland at about 9:45pm. According to Google maps it's 663.2 miles. Also according to the mapping program, it would take us 9 days and 2 hours to walk! It was a beautiful day to travel. To pass the time Teresa read an overview of world history form 10,000BC to the present! We read about civilizations from around the world and finished up with an overview of the history of California up to the present.

Not bad for a 13 hour day! 663.2 miles... 10,000 years of world history... In-N-Out Burgers for lunch in Redding, CA... and iced coffees in Medford, OR... diner at Outback in Springfield, OR and ice cream cones in Wilsonville, OR.

What a ride!

An A.I.Analyzes "Love"

2009-06-24T00:28:00.000-07:00

xkcd.com

Now that is quite the statement! Many years ago a very popular musical group used to sing "All you need is love.... All you need is love... Love is all you need..." So which is it? If you really want to get into some serious thinking about "love" check this out (Caution: the title and content of the post this link points to uses offensive and shocking language). Perhaps xkcd.com has the better grasp on what all is involved in bonafied love.

Love can be deadly to all involved. I think one of the best treaties I've read on thinking love was written my Robert W. Jenson in his book, "On Thinking the Human." It turns out that in usual human thought and action, love is quite IMPOSSIBLE! The impossibility of love between two people is that there seems to be no way that such a relationship can be sustained as one will end up "devouring" the other. We intend love and end in war! I remember reading a book a number of years ago in which the author observed that in relationships the one who loves the most is most vulnerable to the one who loves the least. Thus, it becomes the goal to get the other person to fall deeper in love with you so that you end up in the power position.

But then again, the bottom line in the Jewish and Christian traditions is: You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But then if you take 1 Corinthians 13 as a definition of love then as Halden points out in his post... well, perhaps xkcd's A.I. has it right - "Strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

Or is it?

Random Thoughts

2009-06-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

Last week, no, the week before last I did a little browsing on TED's website. I happened to be looking for talks about the the universe and found this one.

It is pretty amazing to hear and see these depictions of the universe.

To live in this type of universe certainly can give one pause... or maybe not. I can go about my daily routines and never give one thought to the vast NOT SO EMPTY universe, happily unaware of what all goes into making it possible for me to go about my daily routines. I find it encouraging that George Smoot sees that the further out and further back we see it becomes obvious that what we see is not random chaos, but incredible design. He of course makes no suggestion that there is any conscious or intentional designer behind the design other than that in the distant past all that exists in the universe started with the right ingredients and the right formula to bring about what we observe today. And what we observe today is a universe that provides all the necessary properties and elements for self aware organic intelligence to make such observations. This then begs the question, perhaps, of whether the existence of life is accidental or is life in just such a universe as we live in inevitable.

I showed George Smoot's talk to Teresa yesterday afternoon and last night we joined a hundred or so of our neighbors for a movie under the stars at a local park. At one point in the evening, Teresa looked up and then leaned over and asked, "So, how many of those are stars and how many are galaxy's?" George Smoot's short talk has sure changed the way I look at the "stars."

"The heavens declare the glory of God;

and the firmament sheweth his handiwork."

Reading and Beyond

2009-06-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

For 10 years Reading and Beyond (formerly Fresno Covenant Foundation) led by Luis Santan, a reciepient of a 2009 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award, has led his board, staff and volunteer team to make all the difference in the world for thousands. Yesterday the incredible work of Reading and Beyond was recognized for "advancing innovative and effective solutions to significant state issues" by the James Irvine Foundation.

Congratulations Luis, Staff, Board of Directors, Volunteers, Children and Parents!

A Post

2009-06-08T22:15:00.000-07:00

I've finished the introduction and first couple of articles in my copy of " The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for Unbelievers." Actually, I think Mr. Hitchens could have expanded his title to Essential Readings for Unbelievers and Believers" since he is a bit "evangelistic" in approach to atheism. OK, maybe not essential readings for believers, but the readings I've read so far are indeed thought provoking.

Here is my first observations so far: In his introduction, Hitchens makes his argument against religion and god. One argument that theists and religionists put forward against atheism is that without the idea of "god" human culture would slide into bloody anarchy. Hitchens denies this flat out insisting that humans would have come up with moral behavior and civilization without the need for redress to god, gods or religion. I'm not convinced that his point can actually stand, being made at this point in history. Hitchens himself points out that religion and speculation about the transcendent or supernatural has been a part of the human experience as far back our recorded history goes.

Thus the ethics and morals of civilization as they have developed over the millennia come embedded in and with the human habit of thinking about the world in bigger terms than the narrowness of science as portrayed by Hitchens. Thus, to say that morality can have developed without recourse to the transcendent, supernatural or god is questionable since morals indeed were part and parcel to human contemplation of someone or something beyond themselves and we have no record of civilization without also a record of spirituality intricate to it. Thus to say we've now outgrown the need for "god" to be moral seems suspect at least.

Creativity

2009-06-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

Writing is an act of creation. It doesn't matter if what you are writing is fiction or non-fiction, it is a creative act. Perhaps it's more obvious that writing fiction is a creative act whereas non-fiction maybe not so much. But even if you are simply copying known facts from one source and recording then into a new document with absolutely no editorial work being done, still, the act of even copying words or even simply copying letters or even further still copying marks form one source to another is an act of creation - you are creating a new copy of on original work even if you have no comprehension of what you copy. But, when writing non-fiction you are still creating as you shape your thoughts and consider what it is that is being said that is meant to be a representation of the real world.

Thus writing is an act of creation. And like all creative acts the quality of the outcome varies from person to person and form project to project. Some writers are able to create masterpieces as they develop their skills thorough learning and practice and persistence in the hard work of creation. To read the works of such authors is a magnificent experience that can indeed expand the horizons of your life, both inward and outward and finding such authors I have several times gone on to seek out other works of these authors so as to experience all they have to offer.

Thus writing is an act of creation. For, the one who reads what another has written by a creative author is somehow changed as a result - they become something different creation takes place in the reader and such experiences are to be cherished.

Be creative, share your story, your words, your thoughts, and be open to what others tell you and experience creation.

Summer Reading

2009-05-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

I recently picked up a copy of "The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever" It's an anthology of 47 essays, articles and poems on atheistic thought from a variety of thinkers selected by Christopher Hitchens.

One of the issues in the book is the connection of diety with religion. In his introduction, Hitchens takes religion to task quite severely and rightfully so. But, so far his critic seems to be leveled at what can be called the "popular" expression of religion. The polemic in the Introduction has the same strident tone as what Hitchens is calling to task in religion. It should prove to be a stimulating read.

At the same time I will be reading "A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology" by Alister E. McGrath who begins his Introduction thus, "The topic of this book is the quest for God in the natural sciences and Christian theology; traditionally known as "natural theology." Although this has been a subject of human interest since the dawn of recorded history, it has been given a new injection of intellectual energy in recent years by theologians and philosophers, but above all by natural scientists."

Compare this to these words form Hitchens' Introduction: "Well religion was the race's first (and worst) attempt to make sense of reality. it was the best the species could do at a time when we had no concept of physics, chemistry, biology or medicine. We did not know that we lived on a round planet, let alone that the said planet was in orbit in a minor and obscure solar system, which was also on the edge of an unimaginably vast cosmos that was exploding away form its original source of energy."

It should be a great conversation among all these thinkers, philosophers and writers in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

PS: at the same time I will be joining with a few others reading the Bible form cover to cover in 90 days beginning June 1. If you want to join in you can download a reading schedule here (look for "Bookmark" in the "Free Downloads" bar on the right) or at Biblegateway.com for an online option.

In memory of Margaret

2009-05-07T17:29:00.000-07:00

I only just met Margaret... that is I've served as the lead pastor in her church for several years and have had a number of brief conversations with her... but as I put together this brief slide show of her life I once again realize just how much life there is "out there" and how truly little of it I'm aware of.

Here is a woman who for almost 80 years went about her life and passions; loving, learning, working, sharing... making all the difference in the world that only she could make... and I had no clue! Still, I did meet Margaret and now I have met some of her children and a couple of her grandchildren, if only in passing.

We gathered on Saturday, May 9th to worship the Lord, celebrate her life, speak of the Gospel of the Resurrected Lord and offer comfort to her family.

A Meditation on Craftsmanship

Ephesians 2:10

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We have a number of reasons for our gathering here today all of which have to do with one particular person, Margaret Ann Johnson: a woman known to each of us in varying degrees of acquaintance, friendship, and intimacy. Some of us are here out of respect for Margaret herself and some out of respect for her surviving family. We are here to offer support and, to the extent that we can, comfort to you who knew her best, you her children and grandchildren. But we are also here for other reasons that may not be as obvious but still is as profoundly true and necessary as all the other reasons for turning aside from our normal routines, work and pleasures to memorialize this dear woman: we are here to protest and to confess and that is why I chose the various readings from the Bible we listened to a few minutes ago.

First the protest! From Genesis 2 we heard again, or perhaps for some, for the first time a text that drives the scientism of our age crazy – that there is a Creator and that his creation is both intentional and purposeful!

The Garden of God: Designed, prepared, crafted, resourced

The Gardeners of God: those created to cultivated and care for the garden

The original goodness of the Garden: A place for life to THRIVE

The realization that something has gone wrong in the Garden

No one has to belabor this point! Everyone within earshot of the words being spoken just now, can, has and will imagine a better world then the one we inhabit – a world where someone like our beloved Margaret, your beloved mother, your beloved grandmother, your beloved friend, can die!

Beloved, our grief is a PROTEST AGAINST such a world. Now, please take this the right way, but one of the things we have become accustomed to at times like this to try and comfort each other is to say, “Death is a part of life.” And yet everything in us and so much of what we do as individuals and as a culture we do to stave off death! If death is a ‘natural’ part of life then why do we do everything we can to overcome it, or at the very least postpone it? From a different direction many of us either use the reality of death as a protest against the idea of “god” while others use the idea of “god” as a way to diminish the pain of death.

But, the Bible tells of a God and of a people who have come to know that God whose whole history with this creation is one long protest against death! The very nature of grief when you think about it is in itself a protest – “This is not supposed to happen!”

Thus Paul, inspired by the Spirit of God wrote,

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

The protest is a prayer and a longing for LIFE.

Now the CONFESSION! Jesus died and rose again! It is this confession that moves us from a life of futility – the idea that no matter what we do, in the end we all die! – to a life of hope – that is, that all we do is an affirmation that life will prevail. We read briefly [Exodus 31] about two craftsmen who used their skills to create a place for the presence of God in the camp of Israel. In their craftsmanship, which the Scripture tells us was in itself a gift from God; they affirmed beauty, quality, life! Perhaps this story form Israel’s early history is at least unconsciously in the background as Paul penned the words we read from Ephesians:

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Here is what precedes this statement:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

This is our confession! Not a rant against the futility of this world, but a confession that in Christ Jesus, God overcomes our enemy death with LIFE!

This was the confession of the Lord’s beloved Margaret! The glimpses into Margaret’s life we saw while Kathy sang “You are the Wind Beneath My Wings” [in the video, the soundtrack is Bette Midler's recording] tells of a woman who affirmed life!

She married

She had children

She cared for her home and “garden”

She was a craftswoman

In her work, she was a “mechanic” who kept the office equipment running smoothly.

We confess that Jesus came to fulfill the promises of God spoken through the prophets such as the prophet who penned the much beloved Psalm 23:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

In our grief we protest. Now let us stand together and confess as we sing “This is My Father’s World.”

The Scandal of "Love"

2009-05-02T09:50:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, Halden posted some thoughts on "love" as it is described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13. Be forewarned, if you click on "love" to read the post... it is scandalous! I've been reading Miroslav Volf's "Exclusion & Embrace" and came to his exploration of gender identity as real world test case for his "theological exploration of identity, otherness, and reconciliation" (the subtitle of this book) which concludes thus:

Finally, all this - the affirmation of the equal dignity of genders, the symmetry in construction of gender identities, and the presence of the other in the self - all of this is kept in motion by self-giving love [c.f. Halden's post]. Though the goal of self-giving love is the mutuality of perfect love, the road toward this goal in a world of enmity often leads through the narrow paths of one-sided giving of the self for the other [herein Halden's _ stupidity of love]. The model for the goal is the eternal embrace of divine persons; the model for the difficult road toward the goal is Christ's embrace of sinful humanity on the cross.

Love, as embodied by Jesus in our world of enmity is indeed "stupid." But then again, it was Paul who started out the letter that includes chpt. 13 who also recognized that, "The message of the cross (Volf's 'narrow path of one-sided giving" and Halden's _ stupidity) is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.... Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world..."

2009-04-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

I was "analyzing" the stats on more2ndthoughts recently and discovered that quite a few hits on this blog are from searches for "Zen Dog" and since I used Zen Dog as the basis for a post quite a while back, more2ndthoughts pops up in those searches and occasionally someone will follow the link here. This work of art belongs to Edward Monkton and can be downloaded as wallpaper from his web site.

Recently one of my sons pointed me to this website - xkcd.com where I came across this...

Created by Randall Munroe

and this particular comic can be found

xkcd.com/22/

Looks like it'll be quite the ride after all!

relevance

2009-04-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

I just came across this statement, "To show the relevance of Jesus to our world." I'm pretty sure I understand what is meant by the statement, but when I read it, I experienced a spontaneous mental chuckle. It struck me that this was a strange, no, an absurd sort of statement. Don't get me wrong. I know this type of language has been part of the conversation in much of the USAmerican church community, at least in the conversations I've been a part of. Usually it comes up in the way we do our public, corporate gatherings and the idea of having "relevant" worship. This idea has come under fire, but it remains part of the conversation/debate. To some degree it is based in the words of Paul, "I have become all things to all men..."

Still, when I came across this statement I experienced a "spontaneous mental chuckle" because the idea of showing "the relevance of Jesus to our world" struck me as a bit ironic! Jesus is the Word of God that CREATED the world! If anything, we should be trying to make ourselves and our world relevant to God! But then again, isn't that more or less what Jesus did in his redemptive work, make the world, which lost relevancy in the Fall, relevant to God again!

Here's the issue. The message born to us in the Word is that the world, that is all creation, was created by the Triune God, is sustained by the Triune God for the Triune God's own purposes. Anything that goes on in the world that is not aligned with the Father's, the Son's and the Holy Spirit's telos, the Triune God's purpose for the creation is in fact utterly and irretrievably irrelevant in any way the finally matters.

It is all about the Kingdom of God or it's about nothing at all and that's all there is to it. The question remains then, how does that get communicated? And I suppose that's where the idea of "relevancy" comes in. It's not a matter of making Jesus relevant to the world. It's a matter of using relevant communication to invite the world to turn to the One who alone can make us relevant to the purposes of God in and for his creation. Further, it is Jesus, in his redemptive incarnation and all that that entailed to bring about justification (making relevant?), that now stands before the throne of the Father making intercession on our behalf, (praying for our relevancy?) that we may be included in the telos of creation.

Thus the "spontaneous mental chuckle" at the irony of the statement about showing the relevance of Jesus to the world. And, of course, irony is not the intention of the statement. The intention of the statement is an honest and accurate one, and I know this because I know the person who leads the group who composed this statement as one of several statements that attempt to give voice to that groups purpose for being as a missional community of Jesus.

Still, it's worth a bit of a chuckle when one sees the irony hidden in the unavoidable ambiguity of the language.... or at least I think so.

2nd Annual Bike Blessing in San Andreas

2009-04-21T22:45:00.001-07:00

On the last Sunday we got together for a bbq and bike blessing. Once again it was a time of sharing stories and admiring the beauty of well engineered and cared for machines. For the blessing we read and wondered at the glory of Ezekiel's vision of the Chariot of God described in Ezekiel 1. Then the prayer of blessing and off our friend road. It was a good afternoon.

William Stringfellow, "Free In Obedience" a quote

2009-04-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

Thursday and Friday I attended PSWC annual Celebration meetings hosted by Lakehills in El Darodo Hills, CA 9How's that for hyperlinking!). During the morning gathering John Teter, a pastor at Fountain of Life in Long Beach, CA explored the story of the Good Samaritan as told in Luke 10 addressing the question, "Who is my neighbor?" the theme of the 2009 PSWC Celebration event.

In the end he recognized that the question needed to be re-framed. The way Jesus answered the lawyer, flipped the question on it's head and in so many words undermined the self justifying question of the lawyer - and our own self-justifying tendencies - by making the question not "Who is my neighbor?" but instead "Who am I neighboring?" The point being that it wasn't the man left beaten robbed and broken on the side of the road who was the "neighbor" as we often take the point, but the one needing a neighbor, and which of the passers-by neighbored him. Here is a quote form William Stringfellow making the same point form his book, "Free In Obedience:"

"Nowhere is this temptation more active and persistent than in the mission of the Church to the city. The historic error of foreign missions a half-century ago [these words were published in 1964] was in supposing that before the gospel could be heard, believed, and embraced by the indigenous people, those people should first have to be 'westernized.' The historic error of the so-called inner-city mission in recent years is in thinking that before the gospel can be heard, believed, and embraced by the indigenous people, they must first become middle class. Yet if the gospel is so contingent that it offers no comfort to a man [sic], whatever his state of affliction, then it is no saving word for anybody."

Jesus picked me up form the side of the road and paid all the bills for my healing for no other reason than that he loved me. Jesus neighbored and I am the recipient of his neighboring. Jesus has neighbored indiscriminately and he calls us to such a way of life ourselves - Stringfellow once again:

"All this is not for the sake of the Christians, not for their justification either individually or as the Church, but for the sake of the world, for [others]. A Christian is free in [the] knowledge and experience of the love of God for the world to love the world [themselves]. A Christian does not love another [person] for himself - else how would one love his own enemy? - but for [the others] sake, that is, because of what God has done for him. A Christian loves [the other] in a way that affirms [their] true humanity, vouchsafed for [them] and for all [humans] in the resurrection."

Four Types

2009-04-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

There are four types of people and everyone falls into one of these four categories or types. I haven't come up with any cute ways to describe the four types - you know, like an animal that represents each type i.e. flying squirrel, grey squirrel, ground squirrel, red squirrel. Nor have I come up with one of those assessment tools that identify which type a given person is. I haven't even done studies on thousands of individuals through which I discovered the four types. I just decided one day recently that everyone falls into one of these four types.

The first group are those who have "stuff" but just flat out don't realize they've got stuff. Everyone around them know they have "stuff" but for whatever reason these folks have no clue nor do they care, which is a given since to care would mean such persons would be aware of their stuff in the first place which of course they don't and thus such persons fall into this type.

The second group of people are those who have some awareness that they have "stuff" but either don't care or refuse to do anything about it. They just go ahead and act out of their "stuff" and to %#&* with everyone else.

The third group is like the second group - they know they've got stuff but folks of this type try to do something about it. They stumble because of their stuff and their stuff crops up as they go along, but they acknowledge it and keep trying to live around or beyond their stuff. This type of folks realize that their stuff interferes with life and relationships and their own sense of well being. The major factor that separates this type is that folks of this type care. They care about those around them and to some extent they care about themselves in what approaches a healthy manner.

The fourth type is that person who knows they have stuff, like the second and third types, but folks of this type are able to set aside their stuff and just get on with it. They are intentionally focused on not acting or living out of their stuff, but instead manage to live well and effectively with others in mind. They aer able to attend to their relationships without their "stuff" getting in the way.

So there you have it. My four types of people. There is actually one more type. But in the history of creation and the human experience of it only one person would fall into this type. It would be the one who simply never had any "stuff" and avoided, through perfected love, "stuff." Jesus is that one person. What is striking her though is how so many try to put Jesus into one of the first four types.

I fall into the third type. What type are you?

2009-04-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

It has been a good day. Just after sun rise, about 30 of us got together and listened to the story of the resurrection from John 20 and with song. At 10 a couple hundred of us got together to tell the story again. We sang, the musicians played, the gospel was spoken. Teresa and I returned home and we made sandwiches and sat out on the deck to eat lunch with Lauren, our exchange student from Colombia. We relaxed for a bit and then Tyler arrived with 4lbs of tri-tip that went on the grill. Soon Stacy was home from work and soon diner was served. It was son nice out that we decided to it diner on the deck also.

It has been a good day. How awesome is our God and this gift of life.

Holy Sabbath

2009-04-11T15:27:00.000-07:00

I suppose if one did a search there must be all kinds of Holy Saturday blog posts on the world wide web. Some for sure will be profoundly insightful... so I thought I'd add one more. I woke up this morning and once I got my head oriented around what day this was I thought to myself how profound was this Sabbath rest for our crucified Lord. What was that he said? "It is finished." Yes, that's it, and then Father into your hands I commit my spirit and he breathed his last and died - fell asleep... and the sun set the day ended and Sabbath began. Holy week was the week of Jesus final work reversing the curse of death for creation. The seven days of Holy Week laid over against the seven days of creation. The Word of God in both instances bringing about order and life and freedom and grace. Let us rest, then, for tomorrow a new era begins!

Image

2009-04-10T19:16:00.000-07:00

The generations that made up Jesus' contemporaries were a people of images. The Romans had images of what insurgents looked like. The Jewish folks had images of what a good Jew was, what a priest was, what a ruler was, what messiah should be, to be sure there were differing images all around of all of these, nevertheless images abounded. When Jesus went all the way to the cross never once giving into the images, he broke the spell and opened to us the possibility of truth. We still fall into the same trap today serving images that are not true but seem true to us. It is Jesus love unto death that alone can overcome our captivity to the images, all the things in our fallen world that promise salvation but always and only deliver death.

Jesus refused to be what his disciples wanted him to be. He refused to be what the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducee's and Priests wanted him to be, he refused to be what Rome wanted him to be...from the 40 days in the wilderness to the events of Palm Sunday and Holy Week, Jesus never gave way nor gave into the deaths deadly game. To the end, Jesus was faithful to be only and fully who he was - the lover of his Father in heaven and the lover of creation loving us to the fullest (see what Halden has to say about this love and the good in Good Friday).

A Stringfellow Quote

2009-04-09T15:46:00.000-07:00

This is form Stringfellow's Free in Obedience (William Stringfellow Reprint) and seems apropos for Holy Week contemplation.

Many do not believe. Many men hate the Cross because it means a salvation not of their own choosing or making, but rather of God's grace and his mercy. Men hate the Cross because it means a salvation which is unearned, undeserved, unmerited. Men would much prefer God to punish them than to forgive them because that would mean that God is dependent upon men and needed their obedience to be their God. Then God would be in fact on different from an idol of race, nation, family, or whatever, and a man would feel justified either by his obedience to the idol or the the
punishment of his disobedience.

On Truth

2009-04-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

Now there's a can of worms for you!

This is the time of year Christians are especially conscious of the event recorded in the final chapters of each of the four Gospels. One statement in the record kept coming to mind and rattling around in my head as this conversation progressed. The statement was reportedly made by Pilate and concludes Pilate's examination of Jesus as John records it, "What is truth?"

What is "truth"? There are those who have come to the conclusion that the truth is that truth is relevant. Truth is contextual. Philosophy is concerned with truth. Physicists are concerned with truth. Scientific method is concerned with truth. Religion is concerned with truth.

The conversation I had this morning was with someone who more or less shares my religious worldview and yet we were hard pressed to come to some common ground! What is truth? As we were parting, and still conversing, I made one last attempt to put into words the point I was trying to make, "God loves you (meaning the exact person I was in conversation with specifically) and I'll be damned if I don't." Whatever truth is, this is a truth that bears attending to.

John makes this point with greater elegance in his telling of the Gospel and his first letter to some of his contemporaries. But the point is that there seems to be a truth that is greater than the things we usually go on about - "For God so loved the world..." Do I have any business NOT?!

Spring, History, Missional

2009-04-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

(This picture of California Poppy's was recently taken by Herbert Caufman)

Spring reminds me, year in and year out, that we do not live in a static world. Ours is a dynamic world of wonder and chaotic beauty. Ours is a world of living, thriving beauty. Ours is a world that speaks day and night and in every language of the glories of the God of creation. Ours is a world of gift. Celebrate that gift in every way possible as spring explodes around you. Celebrate it in the planting and tending of gardens. Celebrate it in the cultivation of friendships, both old and new. Celebrate it in the cultivation and nurturing of the fruit of the Spirit in your life.

A Friend of mine, Chris Schurawel, sent me a note the other day saying, “I heard an interesting quote the other day, ‘God's Love for us is a historical fact.’ I never thought of it that way but it kind of brings it home.” Did you know we couldn’t think this thought without the revelation of Scripture? Yes, indeed, the whole idea of history is the result of God's revealing himself to Israel and the development, as a result, of the understanding that God, who so revealed himself, is the God of "history" in which there is a beginning and a destination, a purpose, and eschaton. This overthrew the dominate humanly perception of "the circle of time" of “the circle of life” more modernly expressed as the dialectic of thesis- antithesis-synthesis and the nihilism of post-modernism. Instead the reveled God is the God of history and his love for us is a historical act fully revealed in Jesus Christ!

This understanding of history is the crux and basis for the idea of “progress” that, when separated from the Biblical revelation becomes utopianism, positivism and idealism. But, setting aside those side tracks, it is the revealed reality that God’s love is a historical fact and that the Triune God is indeed the God of history that calls us to pursue our missional calling in Christ, to participate with Christ in his mission to this, God’s historical world, in and through which he has chosen to reveal his glory- his Love, and to love this world, our neighbor, the stranger even our enemy in the same way that God does.

To speak of the historicity of our experience in this world is to acknowledge that the world is still a work in progress and that the Lord is committed to completing that which he has begun. As his people, we are called to be about our Father’s business and thus the “recent” and ongoing conversation about the missional church. The Father sent the Son. The Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit send US.

...and walk humbly...

2009-03-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

My heart is not proud, O LORD,

my eyes are not haughty;

I do not concern myself with great matters

or things too wonderful for me. (Psalm 131)

I often find myself involved in many conversations that end up focusing on the perceived state of affairs, what is and what should be. These conversations usually involve a great amount of speculation on just what needs to be done to fix things... and usually it's "everybody else" who needs to get with it. There is a hefty amount of critique of the current "powers that be" or how the "powers that want to be" need to get out of the way so the current "powers that be" can get on with the pogrom that will restore or bring about the perfect society. I've had plenty of my own to say along these lines, and always with (1) the best intentions, and (2) God's backing! Yet, when "I speak for peace (in my terms and via my worldview) they are for war!" (see Psalm 121)

Then I come to Psalm 131, and I discover that there is indeed another way. According to the the heading, this is a Psalm of David. What was his secret? He came to understand his place in his God's creation... and it wasn't to be God! David had a calling and he had both natural and spiritual gifts to live in and live out that calling... but his secret was that he came to understand that God was the one who would work all things out according to his good purposes and David came to live in that faith.

This isn't about passivity or subservience. This is about humility, that biblical virtue that develops in the pilgrim/disciple life and character as we come to discover our gifts and calling in Christ. This understanding of humility is described by Paul in Romans thus, "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us."

Humility is taking seriously God's order of creation. Humility takes seriously the whole of creation and our place in it - not to lord it over either creation or each other, but to find our place, discover or gifts, cultivating them, finding our calling and then giving ourselves whole heartedly to the work and life the Lord creates and calls us to.

2009-03-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

The gospel-good news. But have some of us Christians lost touch with that reality, indeed if we ever really came to know it in the first place. God LOVES his creation and God LOVES us! In the end it is only that truth that matters, for if this were not so there would be no us! A poet form long ago put it this way:

"If you, O YHWH, kept a record of sins,

O Lord, who could stand?

Then the gospel:

"But with you there is forgiveness;

therefore you are feared.

Gospel, good news, something worth shouting about... something to PREACH!

Here is a short refresher on Christian preach for all my preaching friends... and for all my friends to help keep us preachers on track!

A Day in El Monte

2009-03-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday around 2:30pm Teresa and I climbed in the Sorento and headed south. We arrived in Freno at 4:00 where we picked up Becky and Logan and continued south. We stopped for dinner just before starting over the Grapevine into So Cal. By 9:00pm we arrived at my nieces home in Fontana where we spent the night. Then this morning we drove into El Monte and spent the day with dad and my sis, Di and my brother, John (who is out visiting from PA). Logan was fed and happy so Beck, Teresa and I went over to see mom for a bit. While we were gone Lisa, Moriah and Devon showed up and we hung out for the afternoon. We looked at old pictures and told stories of years gone by and possibilities for years to come. Dad had a chance to be with his three great grand kids.

In a few minutes Teresa, Becky, Logan and I will head back north

It was a good day.

2009-03-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

So, what we actually see is light and not the actual objects the light is reflecting off of... unless we are actually looking at a light source, and even then it is still the light emanating for the source that we see. If there is no light, if I find myself in utter darkness and I can't "see" anything, this doesn't mean the things aren't there, they very much are I just can't see them, though if I start walking around I'll bump into them.

Our world is full of objects that we keep bumping into. We bump into each other, not ever really seeing each other... unless light shines on us. Jesus is said to be "the light of the world." His light shines into the creation and gives light to all and "in his light we see light." When Christ shines in our lives we ganin our sight and become able to see each other... and in seeing each other we discover life!

Reflections

2009-03-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

There are reflections all around us. Everything we see is a reflection... well a great deal of what we see is a reflection since somethings we see are light eminating form a light source, like the light emmited by a TV or a head light. But most of what we see is light reflecting off of various surfaces. I find that odd when I... reflect on it. I'm looking a a rock, but what I see is the light that is reflecting off the rock, not the rock itself though I will certainly say that I see the rock. So, am I actually seeing the rock? I can describe the light that I see reflecting off the rock, but can I really say what the rock itself actually looks like. Of course, I can always walk over and touch the rock, so, based on that touch, I can say that something is there to touch and since the light I see is reflecting off the surface of the rock I know somthing is there, but is what is there what I see? and if not then what really is there?

Hmmm.... these thoughts seem to rate right up there with my posts on nothing... or do they, since nothing would not reflect any light whereas the rock will.

OK, so, the point here is that I needed to post some reflections, and since it's late and I didn't what to do the mental reflection why not say something about light reflections.

On Waiting

2009-03-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

I returned yesterday afternoon form a three day prayer retreat at Mission Springs Conference Center. It was a good three days. Three days of waiting, listening, relaxing. If you have a chance to participate in such a retreat take advantage of it.

Joy

2009-03-07T15:41:00.000-08:00

Psalm 126 is quite a distance form Psalm 120! Psalm 120 is that place we find ourselves when we live in the world we live in without the knowledge of God. Hold on now! Notice I didn't say with out thoughts about god or even life shaping god statements and belief systems. But the world described in Psalm 120 sounds a lot like the everyday world I experience, hear about and see portrayed through much of the media of all kinds... except that Psalm 120 is also, rather, actually, about a cry for help, a cry that leads to Psalm 126 and beyond.

There is a common thread weaving its way in and through the next few Psalms - I'll call it "abundance." Perhaps a better thinker could find a better expression of the thread, but abundance will due for now. Here, Psalm 126, it is in the overflow of joy but it also comes in the harvest following the tearful sowing. In 127 the abundance is illustrated in the number of children born to a couple. In 128 the abundance is spoken of in terms of blessedness and illustrated again by the image of a family this time gathered around the family table.

The abundance, though, is the result of a life marked by GIVING! The sower goes forth cast away his seed. The abundance of 127 is in the giving of oneself in work (building houses and watching cities) that is in partnership with the Lord.

In 128 the abundance results in a life lived in alignment with the ways of God. The creation is created to give and sustain the life of faith. Fear of God, living in the awe of the over flowing richness of God's creation leads to a blessedness that is abundant in it's giving.

The abundant life is a life defined by giving away, giving out, giving forth - truly the Lord teaches us this when we read, "It is more blessed to give then to receive."

Baptism

2009-03-07T13:32:00.000-08:00

In the morning I will lead eight folks into the waters of baptism. These baptisms will take place during our regular weekly worship gathering as part of our enactment of the Gospel this week. Each time I participate in this act of worship, it gives me a chance to remember and renew my own baptismal experience... and for this I'm grateful. Actually, to incorporate baptisms in our worship gatherings is a means for all the baptised to remember and renew their baptismal experience... so let it be.

Acts 2:37-39 Turn around

When the church was born, Peter and the other disciples stood on a porch in Jerusalem and proclaimed Jesus as the Christ. As he concluded his proclamation many of those listening to him asked what they must do, realizing the truth of Peter's words. Peter responded that they must "[r]epent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call."

In my baptism, I turned form one way of life centered on self, to a life centered on God to walk his road. It's that Psalm 120 moment of realizing that the ways of this world go no where (check out Nietzsche's nihilism and Heidegger's becoming and passing away) and crying out for help discover a whole new world (new creation) opening up before me. Baptism is that moment of leaving off the old road (dying a death to death) and entering onto a new road - El Camino Real.

Romans 6:1-14 In baptism I remember that I am buried with Christ in his death and Raised up with Christ into new creation.. This isn't just cleaning up my act, or getting an extreme makeover - this is resurrection into a whole new creation.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 In baptism I become a member of a new "delimited" community in which we are no longer divided by our differences, but our differences become our source of common hope and growth as members of one another in Christ.

Colossians 2:6-15 In baptism I receive the freedom of Christ. Freedom form sin and the cultural and political controls operating under the rule of death, being now energized by the fullness of God the Spirit.

Tomorrow, I will enter the water again with a group of folks who have heard at some level the call of the Spirit and will enact that call entering into a new life. Praise be to God!

Chris Schurawel - VORTEX

2009-03-06T13:03:00.000-08:00

My friend, Chris, posted this note on his Face Book page: The Vortex. Chris' description of the current and ongoing crisis in the financial world conjured up a sense of the "apocalyptic!" You know. You've seen them. The apocalyptic movies that come out from time to time where the world is destroyed "overnight" by something. For a while is was the threat of all out atomic war. then it was the "China Syndrome" where all the nuclear reactors were on the verge of melt down! Then the is the perennial act of aliens bent of our total and complete annihilation or the spread of some super virus either the result of some over aggressive profit drive drug company or some secret government research program/conspiracy gone wacky. Or, perhaps a huge meteor is on a collision course or the a last straw environmental damage that tips the scales and the world is plunged into chaotic destruction. You've seen them all... we love our apocalyptic movies!

But this is really a misuse and misunderstanding of the term "apocalyptic." The root word in apocalypse is kalypto - a Greek word that means buried. It can be used to speak of things that are hidden or unseen. when you add the the preposition apo (from, away from) you get apocalypto or apokalypsis with the meaning to uncover, reveal or revelation respectively.

The popular understanding of apocalyptic as catastrophe is because of the catastrophic descriptions found in the New Testament Book of Revelation (as well as a couple of Old Testament books and other popular writings from the period). But the book of Revelation takes it's name form it's opening words, "Apokalypsis Iesous Christou" (sorry about the transliteration, blogger fonts are limited) which translates, "The revelation of Jesus Christ..."

So, what is uncovered, what is revealed in the current state of affairs, the VORTEX describe by Chris?

Oak Trees

2009-02-20T22:53:00.000-08:00

Isaiah 61 is an amazing text. Outside the front door of the building where the folks who identify themselves as San Andreas Community Covenant Church there lives one of those magnifacent California Live Oaks. There is a story around the congregation that one of our former pastors would, at the end of every annual meeting make a motion to change the name of the church to "Live Oak Covenant Chruch" for the very reason that that oak tree has stood at the entrance of our building for so many long years.

Not a bad idea I think to myself whenever I take time to sit under that tree and my thoughts are drawn to this text in Isaiah 61. Jesus read this text in Synagouge one Sabbaht day...

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anoited me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to porclaim the year of the Lord's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion-
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil fo gladness instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Here is one of those "missional" texts. Jesus took this text as an identity text for himself and a text that described the work he was sent to do. This is a text that becomes an identity and missional descriptor for the community that bares the name Christian - Christ followers, or Christ-like ones.

Diner with Friends

2009-02-19T15:44:00.000-08:00

Our home group gathered around the table tonight to share a meal...

John and Sherry

Lauren...the youg lady in the middle at the end of the table is just moved into our home... she is an exchange student form Colombia.

To the right: Ingrid and Neil

and Jan is in the middle at the end of the table

a short word from the "boss"

2009-02-18T13:52:00.000-08:00

Gary Walters, President of the Evangelical Covenant Church, speaks to the ECC's positioning in the current and future cultural milieu:

Covenant Reporter Video Update - Gary Walter part 1 from Covenant Communications on Vimeo.

Barry Schwartz at 2009 TED Conference

2009-02-17T22:06:00.000-08:00

As I listened to this talk Jesus' words came to mind, "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'"

there certainly is more that could be said, but give this a listen and let me know what you think.

"Salvific"

2009-02-11T16:27:00.001-08:00

Sal-vif-ic \sal-'vif-ik\ adj [LL safvificus, fr. L salvus safe + -ficus -fic] (1591) : having the intent or power to save or redeem <the ~ life and death of Christ - E.A. Walsh>

This is the entry for "salvific" in the Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. Not a word you hear much in conversation. Not a word I've heard in a long time... until recently. I heard this world used a few weeks ago and then again one other time since. As I said, it has been years - many years - since I have heard this word used. I can't remember the context of the second instance, but the first instance was in the course of a new born being "dedicated" at a worship service. (Actually it was after the service was effectively finished but before the congregation was dismissed.) The officiating minister introduced the ceremony with these words, "...dedications for us are... more of a... commissioning and a commitment. They're not salvific by any means..."

As I heard these words I realized that I had journeyed quite a ways form my early roots in the church and it's understanding of how the Lord brings about our redemption. I'm still on a great journey of discovery, but at the moment the above words reached my ears, I found myself deeply thankful for the gracious nudging (often the "gracious-ness" of the "nudging" was only recognized after the fact!) of the Lord that has guided me deeper into the overarching, pervasive, all encompassing grace and love of the Creator and his redemptive work in his creation.

As these words were spoken I found myself asking that if this act is not "salvific" then why are we doing it?" I know why the disclaimer was put up front and years ago I would have said something like it. But now it strikes me as strange, if not actually contradictory, that something as profound, indeed, profoundly sacred as the presentation of a new born child who is nothing less than the image of God according to Scripture, that at this moment of presentation and dedication to the Creator of a universe in which such a bringing forth of just such a new life can even happen, how could such an act not be salvific?

Of course the thinking is that for "the salvific life and death of Christ" to become effective in this child's life, this child must someday take some action that at this stage of his development he cannot take and this ceremony, as the officiant was careful to point out, is little more than an attempt to charge the parents and to promise that he and those who are members of this congregation will support and remind the parents to do whatever they can to get this child to perform that act that will make effective the salvific power Christ in the child's life.

As a result, instead of this act being a celebration in and of the community of Christ of the wonder and miracle of new life, the fruit of the sacramental love (i.e. Ephesians 5:32 in context) of the young parents, and a truly powerful and richly spiritual expression and experience of worship, it became a sentimental, yet sacrally empty ritual tacked onto the closing moments of a service that had also included the ritual observance of Communion.

In our attempts to be faithful to evangelicalism's tenant of "salvation by faith alone" we have replace the richly profound and extremely communal and Biblical sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist with the much impoverished and individualistic "sacrament" of "the sinners prayer." Certainly, anything we do is far from "salvific"... ANYTHING. That's the point of the Church's proclamation of the Gospel. It is indeed the life and death and resurrection and ascension of Christ that is salvific. The presentation of a child (which was required by God in the Law of Moses thus this act is much more than sentimentality) is indeed part of that salvific act of Christ, since that child exists as an act of creation in the first place and it is for the redemption and reconciliation of creation that Christ lived, died ,rose again and ascended salvificly!

Instead of us living in fear that somehow we are going to let someone think they are included in the salvific life and death of Jesus Christ when they really aren't (according to our understanding) by making sure nothing we do can possible give them the impression that they are when they are not, let the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit sort out whose in and whose out - since in the end they alone can make such judgments and have chosen NOT to share such authority and responsibility with us. As for you and me, let's give ourselves to the full and unbridled celebration of the gift of grace that life is and compel one and all wherever we may find them to come the the great feast!

A new voice

2009-02-09T21:46:00.000-08:00

Here is a post by a young man in our community whom I've grown to respect deeply. Check it out.

Candle Mass

2009-02-02T19:13:00.000-08:00

Leviticus 12:1-4, 6-8

1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Say to the Israelites: 'A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. 3 On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. 4 Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over....6 " 'When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. 7 He shall offer them before the LORD to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood.
" 'These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. 8 If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.' "

Luke 2:22-24

22When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"), 24and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons."

Today, February 2, is the Feast of the Purification of Mary and the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Why did Joseph and Mary take Jesus to the Temple on that day? Were they fulfilling a religious duty? Were they doing what was expected of them? Or were they carrying out an act of faithful devotion unto the Lord their God. We easily fall into an odd way of thinking about God sometimes - or perhaps better - often. Certainly Joseph and Mary were fulfilling what was "required" of them in the Law of Moses, which for them was indeed the will of God. But is it not possible to understand their actions as high actions of heartfelt devotion to their Lord? an act of heartfelt love?

This is the first time in my life that I heard of what February 2 means in the liturgical calender, and as I have had opportunity to consider the event this day celebrates, I remember once again that my "acts of righteousness" defined by Jesus in Matthew 6 as alms giving, prayer and fasting, are not odd religious acts, but acts of devotion that now shape me, my life, my thinking, my being. Prayer, worship, devotional reading of Scripture along with and meditation on Scripture, fasting, gathering with other believers... these and other "spiritual disciplines" are practices that keep my head straight, so to speak, about what this world is all about and what life is truly all about.

One act performed on this day is to bless the candles that will be used in worship for the coming year, thus the Candle Mass. The candles that burn in worship services are symbols that remind us of the words of Simeon, who was led to Jesus on this day in the Temple and he speaks of Jesus as "a light to enlighten the nations."

May the Light of the World shine in you ever more brightly as this year unfolds!

Lamps in the Season of Lights, continued again

2009-01-31T20:47:00.000-08:00

So, here we are, "I'm in trouble. I cry to God desperate for an answer: "Deliver me from the liars, God! They smile so sweetly but lie through their teeth." (Psalm 120, The Message). But as mentioned in the previous post, the problem with deceit leaves the deceived at a loss since as the Lord points out, if the light that is in us is darkness, how great is the darkness. Thus we find ourselves in a situation from which we can't escape... on our own at least. But, and herein is Gospel, this is not a condition the Lord is willing to leave us in and so he sends his word. God reveals himself, the one who is Light and in his "light we can see light" as the poet puts it (Psalm 36:9.

That light, that word isn't just a light or a word, but the Lord himself, who is Light and who is the Word. It is God himself who reveals himself and only in his revelation of himself can we be set free from the deceit that acts as light in us. Isaiah became brutally aware of the problem one day when suddenly he finds himself in the very presence of God,

"Doom! It's Doomsday!

I'm as good as dead!

Every word I've ever spoken is tainted—

blasphemous even!

And the people I live with talk the same way,

using words that corrupt and desecrate.

And here I've looked God in the face!" (Isaiah 6:5, The Message)

Remember, Isaiah was a priest. And at the moment of this revelation, he was performing the priestly duties in the Temple. But when God reveals himself, the light of that revelation exposes the truth of Isaiah's lips, his words, words he believed to be true and yet somehow their "true-ness" are exposed as lies, blasphemous in fact, and Isaiah discovers something much like the Psalmist discovered - "I'm in trouble... and so is everyone around me!"

Of course, as Isaiah confesses, God takes the initiative and cleanses Isaiah.

Epiphany is that day in the year that the church celebrates the Revelation that Christ is. The Light of God has come into our darkness! The season of light is a time for us to once again receive that revelation that can overthrow the darkness in us. Paul uses nothing less than the very creation story to express this hope, "For God who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness," is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

May the light of Christ shine on you and fill you with light. May the Lord heal your eyes, as the Psalmist experience for his next pilgrim song, Psalm 121, begins thus, "I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come form? My help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth!"

Lamps in the Season of Lights, continued

2009-01-31T15:24:00.000-08:00

I got started a few days ago on this and posted some thoughts provoked by Psalm 120. I made a connection between the lying lips and deceitful tongue in the Psalm with Jesus' comment about the eye being the lamp of the body and what that means for us if the lamp is dark. Jesus makes the point that if the "light" that is in us is darkness, then how great is the darkness within us. This is a statement about deception - whether that deception comes form outside (we are led by another to believe something is true when it indeed is not) or whether it is from within - self-deception.

The dilemma is that once we accept the deception as true, that becomes our light and it makes it extremely hard for us to realize our condition no matter what anyone says - even if that "anyone" is someone we would normally trust! (Actually, it's exponentially worse than "extremely hard," it's actually impossible.) If we push this a bit, we come to a certain set of conclusions at the bottom of which we may find this question: How do any of us know what is "true"? There is quite a bit of conversation about such things some of which derives from serious thinkers and some of which is simply pop expressions of the serious thinking... and some is just plain silly. Nevertheless, it is an issue that is real, thus the Psalmist distress as he came to the realization that something had gone wrong in his life and he was in trouble, big trouble!

I have to go to the transfer station now... so I'll come back to this latter.

Lamps in the Season of LIghts

2009-01-29T13:02:00.000-08:00

My thoughts keep coming back to Psalm 120:

"I'm in trouble. I cry to God, desperate for an answer:

'Deliver me from liars, God! They smile so sweetly but lie through their teeth.'"

"I'm doomed to live in Meschech, cursed with a house in Kedar.

My whole life lived camping among quarreling neighbors.... they go to war!"

Deceit and war - these two go hand-in-hand. Deceit and war characterize so much of our history.

But it is not just the deceit that is exterior to us that causes so much of our trouble - it's the problem of self-deceit that in the end gets us!

Jesus calls our attention to this phenomenon when he says, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness." Then he concludes with these paradoxical words, "If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"

The problem of deceit and self-deceit, is that the deception is seen as truth. The reality defined by the deceit is to the deceived the truth. It is "light" that is darkness, but acts as if it is light. Thus the intensity of the Lord's words.

Here We Go

2009-01-24T12:26:00.001-08:00

I just may become a fan of the Daily Show afterall!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

After watching this check out this essay by Jim Wallis, Dangerous Religion. I wonder if Jim will give the same sustained critic of the current administration as he did the previous administration.

It's easy for time to slip by...

2009-01-21T20:48:00.000-08:00

Ok, now I should say something about how quickly the days fly by. Or maybe how easy it is to let time slip by without getting enough things done. We are after all a time concious group of people. Our new president only has so much time before the 'honeymoon' is over so he and his team will have to make the most of that time. But, really, all I wanted to do is get a new post up on my blog. and I haven't had time to think about what to post on... so I thought I'd take some time anyway and just go for it... and this is what you get!

Ok, let me think.......... OK, I've got something.... hmmm... no not that... let me think... .... .... wow, I'm not coming up with anything. And now I'm out of TIME!!!!

I'll at least tell you what books I'm reading right now:

David Hart, The Beauty Of The Infinite: The Aesthetics Of Christian Truth

Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation

Thomas G. Bandy, Spirited Leadership: Empowering People to Do What Matters

Kennon L. Callahan, Visiting in an Age of Mission: A Handbook for Person-to-Person Ministry

David Weber, By Schism Rent Asunder

One more thing, I haven't worn a wrist watch for years now... of course I'm never too far from some kind of time keeping device.

It's time for compline. Good night.

"Happy New Year" NOT?

2009-01-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

Velda Love begins a post at Seminary Without Wall with these words, "The standard greeting upon the stroke of midnight on December 31st is 'Happy New Year'.... This year I said this phrase less only because I’m concerned if I start out the year this way I’ll give well-wishers a false sense that it is indeed going to be a happy new year."

While I understand Velda's sentiment, I'm not sure I'd agree with the rationale. If anything, I'd say it was more necessary than ever for such words of blessing. Should we extend words of blessing only when things are going well for larger numbers of people and withhold them when larger numbers of people seem to be facing hard times?

If Velda's reasoning is followed then what about the common practice of the benediction at the close of a worship service? What about the practice of saying good night or good mornig? These are not just empty greetings. They are good practices of a civil society and allow us to interact with each other in gracious ways and are important for civil interaction - it's good manners!

The whole purpose behind such traditional greetings as "Happy New Year" is indeed a matter of civility - that discipline of gracious interaction between members of a society. The purpose of the greeting isn't so much to describe the reality of peoples lives, but is meant to express a "well wish" or perhaps a prayer for well being. And, such greetings allow us to live graciously toward each other, respecting each other in plubic space.

Dick Meyer, in his book Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium gives a fascinating analysis of this issue of civility and its demise among us here in USAmerica. Check it out.

I must say, though, that Velda comes through in the end with these final words, "Ok, I'll say it and mean it - Thank you God and may we all have a New Year where happiness meets us daily."

Thank you Velda, and happy new year to you also.

Psalm 120 and the Beatitudes

2009-01-05T09:34:00.001-08:00

Psalm 120: A Pilgrim Song (The Message)

1-2 I'm in trouble. I cry to God, desperate for an answer:
"Deliver me from the liars, God!
They smile so sweetly but lie through their teeth."

3-4 Do you know what's next, can you see what's coming,
      all you barefaced liars?
   Pointed arrows and burning coals
      will be your reward.

5-7 I'm doomed to live in Meshech,
      cursed with a home in Kedar,
   My whole life lived camping
      among quarreling neighbors.
   I'm all for peace, but the minute
      I tell them so, they go to war!

Matthew 5:3-10 (The Message)

3"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

4"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

5"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

6"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.

7"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.

8"You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

9"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

10"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

In "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction" chapter 2, Eugene Peterson finds the great theme of repentance. Repentance is THE starting point of our great pilgrimage in Christ form the morass of a God-denying world, a world thus defined by lies and always at war, to the kingdom of God, the Kingdom where the essential goodness of creation, all creation, is restored - BLESSEDNESS! (See the language of blessing in the final Psalm of this series, 134.)

This morning my devotional reading brought me to the Matthew 5 and as I read the beatitudes again, I thought of how Psalm 120 and Jesus' words of blessing are counterpoints - or perhaps - the beatitudes and all that follows from Christ are YHWH's answer when Psalm 120 becomes our cry.

Table Fellowship

2009-01-04T20:47:00.001-08:00

Friday night we had our new friends Gary and Nikki over and enjoyed a delightful time of getting to know them a little bit. Nikki is a native of Calaveras County and Gary immigrated to this foothill gold country county form Vallejo, CA. (I learned that the correct way to pronounce Vallejo is with a silent 'j')

Then this afternoon we shared lunch with Cindy, Mark, Ingred, Neil and Tim. We shared stories about days spent in Chicago, Southern California and Washington. We shared stories about ministry, ordination, commissioning interviews, both past and anticipated and conferences.

Now this is indeed enriching and fruitful time!

A Couple of Thought Provoking Vids

2009-01-03T20:15:00.001-08:00

If you haven't discovered ted.com check it out.

What a world...

Time Census:Productivity or Fruitfulness

2009-01-03T20:15:00.000-08:00

A few days ago a friend dropped in and wanted to know if I had 30 minutes I could spare. Then one of the things he wanted to talk about was his use of time. My friend began by relating the story of the time David, King of Israel, decided he wanted to take a census of the people. His cousin and the commander of his army tried to disuade him, but David insisted and so the thing was done. And then David and many of his subjects suffered some serious reprecusions.

Then my friend put a spin on this story that took me by surprise. He wanted to know if he should stress over how he is accounting for and using his time - should he be worried about taking a "census" of his time. We talked about this and some other things and prayed and he went on to work and I went back to work... well actually, I was already at work and I had never left work - indeed this little conversation and others like it is part of my work, I happen to be my friend's pastor and he was asking for some pastoral counsel on this and a few other matters.

But the point that struck me as we chatted was the idea of thinking about how a census was to be taken in Israel and the idea of "taking a census of our time." The Law of Moses did not prohibit taking a census. In fact several censuses are recorded in Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. So what was the problem with David's census? It has something to do with ownership! The people of Israel were GOD's people, and belonged to no one else - not the Egyptians nor to a king from among their own tribes. Accordingly, Moses was instructed that when a census was taken (and it was only males 20 yrs and older who were counted) they were each to pay an "atonement-tax" or a "ransome" of a half-shekel when they were counted (the rich weren't to give more and the poor weren't to give less - all were equally the Lord's).

So, who owns my time? How is my time to me used? Is time, as we are want to say, money? Is the only legitamate use of time in the act of productivity? Productivity was a significant aspect of our conversation, and my friend's initial comment about my having 30 minutes to spare comes from the same mode of thinking - He was asking if I could afford giving him the time he was requesting as if such time would then have to be counted as wasted, as unproductive. (btw, we spent more than 30 minutes in conversation and prayer.)

As I journey through the Story (now into the evening of the 10th Day of Christmas) how will I count my time? How will I "redeem the time" as Paul exhorts the Ephesians?

My time is God's time, and may I by the grace of the Holy Spirit LIVE that time well!

In the end, using the productivity language, I'd say the time my friend and I spent together was productive... no, way more fitting would be to say, our time spent together was "fruitful."

So what about the Twelve Days of Christmas?

2008-12-29T17:28:00.000-08:00

So, it happened to me just as some predicted and I have come to expect... the "let down" or anti-climatic "afterward" of Christmas Day. To counteract the market take-over of Advent and Christmas I treid to keep myself focused on the stories that Luke uses to open his telling of the Gospel. And as Christmas day approached I found myself wondering how it would all end on Christmas day with little or no thought toward participating in a Christmas service somewhere. In fact, I bacame aware for the first time that, unless Christmas fell on a Sunday I have never belonged to a congregation that held a Christ-mass on Christmas day! The only exception to this is an experience I had in Chicago when I was asked to hold a Julotta Service at Covenant Home in Chicago, IL while I was studying at North Park Theological Seminary.

For a number of evangelical churches "Christmas Eve" services become opportunities for "marketing" (Bayside in Granite Bay in Roseville, CA presented 13 "Christmas Eve" services beginning December 18 and running through December 24). On the other hand, one evangelical church I'm aware of (The Well Community Church) not only didn't call the congregation to worship Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but they even canceled there regualr worship services on December 21st so that the congregants could spend more time with their families (They did produce a resource for "home church" on a local TV channel for families to watch together).

Our church called the congregation and community to worship on Christmas Eve but we didn't provide for a Christmas day service. The Ultra Rev pointed me to these comments by Amy Sullivan in an article on the vanishing practice of Christmas worship. Actually, Christmas day worship had vanished in the church I grew up in by the time I was aware of church at all if our church ever held a Christmas day service. Actually, the Christmas service was held the Sunday before Christmas and I don't remeber a Christmas Eve service in particular though there was an usually a Christmas cantata the Sunday night before Christmas.

In the tradition I grew up in, the only remnants of the Christian Year was Christmas and Easter but they stood as two seperate days in the year one anchored in the historical events of Passover and the other seemingly randomly established perhaps as a compromise with the old pagan culture of the Roman/Greek world.

But it turns out that Christmas is much more than a single day randomly established for strange if not questionable reasons on December 25. Christmas is one of a series of days in the Chruch Calendar that becomes the frame work for the narrative that is the reason for the Chruch's ongoing existance - the proclomation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And then it turns out that Christmas is actually itself the first of the Twleve Days of Christmas! I wonder if it's possible to recapture the shapping power of a year shapped by the rhythms of a calendar ordered by the Biblical story of Creations longing (Advent) the Creator's redeemptive act (Christmas through Good Friday) and New Creation (Easter through Christ The King Sunday).

The Closing Moments of Advent

2008-12-25T00:00:00.001-08:00

It’s Christmas Eve and we come tonight to the final moments of Advent.

The First Candle: Hope

During this Advent season we heard the…. SILENCE of Zechariah, which spoke to us of the silence of the prophets for 400 years and the long, and at many turns, forlorn HOPE of the people who still waited for the promise of which that HOPE was born and nurtured.

The Second Candle: Love

We hear the Songs of Elizabeth and Mary, whose LOVE of God prepared them to be mothers, one of the prophet who would prepare the way for the Promised One, calling the people of Israel back to their first love and the other the mother of God – mother of the Child who is the very embodiment of LOVE, for God is LOVE!

The Third Candle: Joy

We hear the voice of Joseph, whose JOY in his engagement to Mary is threatened by the scandal when she is found “to be with child” after an absence of several months! But whose JOY is restored and made firm by the visit of an Angel of God who brings him the news that the child Mary is carrying is none other than the very Son of God, and the fulfillment of his family’s long hope for The Son of David. JOY to the world!

The Fourth Candle: Peace

Then there are Simeon and Anna, both living lives of devotion to the God of Israel and upon seeing Joseph and Mary with the baby, Jesus, when they came to the Temple to present him to the Lord, Anna gave thanks to God and spoke to everyone about the Child and we hear Simeon say,

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in PEACE."

The Christ Candle

"For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a LIGHT for revelation to the Nations and for the glory of your people Israel."

Merry Christmas, friends!

A Short Vid of our grandsons frist 24 hrs

2008-12-20T15:26:00.000-08:00

Logan, grandma and grandpa

2008-12-19T20:28:00.000-08:00

Advent and the Birth of a Child

2008-12-17T20:17:00.001-08:00

Advent is about yearning... waiting... preparing... Advent leads to the birth of a child! To think that the future of the world comes down to... not ideologies nor great armies, economies, political systems... but the birth of a child! And thus we hear the voice of the Prophet,

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

It is the birth of Christ that fulfills this promise and makes the birth of all our children filled with the promise that all of creation and life is.

Speaking of yearning, waiting and preparing for the birth of a child... let me introduce you all to my grandson, Logan Scott born to Becky and Scott at 4:34 this afternoon!

The birth of a child... the promise of a future!

The Lord bless you, Logan!

Advent Conspiracy

2008-12-14T22:38:00.000-08:00

Advent and New Creation

2008-12-14T16:54:00.001-08:00

Elizabeth becomes a member a line of mothers who had lived with barrenness...

Sarah	Rebecca	Manoah's Wife	Hannah

Barrenness is part of the death that devours us all in the world and life that we inhabit. In each of these women's lives the Lord of Life intervenes and heals them. These acts of healing in themselves become a promise that life will triumph over death.

But with Mary something different takes place. Something that is at once congruent with creation, yet of a whole new order. For Sarah, Rebecca, Manoah's wife and Hannah, each had a husband but for Mary, "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" And the angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.... For nothing is impossible with God."

This echo's creation language! "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

For Mary, it is not a work of healing... it is a work of NEW CREATION!

New creation, God's final answer to the complaint of Habakkuk (1:2-4; 12-17) and cry of the Psalmist (Psalm 130)... "He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!' Then [echoing Habakkuk 2:2] he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'"

Advent, birth stories, ins and outs

2008-12-12T15:27:00.000-08:00

Luke starts his telling of the story of Jesus with two birth narratives... two birth stories. Speaking of birth stories... our daughter, Becky, is expecting her first child, our first grandchild. Sunday (Dec. 14) is her due date and she may be in labor even now since she's been having consistent contractions all day today. Her pregnancy has stimulated the telling of a number of birth narratives in our circles of friends! Narratives of her birth, the births of her brothers and sisters, the births of the children and grand children of friends and other family members!

Luke was a doc, so perhaps it is only right that he would consider birth narratives as the appropriate place to begin the story of Jesus that he was telling his friend Theophilus.

The stories are about Zechariah, a priest and man of privilege and prestige by birth, but with no posterity excluded from passing on the ministry. Elizabeth, the wife of a priest, but with the stigma of being barren, excluded from the supposed blessing of God, excluded form the circle of the fertile. Joseph, the descendant of the 'fallen' house of David excluded form the halls of power. And Mary... simply a young virgin, whose livelihood depended on her betrothal to young Joseph... who is found to be with child excluding her form whatever place she might have held in her village.

Over the years I have heard folks speak of their exclusions. We used to play a little at the game of exclusion as kids in our neighborhood. There were the one or two who found themselves excluded more than the rest of us, but there was also a kind of rotation and we all took turns being excluded at one time or another in the course of any given year.

There was the whole "in crowd" "out crowd" thing at school. And often I'll here members of a congregation talk about the "inner circle" from which they always perceive themselves as excluded form (these folks seem to be unaware that the other folks whom they think are inner circle folks who in turn think these folks are the inner circle folks... kind of confusing isn't it?). Whose in? Whose out? Why when we are in are we so protective of that status and why when we perceive ourselves to be out are we so distraught or determined to get in. As I try to compose this I am assaulted with all kinds of thoughts and feelings of my own sense of in-ness and out-ness. But, Mary, indeed was out! So was Joseph, Elizabeth and even Zechariah though one can see an increasing degree of out-ness form Zechariah to Mary as these birth narratives unfold in Luke's telling.

And it is to Mary- the most excluded- that the angel comes with his message. And it is Mary that breaks out into song:

My soul doth magnify the Lord,

and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.

For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden;

for, behold, form henceforth all generations shall call me blessed...

God regarded the LOW ESTATE of his handmaiden and from that day on, a great movement has been afoot overcoming the barriers that divide us from each other. O, we still suffer much form the inclusion/exclusion -ess of our fallen world and fallen lives... but in Christ Jesus, the greatest barrier of all has fallen and in God's final future all walls will fall and we will all be included in the great and eternal Kingdom of our Great God and Savior.

Advent and Waiting...some more

2008-12-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

How long are you willing to wait?

Habakkuk: "How long, O Lord, must I call for help, bot you do not listen? Or cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you do not save?"

How long are you willing wait?

The Lord's reply to Habakukk is shocking! Things will get WORSE!

To this Habakkuk replies and then... "I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

How long are you willing to wait?

The Lord replies, calling the prophet to... WAIT! Wait for the revelation which speaks fo God's last future when the knowledge of the golry og the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea! And righteousness is tied up in beleiving that teh Lord indeed will be faithful to the promise that creation is. It is in the midst of the final word from the Lord to Habakkuk that we hear this saving truth "- but the righteous will live by his faith -"

From the Psalter:

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord;

O Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.

How long are you willing to wait?

Perhaps the author of this psalm realized how easy it was to take matters into his own hands since the next stanza is this:

If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,

O LORD who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness;

Therefore you are feared.

And then the psalmist goes on to sing...

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

and in his word, I put my hope

How long are you willing to wait? How long we are willing to wait becomes a matter of what level of hope we put into the LORD's word... or as the the LORD said to Habakkuk that the righteous will live by thier faith.

Paul understood something about this waiting when he writes:

22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:22-24)

And this is waht Advent calls us to - this waiting, but not a waiting for nothing, a waiting for the LORD's final future.

Turn aside from the market driven devouring of your life and turn to the work of WAITING that leads us to the first Avent's fulillment in Christmas! Join with Habakkuk, the Psalmist, Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Simeon and Anna... join with all creation as you hear and respond to the call of the Spirit to beleive inthe One of whom all the prophets spoke and to whom all the apostles and disciples bear witness who is the Resurrection and the Life- Jesus - the New Creation.

Here are a couple of posts on First Things web site that can give you some food for thought about Advetial waiting:

Joseph Bottum, "The End of Advent"

Michael Linton, "Happy New Liturgical Year!"

Advent and waiting

2008-12-08T15:33:00.000-08:00

I was 3 years old when Disneyland in Anaheim, CA opened. Our house was 28 miles from Disneyland! When family form whereever came to visit... you guessed it... off to Disneyland we would go for at least one day of that visit. The funny thing is, as I think back on those memories one thing stands out... the waiting! Not the waiting in line to get into the park or the waiting in lines once we got into the park, or eventhe waitng as we drove to the park (a 40-45 minute drive in those days)... but the waiting to leave from home to go to the park! The park would open at 10:00am so we'd leave around 9:00pm but it seems on Disneyland trip days us kids would be awake and ready to go around 7:00am! And we would wait... and wait... and wait... We learned quickly not to bother asking if it was time to leave yet... that usually only exasperated mom, who was usually the tour guide since dad would usually be at work.

So we'd wait and try to find something to do while we waited which never seemed to really help much.

Advent marks a time of waiting. Waiting for the promise. What promise? The promise that "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." This is part of the answer the Lord gave to Habukkuk in response to his waiting for the answer he was to give to the complaint he voiced about the stuff that was going on around him and what was happening to his people.

The reply given to Habukkuk was to be written down so that a herald could run with it... "For the revelation waits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it: it will certainly come and will not delay."

Part of that waiting is now done - This was understood by those who came to beleive in Jesus -that he was the Christ, the Messiah, the revelation of the glory of the Lord (see the Gospel of John). Paul speaks of the appointed time in his letter to the beleivers in Galatia, "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive fthe full rights as sons and daughters."

But the earth is yet to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea... and so we continue to wait. And like Habakkuk our waiting is done in faith, "-but the righteous will live by faith-"

Waiting, righteousness, faith - The quality of our waitng is determined by our faith in the pormise and what we do as we wait is of utmost importance. How we wait is of the essence. Actually, it is in believing in the Promise that our waiting will be marked by the very fruit of the Spirit. The very nature and character of our lives, how we live, what we do, how we think becomes fundementally different than a life lived without faith in the Promise. Once again we find that we are an eschatological people - a people who live out a true history.

I will refer you to the book of Habakkuk for your contemplation on the difference between a life shapped by the revelation and one shapped by no awareness or rejection of the revelation.

Advent is a season for us to remeber that we are to WAIT for the appointed time and that our waiting is to be done in the very way we live, the goals we seek, how we treat each other, how we live our lives.

Advent and Hope

2008-12-06T14:39:00.000-08:00

Joseph was a son of David... a descendant of a fallen royal family living out his days far from the centers of power. I wonder what it was like for Joseph. Did he give much thought to his lineage? What was it like for him as he sat through his lessons studying the Law of Moses and the history of his people a significant part of included his family PROMINENTLY. Did his friends know who his descendants were? Did he ever get picked on or teased as a child growing up because of his family tree? What would it be like knowing that at your ancestors had fallen form the greatness of the Kingdom under David and Solomon to a third rate backwater subject people?

Joseph was a carpenter. David was a shepherd. What about the promises found in the prophets, that someday YHWH would raise up a descendant of David to rule once again over a free nation? Did Joseph ever wonder if he might be the one? After all, David was the youngest of his family and wasn't even taken seriously enough to be present when Samuel came calling. If David could be chosen... why not Joseph, a carpenter from the village of Nazareth? I wonder... Did Joseph have such hopes? Or, did he ever wonder if perhaps one of his sons...?

Joseph was engaged... to Mary. He certainly had hopes of marriage and a family. Did he dare hope that one of his sons would be the one that God would use to restore the fortunes of Israel? At the very least he had hopes that he would continue the line along with any of his brothers or cousins that lived under the same prophetic promises. And so Joseph paid attention to his lessons and took to heart the example of his illustrious ancestor - "Thy law have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you."

Joseph was a righteous or just man. This was not the "righteousness" of those Jesus would confront years latter... having learned from his "step-father," Joseph, that righteousness is a matter of the heart and not of appearance. Somehow Joseph had learned that righteousness was also a matter of compassion and mercy. Joseph learned a hard lesson when love and righteousness collided... or seemed to collide. Joseph was engaged to marry Mary and after an absence of 4 or 5 months upon her return Joseph discovered she was pregnant. He knew what the Law required and to remain righteous he would need to take action. He decided that Mary's situation fell into the category we read about in Deuteronomy 22:25-27

25 But if out in the country a man happens to meet a girl pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. 26 Do nothing to the girl; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders his neighbor, 27 for the man found the girl out in the country, and though the betrothed girl screamed, there was no one to rescue her.

There were other options but Joseph couldn't know what had happened, and certainly Mary's story... well he wanted to protect her and give her the benefit of the doubt and his righteousness and his need to pass along the hope of the promise would wait and look for another bride who would be pure... until one night in a dream YHWH sent his angel to call him to set aside his reputation for the sake of God's redemptive work for Israel and the world. The test of righteousness... and Joseph, by the grace of God, met the challenge and became the step-father of the King of Glory and his hope was realized in the most surprising way... just like God's choice of David.

Advent calls us to a life lived in faithful righteousness in HOPE of the promises fulfilled in Jesus.

Passing Along a William Stringfellow Quote

2008-12-04T17:26:00.001-08:00

This quote from William Stringfellow was posted by Ben Myers on his blog, Faith and Theology.

“I had elected then [in my early student years] to pursue no career. To put it theologically, I died to the idea of career and to the whole typical array of mundane calculations, grandiose goals and appropriate schemes to reach them…. I do not say this haughtily; this was an aspect of my conversion to the gospel….
“[Later] my renunciation of ambition in favor of vocation became resolute; I suppose some would think, eccentric. When I began law studies, I consider that I had few, if any, romantic illusions about becoming a lawyer, and I most certainly did not indulge any fantasies that God had called me, by some specific instruction, to be an attorney or, for that matter, to be a member of any profession or any occupation. I had come to understand the meaning of vocation more simply and quite differently.
“I believed then, as I do now, that I am called in the Word of God … to the vocation of being human, nothing more and nothing less…. Within the scope of the calling to be merely but truly human, any work, including that of any profession, can be rendered a sacrament of that vocation. On the other hand, no profession, discipline or employment, as such, is a vocation.”

"...called in the word of God...to the vocation of being human..."

Advent and Faithfulness

2008-12-04T09:17:00.001-08:00

"Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God's eyes, careful to obey all the Lord's commands and regulations..." So Luke reports to the most honorable Theophilus. This being the case, Zechariah was a student of the Hebrew Scriptures not just for his own sake, but as a part of his faithfulness, or righteousness, to his own heritage as a priest. Zechariah was a priest by right of birth and by calling. If that calling was not "direct" it was historical as YHWH had set his tribe aside for service to the Lord instead of the first born of all the tribes. Beyond this, Zechariah was a descendant of the Aaronic family within the tribe of Levi and thus a priest.

On of the commands and regulations of the Lord concerning priests was that they were to teach Israel the Word of God - thus, Zechariah would be expected to be a student of Scripture and a teacher of Israel. But he was more than a scholar and a teacher, he and Elizabeth were practioners - they were careful to obey!

This obedience despite the realities of their situation gives substance to their faith-full-ness.

Faith: trusting in something or someone for something not yet in hand. YHWH had made promises to Israel. Israel's faith in YHWH ebbed and flowed manifest either in her obedience to or neglect of the Way of Life the Lord had laid out in the Law, prophets and poets of Israel. If it is not already known in the prophets that the righteous shall live by faith and it is only in faith that we can live toward righteousness.

Hope: Faith in the promises of God brings forth hope! Hopelessness is an empty life. Hopefulness opens the way to life. Hopefulness for the people of Israel rested on the promises of YHWH and it was in hope that Zechariah studied, taught, and fulfilled his priestly duties. Because he and Elizabeth hopped, they carefully obeyed all the Lord's commands and regulations. Because Habakkuk hopped, he set himself to wait to see how the Lord would answer him... and the answer was a promise... a promise that Habakkuk embraced in a song of hope against all despair.

Love: Faith in YHWH, that he would fulfill his promise bore in the lives of the faithful hope and that hope triumphed over the despair of the world of those who believed God. That faith and that hope opened space in the lives of the faith and hope full to love - to keep the commands and regulations of the Lord. For, once again, it was known in Israel that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord their God with all their heart soul, mind and strength... and to love their neighbor as themselves was certainly not far behind.

All of this in the face of barrenness for Zechariah and Elizabeth. And thus the connection of Advent and Faithfulness. Faithfulness in the face of our experienced reality. Trusting in the Word of God in the midst of this world, this life with all it's disappointments and losses, it's hopes and joys.

Advent reminds us of the long waiting of God's people and it calls us to a life of faithful waiting on our part.

Come, O long expected Savior!

Advent and human yearning

2008-12-02T15:54:00.000-08:00

Advent was not a part of my childhood and youth. The first time I encountered Advent was in the late 80's when Teresa and I started attending Community Covenant Church in Rocklin, CA. We had been attending the church since the spring and one day Teresa got a call from the church office asking if we would light the Advent candle one Sunday during Advent. When I got home from work she asked me what Advent was about and I took advantage of the opportunity to once again demonstrate my profound and far reaching knowledge of all things spiritual and churchly and replied.... "I have no idea!"

We soon got wind that another family who had been members of CCC, Rocklin for MANY years didn't understand why we who were so new were being asked and they who had been members for so long had never been asked to light one of the Advent candles. When we heard about this we called the office and respectfully declined the honor in deference to the other family. Don't get me wrong... the other family was not miffed at us we have enjoyed their friendship and support over the years, but Teresa and I both understood that the lighting of the candle and the litany that went with it held a certain value for our new friends and for us the ceremony held no meaning whatsoever.

But sense that first experience of Advent I have grown in my understanding and appreciation of not just Advent but of the whole Church calender... the Christian year... the annual telling and enactment of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This year I'm using the first two chapters of Luke, supplemented with a bit of Matthew 1 for my Advent texts. This week focusing on Luke 1 and the stories of Zechariah and Elizabeth... and the theme of yearning! The yearning of Israel for deliverance from her long travail under foreign rule... the yearning for the promised messiah, the son of David who would bring the fulfillment of the promised future.

But there was also the yearning by Zechariah and Elizabeth for a child! Or at least there had been such yearning. Did that yearning still find it's way to the surface in either of their hearts? Or had the years of disappointment and aging bodies destroy the yearning. The pain of disappointment leading to hopelessness, the shame of childlessness causing callousness, the passing of the years robbing them of their dreams leading to dreamless-ness. Yet, they walked in all the ways of the Lord blamelessly!

As I begin this Advent season I'm wondering what happened to the yearnings of my heart and soul? Do I still have the capacity to yearn afresh... or have I slipped into, what? hopelessness... callousness... dreamless-ness?

Lord, Holy Spirit, stir in me anew and afresh the capacity to YEARN! Deliver me from the sin of complacency... or worse yet... nostalgia! Renew in me the yearning of creation for redemption, salvation, reconciliation, healing... NEW CREATION!

A Day Off

2008-12-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's me and sometimes it's Teresa that rolls out of bed to make the coffee... this morning it was Teresa and soon I joined her on the couch for our morning coffee. Teresa read a bit more of Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World: Finding Intimacy With God in the Busyness of Life (Revised Edition with New Bible Study) and after I finished my Bible reading I read Kim Fabricius' 10 Propositions On Worship, from his book Propositions on Christian Theology: A Pilgrim Walks the Plank

After a while we said our morning prayer. We often conclude our prayer time with the days prayer form John Baillie's A Diary of Private Prayer

Then we were up and at 'em.... well almost... I went fixed us some bacon and eggs while Teresa went and to get dressed. I read an article out of the November Covenant Companion and Teresa looked through the Calaveras Enterprise as we ate. After breakfast I got dressed for the day and while Teresa took care of some stuff in the house I went out and hooked up our utility trailer and loaded up all the stuff we needed to haul to the transfer station.

Soon we were on our way. Once we got rid off the trash, leaves and clippings we stopped at Starbucks in Angels Camp for some coffee and then back to San Andreas. On the way we stopped at a farm supply and feed store to check out their deodar cedars... we want to plant a few in the backyard and we are thinking we can use one as a Christmas tree before we plant it.

They had a few but we wanted to see what Lowe's had before we bought so we climbed back into the Kia and continued our journey. We stopped in San Andreas to pick up my paycheck and deposit it and then headed for Jackson and Martel... only to discover when we got there that they had sold there last few 15 gal. trees! Disappointed, we headed back to San Andreas.

On our way out of Jackson, though, Teresa suggested we head over to a nursery on Hwy 12 between San Andreas and Valley Springs to see what they had. So, I took the Campo Seco Turnpike out of Mok. Hill to Hwy 26 to Hwy 12 and we were soon at the entrance to the nursery... only to discover they are closed on Mondays!

By now it's almost 1:00pm and we are ready for lunch so we head on in to Valley Springs and end up getting grilled stuffed burritos at Taco Bell. Ah well.

After our quick lunch we headed back up to San Andreas and home. Teresa spent the afternoon making contacts and researching stuff with the possibility of opening up and extension of Fresno based Reading and Beyond here in Calaveras County.

I climbed up on the roof to clean off all the leaves and debris and then sat down at my desk to get caught up on correspondence and banking stuff. Then I decided to fill out the form for a SPE grant request and discovered that TODAY was the deadline! I went to work and got everything filled out and the supporting documents printed out and faxed it all off to Chicago! Hope the good folks who handle these grants will accept my app since it did arrive in Chicago on December 1!

That done Teresa and I warmed up some left overs and had a bit of diner while we watched the The Nativity Story

And that about wraps it up for the day. All-in-all not a bad day at all. So,good night all... it's time for bed.

Gift Buying Advice for Husbands

2008-11-30T20:17:00.001-08:00

Power

2008-11-30T18:40:00.000-08:00

Found my way via Jibstay to JR Woodward: Dream Awakener J.R. Woodward's blog. Looks like an active and content rich website. While exploring his site I came across comments JR Woodward recorded on Nov. 4th. He concludes his thoughts with these words, "As prophets we are called to speak truth to power so that power might be used to promote what is good."

"Power" is a big issue in human interactions. I certainly agree that we are to speak truth to power but I'm wondering about that final phrase, "that power might be used to promote what is good." Is it possible for "power" in the hands of a humanly driven power structure to be used for good. We certainly do attempt this use of power for sure... my question is whether or not our power usage in this world ever can do good. Now certainly "good" can be done and in our experience it seems one must exercise power if good is to be done if for no other reason than that power is used for evil, i.e. this line from "Wanted," "Kill one, save a thousand."

First: The question is how do we speak to power without ourselves assuming power to ourselves and thus finding ourselves caught in the very structures we are supposed to speak to? This question in turn arises from our call to be in the world but not of the world.

Second: Again, I'm not particularly taking exception with or arguing against JR Woodward's comment. I'm just wondering if the human use of power will ever accomplish good in the full sense of the word? The reason for this wondering arises from the what is meant by "good." Can we finally say we have done good if at any place there is any "suffering" that results form the "good" we do do? I'm thinking here of Jesus' response to someone who addressed him as "good Teacher..." Jesus responded rather astonishingly, "Why do you call me good? No one is good - except God alone...." Mark 10:17-18 ; Luke 18:18-19

Third: Is power even supposed to be a part of our "vocabulary" as disciples of Jesus who is the consummate "anti-power" person. I'm thinking here of Jesus' call for us to deny ourselves take up our cross and follow him. Is this not a call to let go of power? I'm also thinking of the kenosis of Christ described in Philippians 2:5-11 . Such calls to discipleship as, "Go, sell everything you own and come, follow me" certainly call into question the place of power in our lives.

Fourth: On the other hand, Jesus did command the disciples to return to Jerusalem and to wait until the Holy Spirit was given and in that giving, that baptism of the Holy Spirit the disciples would receive "power" and they would be his witnesses to the ends of the earth or the end of the age.

some thoughts...