Analog Story

2012-01-16T19:53:00.000-08:00

Enough said about Mark Driscoll

For those concerned about the role of women in the church. This is a great interview on exactly what's wrong with men in the church. Enjoy at your leisure.

Did Jesus come to abolish religion?

2012-01-12T22:29:00.000-08:00

Watch before reading

I saw this video kind of go viral within my Facebooknetwork. I finally watched it to see what he was saying. Cool poem and verywell done. I appreciate the artistry displayed in spoken word and I wish I hadthat talent. What I am thinking is what is behind this poem? What does this guyrepresent? As a peer? As a post-modern Christian? As a product of this culture?These are all important questions to ask. I like to explore the assumptionsmade by people. I am not exempt from this situation. I am also a product ofexperience and culture.

The opening claim of the poem is “Jesus came to abolishreligion.” To be fair he later defines religion as “Man’s searching for God.”When he says this I believe he is referring to his own experience of livingsmoking weed, having sex, etc and still attending church. I am not surereligion has anything to do with this. I assume he cried to the Lord (hisreligion definition) and the Lord sought him (his Christianity definition). Religionis given meaning through his experience. He uses religion different then someof us might use it. In the same way a marker is made to mark when it is used tostab someone it becomes a weapon. This is postmodernism, the delinking ofwords.

At first you might think of his poem as offensive becauseyou have had a seemingly positive experience with “religion”. I think thisvideo is a great example of the postmodern experience. I believe this guy isresponding to the modernist way of church, or as he says, religion. He desiresrelationships, community, meaning, everyday life ethic that modernity could notallow because you think therefore you are. We have learned this is not thecase.

I am because we are.

I don’t believe Jesus came to abolish religion. He came tofulfill. “Time has been fulfilled” the Gospels tell us. The Law and Prophetshave been fulfilled. Also the Bible defines true religion as “Religion thatGod our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans andwidows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”Maybe it is that Jesus made “religion” possible for the first time? As a newcreation anything is possible. Read the Gospels, read Paul’s letters in thislight. A new age was dawned with the resurrection of the Son of God.

I suppose my opening line would be “Jesus made religionpossible.”

Legalism still going strong

2012-01-11T22:52:00.001-08:00

I had an interesting thought tonight in my Ethics class. Aswe were discussing how we process decisions we talked about Legalism. Legalismis basically the thought of there is one rule that applies to all situations.It is universal in application. For example look at the portrayal of thePharisees in the Gospels and more specifically the Good Samaritan. The Leviteand Priest were following a rule: do not touch a dead person because you willbe unclean therefore unable to perform your priestly duties. Good reason tostay clean I think we’d all agree. This rule applied to all situations with noexception, so they thought. Then a Samaritan comes along, who does not havethis rule or claim over him, sees the perceived dead man, but checks to findout that he is actually alive. Had the others simply checked they would havehelped the injured man. The rule required an exception.

What’s the irony I saw? Many Christians bash the Jewishleaders during the time of Jesus. Those leaders were so ignorant and coldhearted!!! Yet we do the same thing because we apply the same logic in ourdealings with people not Christian. We have this “rule” and it applies in allspaces regardless of context. Homosexuality, politics, women in leadership, andeverything else. It is easier to find a rule, apply it, and then be done withit. The Christian life lives in the messier side. The transformation comes notfrom the outside influences, but through the heart as we are transformed intothe image of Christ. To have more kindness is to be more human. The Samaritanshowed kindness, the fruits of the Spirit, therefore acted more human. Mercywas the point of the story. Mercy is required before the rule.

This is just a quick recap. I have a lot to process on thisand figuring out application in the church and outside the church. We have tosee the principle behind the rules and then apply according. My teacher said,“Beliefs are truths that I hold, but conviction are truths that hold me.” What wasthe basic conviction of the Good Samaritan? Help out someone in need. I wouldargue the Levite and Priest held the same conviction, but their belief that theman was dead trumped their conviction, thereby acting inhumane.

Hope

2012-01-09T21:56:00.000-08:00

Hope from Tree of Life Community on Vimeo.

This was my first official sermon.

Beatitudes and Mark D.

2012-01-09T16:02:00.000-08:00

This is a quick little blog blurp (are those real words?)about some ethics reading I have been partaking in for class and the currentconversation that Mark Driscoll has caused concerning the subordinate role ofwomen within the Christian community.

For class we are reading KingdomEthics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context by Glen H. Stassen andDavid P. Gushee. I have just finished the second chapter and I love it. Thebasis of the book is the Sermon on the Mount. The argument is the Sermon on theMount is the heart of Kingdom Ethics. The authors give some great exegeticalwork into each Beatitude to draw out the historical, cultural and biblicalcontext of each Beatitude, one in which removes the individualistic Westernview of humanity. I never get tired of a middle finger to the Enlightenment. Sohere in short the authors give us a more direct translation of the Sermon onthe Mount and one that will be pertinent when considering the work of Mark.

1. Blessed are the humble before God, who cares forthe poor and humble.

2. Blessed are those mourn what is wrong and unjustand sincerely repent, for God comforts those who suffer and those who trulyrepent.

3. Blessed are those who are surrendered to God,who is the God of peace.

4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for ajustice that delivers and restores to covenant community, for God is a God whobrings such justice.

5. Blessed are those who, like God, offercompassion in action, forgiveness, healing, aid and covenant steadfastness tothose in need.

6. Blessed are those who give their whole self overto God, who is the only One worthy of the heart’s full devotion.

7. Blessed are those who make peace with theirenemies, as God shows love to God’s enemies.

8. Blessed are those who suffer because of theirpractice of loyalty to Jesus and to justice.

I do not know Mark personally, but I have read some of hiswork and heard a couple sermons, which I admit was difficult to do. I can’t seehis view of women in the Church being anything close to what Jesus’ ministrydid and continues to do. I know the argument for what he is advocating and ifyou would like the Church to be stuck in time then by all means take a seat. Iwould rather see the Church moving and moving in a way that looks like theabove characteristics.

Our ethics are shown in our communities. There is nothingindividual about this. We are community that moves towards justice and suffersbecause of it. We are a community offering mercy in action.

So far I think Mark has a more personal agenda then a Churchagenda. I see a neo-conservatism dressed up as a being “cool” or “hip”. I amnot too worried about him though because the Gospel is much bigger than him andwhen you put yourself up on the soap box and bully people around God’s righthand has a power jab. He picks you up though after your ass meets the ground.

Thoughts on Epiphany

2011-12-21T20:10:00.000-08:00

Thisis an interesting day for my first sermon. I received a text from Bobby aroundThanksgiving time asking me if I’d like to preach. I have to be honest when Isay my first reaction was a smile and laughter. I believe within those therewere feelings of joy and nervousness. Either way there were a lot of differentfeelings but I was mostly surprised, surprised that I’d find myself standinghere today proclaiming the Gospel, which this Thursday is a celebration of thisvery situation. Today our country, along with most of the world, is celebratingNew Years Day. This day is the most worldwide public holiday. I think some ofyou are still feeling the effects of this celebration as it can take us deepinto the night. Let me entertain you with some thoughts and questions. What isthis celebration? What were you celebrating? Did you make promises of newbeginnings? Did you talk off new beginnings? Did you feel a deep-seated feelingtowards a loved one that this year I will be good to you? Did you feel a weightlifted or was a weight strapped to your back? It is interesting what new yearsday does to the human psyche. I have been in sales for a little while and Ihave noticed that buyers are ready to buy after new years. They want to trysomething new; they are ready to take risks. When the following holidays rollaround these buyers have no interest in anything new. It is an interestingcycle, but is it not a static cycle? I am not about to give a sermon on failednew years resolutions because that would bore me first and foremost. But I wantto ask what are calendars for? They give us dates, seasons; our Americancalendar indoctrinates us into being American. We yearly celebrate the past ofour country. And today the calendar gives us an excuse to start anew because ofthe roman god Janus. Today I am going to talk about the other holiday takingplace this week and one that I will argue is the reason to celebrate and aholiday that will not leave us disappointed. A holiday that is moving forwardto a point, to an end. When you walked into this building today to gather with ourcommunity you walked into another citizenship, one that is following adifferent calendar. This week we celebrate what the God of Israel had hiddenfrom the prophets of old, but was hinted at when the Magi from the East came toworship a newly born King of the Jews, the day Cornelius and his household acceptedthe Gospel and received the Holy Spirit, and the day when Paul was called tore-imagine the future of God’s people and to come to preach the Gospel tosomeone like me and a lot of us: a Gentile. Epiphany.

Wehave just finished the Advent season. What we celebrated what is fundamentallythe consummation of the story of Israel. Jesus was the purpose of Israel. Andwhat was the purpose of Israel? Their purpose is embedded in the promise toAbraham. Abraham and his ancestor will be a blessing to all the families of theearth. Later Moses will receive and give the Torah to Abraham’s ancestors as aguide to fulfill the purpose of their calling. Israel would have a tough go ofkeeping the Torah and because of this we hear the voice of the Prophets callingfor a return to the Torah otherwise we will experience destruction. The callwasn’t heard. Israel experienced the worst possible consequence. They losttheir land and their temple. Lamentations gives us a glimpse to the depths ofdepravity felt by Israel. “Is it nothing to you, all you whopass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was broughtupon me, which the LORD inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.”(Lam 1:12 NRS) During the end of exile we read some of the mostbeautiful prophetic poetry given by Isaiah. He dreams of restoration, glory ofthe Temple, and a righteous King., the coming of the LORD. One day they willsay, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet ofthe messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announcessalvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."(Isa 52:7 NRS) This expectation was the air the Jewish people breathed.It consumed daily thought as they sat under a foreign rule. Advent was the answerto this expectation. "Thetime is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe inthe good news." (Mar 1:15 NRS) All hopefound in the First Testament found it’s fulfillment in the birth, life, death,and resurrection of Israel’s Messiah: Jesus.

SurelyIsrael will now be glorified! The Temple restored to an even more gloriousstate than before! And freedom for God’s people now here! How beautifulIsaiah’s words must have sounded. “Foreigners shall build up your walls, andtheir kings shall minister to you; for in my wrath I struck you down, but in myfavor I have had mercy on you. Yourgates shall always be open; day and night they shall not be shut, so thatnations shall bring you their wealth, with their kings led in procession.For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; thosenations shall be utterly laid waste. (Isa60:10-12 NRS) This is going to be Rome’s fate! It has to be. Right? Is God notfaithful to his people? “Has his steadfast love ceased forever? Are hispromises at an end for all time? HasGod forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?"(Psalms77:8-9 NRS)

Timegoes by, Rome is still in control and the situation between Israel and Rome isconstantly rising. Something has to break. Meanwhile a small Jewish sect isfiguring out something new. Something unexpected has begun. They have spentnumerous years in Jerusalem spreading the gospel to the Jews of Diaspora. TheApostles received God’s Spirit. God’s very self is given to humanity! Surelythis is the beginning of the end of Israel’s exile. Then the unexpectedhappens, something that couldn’t be found in the Scriptures, something hidden.

St.Peter has an odd dream about things once unclean are now clean. Again, as seemsto be the case with Peter, it happened three times. Surely he had to be shakinghis head in irony. He finds himself in the household of Roman Centurion,Cornelius. Cornelius ask Peter to preach to his household and this is what hesaid,

“ "I truly understand that God shows nopartiality,

³⁵ but in every nation anyone who fears himand does what is right is acceptable to him.

³⁶ You know the message he sent to the peopleof Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ-- he is Lord of all.

³⁷ That message spread throughout Judea,beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced:

³⁸ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with theHoly Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all whowere oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

³⁹ We are witnesses to all that he did both inJudea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;

⁴⁰ but God raised him on the third day andallowed him to appear,

⁴¹ not to all the people but to us who werechosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose fromthe dead.

⁴² He commanded us to preach to the people andto testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and thedead.

⁴³ All the prophets testify about him thateveryone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through hisname."

⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking, the HolySpirit fell upon all who heard the word.

⁴⁵ The circumcised believers who had come withPeter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out evenon the Gentiles,

⁴⁶ for they heard them speaking in tongues andextolling God. Then Peter said,

⁴⁷ "Can anyone withhold the water forbaptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" (Act 10:34-47 NRS)

“Even on the Gentiles.” Amen? I am one ofthem. I imagine Peter surprise being similar to sitting in a Mosque or even thehousehold of Buddhist. They ask me to speak concerning the Lord and then theyhear the Gospel proclaimed. Suddenly the Spirit descends upon them. This isn’tsupposed to happen! They are not Christians! “Ah but,” the Lords says, “I showno partiality despite what you thought to be true of Me.” Why would God keepthis hidden? How do we explain this? Fortunately the rest of the New Testamentmostly deals with Jews and Gentiles coming together as equals, as co-heirs. Wehave the letter to the Ephesians to help us understand what happened then, andmore importantly for us, what continues to happen today.

Paulthought of this as a complete mystery. The Gentiles were supposed to build thewalls of Jerusalem; they were supposed to serve the Jewish people! This is whatthe prophets were saying. So how did it come about that he would becommissioned to the Gentiles to proclaim the gospel? Most of us know of hisbackground with the Church. He hated it with Zealots zeal. Jews mixing with Gentiles.Blasphemy. He had the Scriptures to support this. A radical encounter with therisen Christ would cause Paul to re-imagine all that he knew. I say re-imagineinstead of ‘converting’ because he said stayed Jewish, very much Jewish, butGod had revealed to him a hidden mystery about His plans with the Gentiles.Plans oriented around the risen Messiah and the Holy Spirit. He would explainto the Ephesians what the mystery is,

“In reading this, then, you will be able tounderstand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in othergenerations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostlesand prophets.This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentilesare heirs together with Israel,members together of one body, andsharers together in the promise inChrist Jesus.”

The gospel functions in three ways for the Gentiles in relationto the Jews:

1. We are heirs together withIsrael

2. We are members together ofone body

3. We are sharers together inthe promise in Christ Jesus

Together.

Letme tell you a story. I want to share an experience I had recently with a Jewishsister. As some of you may know my family and friends are involved in apost-abortion/post-pregnancy lost ministry called Rachel’s Vineyard. Recentlywe had a retreat and the beauty of this retreat was the diversity, but for thesake of time and theme of Epiphany I will stick to my Jewish sister. Duringpreparation we had to decide what to say to her during our living exercises.After all the retreat in Christ centered and we ask retreatants to do youbelieve Jesus is Lord? Do you believe Jesus is the resurrection? Diversitycreates issues!! When we have all like-minded people we get along fine and Idon’t mean this in a good way. We lock ourselves into a set rule of behavior.The community dictates what is acceptable behavior. Diversity createsquestions, struggles, and thinking outside the box, but in this case not so faroutside the box. We asked her, “Do you believe the God of Abraham, Issac, andJacob has the power to resurrect you from death to life?” She answered, “Yes.”Our Chaplin then said to her, “In the power of YHWH I say arise.” She thenstood up out of her. And this is where I saw the people of God in full form.She stood up, as it was part of the exercise, she paused and then lunged intoour Chaplin’s arms crying saying, “Thank you.” Here I witnessed what I feel tobe close to Paul’s struggle. Jew and Gentile together with no boundary, nodistinction, all glory to God our Father. Epiphany.

Diversityhas always been difficult. It is easy for people together with like people. Ithink that this is an okay thing, but within the Church we have an opportunityto be a true people of God, a diverse people who are equal because of ourfaith. So that when the world sees us they will say, “Look how they love oneanother.” Diversity keeps you honest and thoughtful. Diversity also creates opportunitiesthat otherwise unseen. At first you might think diversity causes us to be‘politically correct’. We can’t say those jokes we find funny. We have to thinkbefore we speak. God forbid people become people causing what we say to be veryreal. This is a trap. This is not freedom. That was the former way of life. Thekingdom will seat many from the East and West. Why would you lock yourself in abox of a specific culture and language when there is a rich world out therethat our Lord created? We are to be a new creation! “Forneither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation iseverything! (Gal 6:15 NRS) “So ifanyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away;see, everything has become new!” (2Co5:17 NRS) A new community living the future now. What a marvelous revelation! Becausethe Spirit unities us as one body. We can now act as what was always intendedfor image-bearing humanity. We can now love each other the way we were meantto. This is not intended to be a wedding sermon, rather, it is way we are tolove as the people of God.

⁴ Love is patient; love is kind; love is notenvious or boastful or arrogant

⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way;it is not irritable or resentful;

⁶ it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, butrejoices in the truth.

⁷ It bears all things, believes all things,hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. But as for prophecies,they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, itwill come to an end.

⁹ For we know only in part, and we prophesyonly in part;

¹⁰ but when the complete comes, the partialwill come to an end.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, Ithought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put anend to childish ways.

¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but thenwe will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, evenas I have been fully known.

¹³ And now faith, hope, and love abide, thesethree; and the greatest of these is love. (1Co 13:4-13 NRS)

Whata beautiful reality this is. Is this not good news? Epiphany is a struggle. Itwas then and is today. How would you view all the war in the Middle East ifhalf our congregation were from Iran, Iraq, Syria? I know this might be acontroversial topic, but I am not going to shy away. They have family back homeand they are Christians. They are the body of Christ. So when we cheer for warand victory are we not cheering the innocent death of brothers and sisters? Wemust break out of Jerusalem to see Samaria, then to see the Ends of the Earth.

Whenwe approach the Lord’s Table for Communion we are enacting the present unity ofthe Body of Christ. It is a mystery. Truly a mystery. We remember the pastcrucifixion. We celebrate our present state as a new creation. We look forwardto future messianic banquet. This is the hope of Communion: one day when everytear will be wiped away, we sit at the table with Christ without distinction.It is here we will see “we will see face to face”, we “willknow fully”, and “the partial will come to an end.” So come all receive thebody and blood.

“One man's post-modernism is another man's idiocy.”

2011-10-12T23:16:00.000-07:00

“One man's post-modernism is anotherman's idiocy.”

What to think of this?

I used to be afraid of the term‘postmodernism’. I made fun of it and brushed it off as foolishness. I believedI was right. I would get irritated when people brought it up and I’d argueagainst this postmodernism. One thing was missing…I never read anything aboutpostmodernism, modernism, or liberalism. I was very ignorant of the issues. Irelied solely on what I knew to be true, my upbringing within a social culturalcontext. What I was raised on, which by default in America is modernism.

So what was my fear of postmodernism? Ilabeled it as ‘liberal’ and that was pretty much it. It dismissed history ofthe Bible. It questioned issues I believed were foundational to Christianity. Iused to get riled up! It is funny to look back upon.

So what is postmodernism? First we haveto ask what is modernism.

As I understand it modernism is theproduct on the Enlightenment. Society believed that ‘these truths areself-evident’ because all humanity shares a common experience at a basic level.Well these truths are not self-evident. Modernism created the current state ofwestern society and has left the Church in Europe dead and on life support inAmerica. Modernity arrogantly thought we could see the world objectively. N.TWright notes, “wheremodernism thought it could know things objectively about the world,postmodernism has reminded us that there is no such thing as neutral knowledge.On the notion of self modernism believed “the great lonely individual, theall-powerful “I,” symbolised perfectly in Descartes’s cogito ergo sumand in the proud claim, “I am the master of my fate. . . the captain of my soul”(also taken from Wright). Postmodernism rejects these claims. I reject theseclaims and I believe the Bible staunchly rejects the claims.

Postmodernismis the result of the failure of modernism. It is a reaction to the arrogance ofwestern elitism. Postmodernism cannot be ignored so to hold on so tightly,ignorantly, to modernism is holding to a sinking ship. I love how Wright saidin an interview that postmodernity was announcing the fall to arrogantmodernity and what’s next is the announcement of redemption. What a beautifuloutlook on the future!

So where doI fall? Liberal? Conservative? I reject the liberal view of scripture that wecan take it and fit it into our world through extra-biblical resources. Ireject the conservative view of scripture that is the questthat tried to find a natural objective truth through human reason. Scriptureabsorbs our world no matter what culture we find ourselves in. Our search forthe meaning of Scripture in extra-biblical sources or human reason is not stayingtrue to the biblical narrative. This story we find in the Bible is the onlyreality, not some historical truth it is the only truth. This is good.

Is postmodernity perfect? No. Is all of modernityevil? No? But should we ignore the current reality we live in? No. It isimportant to educate and read from the source and not what someone says aboutthe source. The story of God is the river consuming the world’s streams. Knowthis to be true. Proclaim the Gospel in its uniqueness. While the world beginstowards pluralism we can now show, through our word and action, why this onestory is the story of the one true God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.Amen.

The Nature of Doctrine

2011-10-07T19:26:00.000-07:00

For class I have been reading The Nature of Doctrine: Religion and Theology in a Postliberal Ageby George A. Linbeck. So far I am about a third of the way finished and I mustsay I have been very intrigued and challenged by this book. It is a thinkerread, kind of like chewing meat sometimes. Here are some of the challenges andthought provoking topics Lindbeck addresses.

At the start he limits the role of doctrine within theChurch and theology, “that at least part of the task of doctrines is to recommendand exclude certain ranges of-among other things-propositional utterances orsymbolizing activities. What is innovative about the present proposal is thatthis becomes the only job that doctrines do in their role as church teachings.”I know in some circles this raises pulses. Doctrine has become a battle cry inthe West. Everything is based on proper doctrine, but was this always the roleof doctrine? What about the early church before all the creeds? How did theyfunction? I tend to agree with Lindbeck here. Doctrines serve as a goodguideline they are not infallible. He then says, “doctrines regulate truthclaims by excluding some and permitting others, but the logic of theircommunally authoritative use hinders or prevents them from specifying positivelywhat is to be affirmed.” It is true in my experience the use of doctrine isdefensive, they ward off the heretics, but rarely have I heard of a doctrinepositively affirming a viewpoint.

He makes me some claims about what it means to be aChristian that resonate with me:

“To become a Christian involves learning the story of Israeland of Jesus well enough to interpret and experience oneself and one’s world inits terms.”

“The proclamation of the gospel, as a Christian would putit, may be first of all the telling of a story, but this gains power andmeaning insofar as it is embodied in the total gestalt of community life andaction.”

“Christian love ‘is beginning to be shaped by the message ofJesus’ cross and resurrection. Only at the end of the road, only in theeschatological fulfillment, will they have truly learned to love God above allthings and their neighbors as themselves.”

“The communication of the gospel is not a form ofpsychotherapy, but rather the offer and the act of sharing one’s own belovedlanguage-the language that speaks of Jesus Christ-with all those who areinterested, in the full awareness that God does not call all to be part of thewitnessing people.”

Most Christians do not know the story of Israel, nor do theyfeel its essential to be Christian. This is a black eye on the Church’s recenthistory. To proclaim the message of Christ has meaning when the faith communityenacts it. What is the common excuse from a non-Christian on why they don’tbelieve in Christ? Christians are hypocrites. As Christians we focus onconverting people, warning them of the judgment to come, but we must rememberthat judgment begins in the house of the Lord.

This is only small sound bite of the book. I am stillwrestling with what is being said. So don’t get defensive. Wrestle like Jacob. Beokay with tension. You’ll be better off for it.

Peter's Perspective

2011-10-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

Narrative I wrote based on Luke 5:1-11. Told from the viewpoint of Peter.

Before you ended up with Jesus you heard rumors about him percolating around the region. Something about a crazy birth circumstance, exorcisms, and some new teachings, but you didn’t pay much attention. Recent history has let you down. There have been a lot of false hopes, messiahs, and the failed Maccabean movement. Besides you got work to do. Fishing.

Remember those days of fishing? The long days on Lake Gennersaret. The boiling sun cooking the back of you neck, dried skin, and bloodshot eyes. Sure the were the good ol blue-collar moments with the brothers John and James, but they were so loud weren’t they? Always competing with each other.

When people inquired about what you were doing and where you going you would have loved to answer with ambition. Nonetheless you were destined for mediocrity. Fisherman’s life it is.

You remember that day of destiny well. The day you took a u-turn. The day started normal. Up before the sun, cool breeze, and quiet. As you were getting ready you hear the roster crow, hate the crow it’s always given you this peculiar feeling that left you temporally uncomfortable. Along the way to shore you meet up with John and James who as always are in the midst of bickering. You keep quiet, smile, and silently make fun of both of them.

You arrive to shore and get everything ready. You can do this with your eyes closed. The sun is beginning to illuminate the lake like Moses coming down from the mountain. This sight never gets old. It’s comforting.

That day was abnormally warm and you got skunked! Skunked is a fishing term to describe catching nothing. Catching nothing does it get old, but it allows for thinking and discussions. Thoughts about you, family, Israel, the Romans, everything makes a cameo in your thoughts. Forget this you thought. Why waste my time? You and brothers decide to call it an early day.

As you rowed on in to shore and then began to clean up a crowd was approaching. You can hear the voices chattering, but a name stands out, Jesus. Interesting he’s here. This should be interesting. Suddenly you felt fear. They are coming our way.

“Push this boat out a little.”
“Alright” you somehow get out of your mouth.

He spoke for a while, how long you don’t remember, but it sounded good. He finished up and the crowd begins to break off in groups. He turns his gaze back at you. There was this excited, fearful, nervous feeling accompanied with this gaze. He starred for a moment.

“Simon, go back out on the lake and cast your net.”

First reaction was a snicker, but you kept it in. Something compels you call him “Master.”“Master, look there’s really nothing going on out there. We’ve skunked once today and twice don’t sound good. But because you asked I will do it.” Got nothing better to do you thought.

Here’s the moment you’ll never forget, the water is irritated, the lines on the net begin to sink pulling your boat along with it. “Help” you cried out to fellow fisherman. They paddle over quickly to relieve the burden, but this burden is too much. Everyone’s boat begins to sink.

For something reason looking back at Jesus causes you to fall to knees. “Go away from me, Lord; for I am a sinner.” In his presence you truly saw who you were. You look over to John and James and behold they aren’t arguing now!

You’ve said similar statements before and received the typical response: they went away. The oddest thing happened thought and you wouldn’t believe if someone told you. “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” Huh? I like the first part, but “catch men?” weird. Is he always going to be this difficult and cryptic? Who knows, but you’re in. You dropped the next along with the brothers. The sound of the dropping followed the sound of your cutting all the ties of your past and present. Follow? You asked. Alright. So you’re journey along the way begins, unsure yet certain, certain that something is going to happen.

There is no fear in love

2011-09-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1John 4:18 NAS)

What does this mean? This is seemingly easy enough to stomach when all is well, but when one sins and begins to think of consequences; is it then natural to think if I am loved by God I should have no fear? I don’t think it’s natural. Do we not fear God’s wrath? Even though Christ has said different do we not define our justice by an eye and for an eye? I know I am loved, but I am still in fear.

Is this God of the Scriptures, the Christ of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit indwelt among us? No. Why then do I view God as retributive, one waiting to strike at the right moment? This thought is in stark contrast to John saying, “God is love.” It’s not that God has love, He is love, the source of love, and therefore love has its origin outside humanity. That is why when we love each other it shows we are God’s children because we are manifesting something that is outside our nature post Genesis 3.

Yet when we fail to love as God, when we lust through selfish desires, and we see our wrong, which opens the door to fear in our hearts. We find ourselves naked behind a bush hiding. Fear is the opposite of love. Love is selfless, giving, and sacrificial. When we not love in this way we find ourselves gripped by fear because ultimately what we have done is selfish. Yet we know, as Christians, that God is love, so when we find ourselves alone gripped by fear we must remember: perfect love casts out fear. Say it until you believe it. This isn’t implying a blind eye is turned by God, but it is saying don’t worry my child I desire mercy and mercy is what I will show you. And when we hear these words we will turn to each other saying, “were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road… (Luke 24:32 NAS)

There is no fear in love.

The Only Offense is a Word of Peace:

2011-08-31T20:29:00.001-07:00

Ephesians 6:10-17

The Only Offense is a Word of Peace:

I remember youth camps a long time ago when we used to sing songs about putting on the full armor of God, in fact it was one of my favorite songs. After the age of 13 I never heard that song again nor did ever hear much concerning that passage in Ephesians. Fortunately life goes on and we meet people with whom we can rekindle such an amazing passage of Scripture. I recently had a chance to sit down with Bobby Schuller and Chad Blake to discuss and these are some thoughts I took away from our time together.

Paul insists that we stand firm. So much so that he repeats himself three times throughout verses 10-14. Along with standing firm he emphasizes the full armor of God. I have a couple thoughts on these two themes. First, I notice Paul is not promoting an offensive mentality. Armor is for defense and standing is passive. Richard B. Hays comments, “right understood, these metaphors witness powerfully against violence as an expression of obedience to God in Christ.” Secondly, he is also making clear this battle is not against humanity, but against evil. This is a spiritual battle, which can be seen in Daniel and Revelation. Thirdly, we need a holistic approach to how we form as a disciple. Often I have only a few, if not only one piece of armor. How is it possible to defend myself if I am only partially covered? I can tell first hand it is impossible. So when I lay wounded I should not be surprised. Fourth, I hear he Paul as one calling for an army to take part in God’s battle, which once again is battle against evil. Our call is, “thus to take up this armor is to take up God’s cause and do battle in God’s cosmic campaign to spread righteousness throughout the world.” Righteousness cannot be spread through violence. This once again, in my eyes, says non-violence or passivity. I love Stanley Hauerwas’ quote. “The church must learn time and time again that its task is not to make the world the kingdom, but to be faithful to the kingdom by showing to the world what it means to be a community of peace.” Peace is the means on attaining righteousness.

So what of the armor? Is there any special to it? A couple of newer insights popped up in my head while reading about the armor. I already mentioned the armor is defensive, but Paul does mention an offensive weapon. This weapon is the “word of God.” The Greek for “word” is not logos, but rhema, which is “that which is or has been uttered by the living voice, thing spoken, word.” I believe, along with other biblical scholars that Paul is referring to the Gospel and the proclamation of the Gospel. I think Paul has in mind and refers to implicitly Isaiah 52:7. “How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Now listen to what Paul says, “and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Paul’s Gospel is proclaiming Jesus is Lord and He reigns. Does Paul see Isaiah’s vision fulfilled in Christ? Isaiah is littered with God wearing armor in Isaiah (11:5; 49:2; 52:7; 59:15-17). Our only offense is speaking the Gospel of Peace. We have been called to speak into this world a word of peace. Hays says this passage “depicts the church standing firm in the battle against cosmic powers armed only with the gospel that promises God’s triumph.” I have to ask then is the Church able to support war? Does talking of war speak into the world the Gospel of Peace? Tough questions.

What of faith? Faith is our greatest defensive mechanism because faith quenches the fiery missiles of evil. What is faith? I realize this is a loaded question and one which volumes of books have dedicated several trees worth of paper to, but I will give a couple thoughts. Gorman says this of faith, “faith for Paul is the appropriate response to the gospel, the subjective basis for justifications, the objective basis being Christ’s faithful, obedient death…faith is more like a posture of surrender and commitment to God…that is why Paul can speak of the ‘obedience of faith’.” Faith comes down to obedience to God. Faith is not some magical force; it is an active, living aspect of being a disciple of Christ. Christ’s faith lead him to his death and consequent resurrection. The Gospel is our belief that we to will be resurrected. So when we stand firm in battle against things we cannot see we find ourselves surrounded by faith, speaking peace into the midst violence. It seems like a quick way to die, but our Lord physically walked to his death in Jerusalem and called us to take up our cross.

I will have more thoughts to come as I continue to hash out meaning in our context here in America.

Knowledge to support thoughts in order to ease minds

2011-08-29T18:57:00.001-07:00

So I posted this as a facebook status: “It's pretty clear that Ephesians 5:21-33 is Paul showing that the original state of marriage (Genesis 1-2), one of absolute equality with no 'buts', with no 'head' being a symbol of authority, is now possible in a post Genesis 3 world. I find it difficult for anyone to every argue that man is the authority of the relationship/marriage from a Biblical standpoint.” I was then told this was irresponsible because it’s a thought stated without knowledge. So I guess here’s the responsible thing to do.

From my experience the traditional understanding of this text is ultimately man is the head of the woman, thus meaning the man has authority over the woman. Some might say this authority is physical, emotional, or spiritual but this is a gross misunderstanding of Paul’s intent and the overall Gospel narrative.

The section starts with, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Eph 5:21 KJV). This is the foundational thought and truth of the upcoming verses in which Paul is going to show that marriage, family, and society is being radically redefined by a resurrected people. There is nothing wrong with this verse. To me it is pretty simple in saying everyone, male and female, submit to one another in the fear of Christ.

The following verse is where the confrontation begins. “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (Eph 5:22 KJV). The problem with this verse in the original Greek manuscript is that the word “submit” does not exist. So it would read, “wives, yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” English needed a verb so it was taken from v.21 “submit.” Women are not told to submit here to their husbands, but to submit to them as they are submitted to Christ and equally men are submitted to their wives as they are to Christ.

The thought is because when women are “to be subject” and the man is to be “the head” that women are therefore inferior. This would make a little sense based off an English translation, but when we are originally written it is difficult to fit that logic into Paul’s argument. Given the mutual submission Gorman comments, “Subjection to one’s husband is a subset of the general community practice of subjection. The woman’s husband therefore has the same obligation (subjection) to her, inasmuch as they are members of the believing community.” It might be bad but I’d cross out “subject” or “submit” from verse 22.

What Paul has in view is marriage of the original intent, Genesis 2:24, “one flesh” is now possible in a post Genesis 3:16-17 world. The curse involved both male and female desire to rule over another, but the resurrection, a new creation, has restored the state of marriage, the state of one flesh, the intimate nature between “head” and “body”. “In Paul’s view this image primarily conveys, not the husband’s authority and the wife’s submission, but the intimate unity between the head and the body that makes them one flesh. Thus the head’s duty is not to govern but to nourish, and to do so sacrificially. The radical image of headship here is of a crucified Lord-power in weakness and self-giving love, which can be reciprocated”(Gorman).

When the text is view as much it is more inline with the life of Christ. Sometimes I take Philippians 2:6-11 as the benchmark for the ethic of the believing community, the rod by which we should measure our actions, our sense of power or authority. Man has no authority over a woman because “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28 NAS).

I find this incredibly important because the state of marriage amongst believers is one that does not point to a restored and renewed people. I believe the presuppositions we have on marriage, i.e. who's in authority, have greatly damaged our cause. Our example is Christ and we as male and female need to act as Christ who “although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Phi 2:6 NAS).

Being Light

2011-08-22T21:11:00.000-07:00

Being Light
Ephesians 5:8-14

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light
9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)
10 and find out what pleases the Lord.
11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible,
14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." (Eph 5:8-14 NIV)

Here in Ephesians Paul boldly called the Church “children of light.” What does this mean? How does the Church act out living as children of light?
The Bible does give us the origin of light. Genesis 1:3 “Let there be light.” From this we can conclude God as the creator of light. Prior to light in creation we the earth as “ formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep (Gen 1:2 NIV), but the light exposed the chaos and creation begun.

Moses’ encounter with God left him glowing. “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.” (Exo 34:29 NIV) To me this seems to indicate that God is light and this light is different than what we see here because something about this light causes the human body to radiate.

To go along with David in the Psalms states, “Let the light of your face shine upon us.” What is this light? What is the human draw to this light?

John seems to know what the light is. “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” (John 1:4-5 NIV) John later records Jesus affirming this opening statement of his gospel. "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (Joh 8:12 NIV) and again, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." (Joh 9:5 NIV) When we look at the opening of Genesis along with the opening of John’s Gospel we can John clearly placing Christ in the Creation narrative.

Matthew gives us the next step in the process of light. In the famous Sermon on the Mount Jesus looks at his disciples and those around him and says, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. (Mat 5:14 NIV) It is vital to know the “you” is plural, not singular. Only as a Church can we be light to the world.

Paul continues this reality in his application to the church in Ephesus. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light…” Jesus and Paul lay out the way in which to live and conclude that we are to do this because we are children of light.

I believe Paul has in mind the resurrection as his controlling narrative. So maybe this light is a resurrection light. The closing song fascinates me, "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." This isn’t an OT quote it is from the early church that Paul was a part of. Christ rose from the dead and we to have risen from the dead in order to live a resurrected life now. Earth started out in darkness and God spoke light into the world. Humanity lived in darkness and God sent His Word in order to speak to us. In return Humanity crucified God’s Word but God raised His Son in order that we might rise from the dead to have Christ shine on us. The darkness was exposed and the darkness was defeated. The Church is the light of the world like it or not. We become the light by our faith in Christ (the light of the world) and we are transformed into that light (you are the light of the world) through living as Christ did, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Eph 5:2 NIV) “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. …death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man [or nature] at his call. Jesus’ summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die…(Memoir by Gerhard Leibholz)

What is Christian Faith?

2011-07-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

I just read this in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics:

"All faith's unrest is, infact, set aside in prayer, but its prayer is its profound unrest. And both as prayer and also as unrest it is expectation, expectation of its object. It lives by its object, at rest or in unrest, having found, seeking, finding again and seeking anew. But this object is the free God who is hidden from man because he is a sinner, who has, of course, put man in the new state of faith in which He can be known by him, but who in this very state-it is indeed that of faith-wills to be sought and found anew and then anew again. For faith, He is and remains enclosed in objectivity, in the externality of the Word of God, in Jesus Christ. He must teach man to seek Him and He must show Himself ot him in order that he may find Him. But it is by this external object that Christian faith lives."

I know is extremely wordy, but read it slow. Think of what faith is? what is the object of faith? what is Christian faith? I believe all of the questions are essential for us to understand. Please think about it and share your thoughts.

Mark Study

2011-06-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

Journeying through a story....

Guiding questions we should ask ourselves while reading the Gospel of Mark:

Who is Jesus Christ?

What affirmations about the uniqueness of Christ can we make in the midst of the pluralism of American culture and world religions?

What does it mean to confess that Jesus Christ is savior of the world?

What do we mean when we say that in Jesus Christ God became human and that in Jesus Christ God forgives human sin and reconciles the world?

How does this good news change the way we live and the structures of society?

How does this good news change the way we worship, the way we confess our faith as a local congregation?

(Taken from Darrell L. Guder: The Continuing Conversion of the Church)

Story Time:

Mark is a book of secrets, of veils, of mysteries.

Mark, supremely among the gospels, highlights the notion of a secret to be penetrated, of a mystery to be explored and grasped.

The reader is constantly invited by the gospel as a whole to do what the disciples are invited to do the parable-chapter, that is, to come closer and discover the inner secret behind the strange story.

Mark opens with a stark sequence of events: within twenty verses we are introduced to John, witness Jesus’ baptism, hear the kingdom announced, and watch the call of the first disciples…eight chapters to say who Jesus is and eight chapters to say how he is going to die.

(Quotes taken from N.T Wright’s The New Testament and The People of God)

Gospel:

“Since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance (excelled even our anticipations), surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings for the world that came by reason of him which Asia resolved in Smyrna.” 9 BC, Priene, Asia Minor. This was written under a statue of Ceasar.

Compare Mark’s opening:
“The beginning of the proclamation of the good news about Jesus Christ—Son of God.”

Kingdomof God:

He announces the inbreaking of the kingdom of God, teaches what that kingdom is in his words and actions, and calls people to follow him and become his witnesses, “fishers of people.” (Guder, 80)

Healings:

Read Isaiah 30:26; 33:24; 35:5-6; 57:18 and compare to what Jesus is doing. Imagine yourself present, witnessing these events, how would you feel knowing your people’s history and current situation under foreign rule?

New Family:

Old Wine vs. New Wine. “Jesus and his movement became a sign of contradiction. Many individuals separated themselves from the old structures and joined the new family of which Jesus spoke. Thus there arose in the midst of ancient Israel-unobtrusively at first and yet irreversibly-the new society panned by God.” (Lohfink, 44)

What do we learn about who Christ is in the first two chapters? What are the major themes you find? What’s new to you that you haven’t seen before?

Wedding Dance??

2011-06-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

So lately I have been listening to this over and over. I figured out how to play on guitar also. I don’t know the etiquette for weddings and who chooses songs but I wouldn’t mind a dance with my bride with this song playing. It’s kind of a waltz so hopefully she’s musically inclined!!! Either way it is a beautiful song.

http://dougburr.bandcamp.com/

Do You Hear Wedding Bells

Do you hear wedding bells
Chiming without a clue
Bangin’ and clangin’ at the tops of the trees
All half borrowed, the other half blue
Do you hear wedding bells
Wreckless, drunk in the air
Like maybe they don’t know what kind of streets they’re stumblin’ down
Or they just don’t care

Do you hear wedding bells
From a tower high on the hill
Well I swear they got this view lookin’ in at the girls in their rouge
And the boys, aren’t they dressed fit to kill
Do you hear wedding bells, bells
Do you hear wedding bells, bells, bells

Do you hear wedding bells, bells
Shakin’ the walls in the mornin’
Oh, poundin’ and poundin’ ‘till I can’t hear nothin’
Are they playin’ our tune now, or is it me darlin’
Do you hear wedding bells, bells
Swellin’ into the sea, the sea
Is that your lily white hand in mine
Oh, look at me pick up my feet

O My Soul

2011-06-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

Sin kills the soul. There is no other way to put it. Lately I have been on the front lines losing. The effect is so apparent in my life. The life within me is gone, the way I interact with people is mundane, and when I walk my eyes look down. When I walk into church I feel unworthy and I want to leave to be alone, but that is selfish and as a believer I need people. I cannot survive without people around me. It is tough though because around people you feel exposed.
My heart right now is physically stressing. My soul right now is tearing at the seams as if something needs to give. One cannot serve two masters. So my prayer is simply, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” It is this statement that I will meditate on and in my time of distress I cry out, “Deliver me from evil.”
Some serious reflection needs to take place and an honest look at life.

A Toast

2011-06-18T00:01:00.001-07:00

You know what makes our marriage last? My Mom had asked me after they returned from a weekend of celebrating an anniversary. I don’t know? Don, do you know? Aaahhhh Jesus? He said in typical male fashion, looking for the right answer to quickly get out of the situation. No! We are best friends, my Mom said. I don’t know how many times I have used this to describe to someone how I view marriage.
This has always stuck in my head and today years after that statement they are closer than ever. This is not how the world works, let alone how relationships are to function. I am not sure how to measure success in a marriage. Length of time? A home? Rarely fight? If I could guess within their context and in my limited knowledge I would point to their children, not just Jessica Katy and I, but the people of Rachel’s Vineyard. God has grown their family has grown exponentially and no one is going to stop it.
I searched for a good quote on marriage so I turned to a celibate catholic Henri Nouwen. Nouwen said of Marriage, "Marriage is not a lifelong attraction of two individuals to each other but a call for two people to witness together to God's love. The basis of marriage is not mutual affection, or feelings, or emotions and passions that we associate with love, but a calling, a vocation. It is to understand that we are elected to build together a house for God in this world. It is to be like the two cherubs whose outstretched wings sheltered the Ark of the Covenant and created a space where Yahweh could be present. Marriage is a relationship where man and woman protect and nurture the inner sanctum within and between them, and they witness to that by the way they love each other...It is rather that the intimacy of marriage itself is an intimacy that is based on the common participation in a love greater than the love that two people can offer each other. The real mystery of marriage is not that husband and wife love each other so much that they can recognize God in each other's lives, but more because God loves them so much that they can discover each other more and more as living reminder's of God's presence.” You’re life paints that picture.
Don and Sandy are a signpost of hope to the rest of us. Not because of perfection, but because they have shown us that reconciliation, restoration, and renewal are possible in so many ways. As N.T Wright once said to a newly wed and what I’d echo to you Don and Sandy, “Marriage is a signpost: raise that signpost and maintain it for the rest of us, for the rest of the world. The hour has come. God has kept the best wine till now. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love.” This anniversary is a celebration of the future living here today in the present.
So raise your glasses with me and remember to Dance as though no one is watching you, Love as though you have never loved before, Sing as though no one can hear you, Live as though heaven is on earth. Cheers.
I love my parents, my best friends, more than anything. I’d truly be lost without them.

Changing of the Guard

2011-06-04T16:11:00.001-07:00

So I deleted my Facebook yesterday so this blog will become the means of communication. I don't know if people will even see this without me posting a link on facebook but either way I will continue to write.

Past meets Present transitions into Future Pt. 4

2011-05-27T23:04:00.001-07:00

What about who we are? Can we be made new? Is there hope?

I read this comment a while ago from B.F Wescott: “'How is it possible for a man (woman) whose whole nature at any moment is the sum of all the past, to start afresh? How can he undo, or do away with, the result which years have brought and which goes to form himself. His "I" includes the whole development through which he has passed; and how then can it survive a new birth? Can the accumulation of long ages be removed and the "true" self remain'?”

This is a loaded question but it captures the essence of our struggle. Can I be made new with remaining me? It seem we often boil everything to a dichotomy: either I am who I am and cannot change or I need to erase everything a start new. I am not buying into this because I either way is the easy way out. If I have to accept the way I am, I wonder why acceptance is needed, what was wrong in the first place? Why did this thought come to mind? On the other hand I can’t forget my past! If there is a God He must be able to work in the mess. He must provide a future hope with a present reality that connects with that future hope.

We have to become reflective people. Time has to be taken to be silent and alone. I found out a lot about myself in quiet times that need to be changed and that can only come about through quiet times because it’s the only time I can identify it. At first times are quiet are by no means quiet. Your mind has no distractions and all the issues begin surface one by one. Be patient and hang in there.

There is a severe disconnect in sexuality within others and ourselves. We’ve become broken jars with jagged edges and when those edges meet we hurt each other: hurt people, hurt people.

This is the question: “Can the accumulation of long ages be removed and the "true" self remain'?” I ponder this question so often and the answer is “yes” and that will be the next post.

Dealing with Rejection Pt. 3

2011-05-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

I believe part of the healing process is recognizing the rejection we feel for all sides. I think you’d agree that rejection is the worst feeling! That sinking, I’ve done something wrong feeling, causing your shoulders to bow in, and chest tightens. Ah! The worst. No one told me that rejection feels like you’ve done something wrong, that sinking feeling of the heart.

It doesn’t come from merely a single event, but in my case it was a culmination of my past. It seemed the same story kept repeating itself, hope become dimmer, and I’m left with questions that will never have an answer.

I learned that each rejection is different, unique to each person. It is not a controlling story. My rejection experience is minimal compared to the other stories, but the feeling is the same. The day is fine until the memory or thought walks across your mind like an old woman making her way across a crosswalk, you want to yell at her to hurry up! It’s useless though.

Then there are the questions! I know I will never get the answers because applying logic to the situation is futile. I don’t know what to do about that expect forget about it. What else is there to do? Wait for the right time. Don’t rush it. Sometimes it’s better to be silent.

This is kind of my experience and thoughts on rejection. Dealing with it requires letting it run its course. I wouldn’t recommend making decisions during this process because of the ups and downs; I would apply the “3 day rule”, which is wait 3 to make a decision. I would also say confide in those who love you, share your story, they will share their experience, and through that we find comfort in knowing we are not alone.

Dealing with the anger of rejection, the why me? It helped me to view the situation, as best I could, without selfish eyes. I took a step back, asked myself if I had no selfish motive here how does it look now and that really helped bring into to focus all the good that was over shadowed by my selfishness.

I’ve the seen the rejection between a couple in their break ups and it is fierce! They hate each other and I can’t help but ask what if sex was out of the picture? If sex is literally giving over part of you, then the feeling of rejection is immeasurable. I can’t imagine the hurt to be honest.

I wonder if I’ve caused someone to feel rejection from me? I think I have and I’m deeply sorry. Selfishness causes blindness. Self-serving needs cause ignorance of the other’s needs. We are truly messed up. This isn’t how it should be.

Sexuality Pt. 2

2011-05-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

Can we be made whole again if we give away ourselves in our past?

Tell me how do I, the I that is presently broken, become whole again?

I don’t know the answer. What I do know is there has to be hope of renewal, of restoration, of reconciliation. I am arguing from a Biblical perspective just to let you know.

Before we can even think of being made whole again, we have to deal with the reality of the mess in its totality. All that is felt is okay. Feelings come from experience and our experience is real. We can’t afford to pretend anymore.

I think breathing is a means of accepting. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to take a deep breath in tense situations or even in the most romantic situations? It seems there is an acceptance of reality by taking a deep breath. Almost like a surrender of sorts.

Who’s to blame for the present mess? myself, that person or persons, God, culture, or family? I feel we can honestly pass the blame to all of the above and we have a right to, but the goal isn’t being right, it is being made whole, so the blame has to be placed where reconciliation can happen and often those in our past are gone so we can’t have reconciliation in a one on one way. I’m not going to say you’re the only one to blame because a lot has happened to us, we didn’t choose it. If you believe in God you can’t help but ask why? where were you? This is where I would begin. This is where God will answer.

One of my favorite parts of Moses’ life is in Numbers. All the people are pissing Moses off and he has had enough so he tells God, “I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now--if I have found favor in your eyes--and do not let me face my own ruin" (Num 11:14-15 NIV). The audacity of Moses but the very real feeling of being so overwhelmed that death would be a favor. How does God respond to such a request? He tells Moses to get 70 elders in Israel and they will help you handle this situation.

How do we begin reconciling? Put your case before God and turn towards community. “Part of the very essence of Christianity is to be together in a concrete community, with all the real human faults that are there and the tensions that this will bring us.” We cannot bear this pain alone. Our story is sacred and must be shared.

I don’t know if blame is the most productive way of beginning healing. We can’t change the past, we are where we are, and we have a future ahead of us. So how we deal with the present will dictate how we view the past.

Sexuality Pt. 1

2011-05-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

Spirituality is about what we do with our unrest, how we channel our Eros, and what we do with the fire inside of us. I am not speaking of today’s spirituality, but the spirituality of the Bible. It is strange to think of spirituality being a channel of how we control Eros, the fire inside of us.

Human beings are sexual. I don’t believe many would disagree with me on this. I was brought up on a culture which taught me sexuality means sex. Love is involved, but the act of sex is it the top. What is one to conclude? One must have sex in order to be sexual and those who don’t are outcast, afraid, or cursed. What if we taught sexuality as a whole? Would there be less brokenness around us? So often we end up leaving ourselves scattered about our past. In the present we are a shattered jars of our former selves. After all the word “sex” has an interesting origin of meaning. “The word sex has a Latin root, the verb secare. In Latin, seacre means (literally) “to cut off,” “to sever,” “to amputate,” “to disconnect from the whole.” To be “sexed,” therefore, literally means to be cut off, to be severed from, to be amputated from the whole.” If we go around having sex are we cutting off pieces of ourselves, which we won’t be able to get back? Is there any hope of recovery?

I haven't had sex. I have screwed around a couple of times. I am sorry for the honesty, but it is important to establish where I am coming from. I have often taken the stance that I don’t have anything good to say because “I don’t know”, maybe this is wrong, and maybe my view is valid because I have, through God’s grace, kept myself somewhat together. I have my constant struggles, like pornography, and that has definitely tainted me and I wish to God it hadn’t. Now that I am 27, looking for a relationship among like aged women, I have noticed a lot of pain. I thought sex was to bring happiness? What has gone so wrong today?

What if I defined sexuality this way: “Sexuality is not simply about finding a lover or even finding a friend. It is about overcoming separateness by giving life and blessing it. Thus, in its maturity, sexuality is about giving oneself over to community, friendship, family, service, creativity, humor, delight, and martyrdom so that, with God, we can help bring life into the world.” How would this effect our loneliness? What if we knew sexuality involved community, friendship, and that our life consists of? But we find ourselves sleeping alone, or worse yet sleeping alone when not alone. Let me make it clear here that “sleep” is not a euphemism for “sex”. There is an amazing comfort in being with someone, there’s security, and no matter what happens someone is there during the night. Sexuality is meant to give life and bless life.

We don’t use sexuality the way it was meant to be. Look at human trafficking, look at the most monstrous crimes, look at the worst breakups: sex makes all of these worse, more personal, and unbearable.

On the other side sexuality is the most beautiful part of human existence and sex is part of sexuality, sex helps complete sexuality, it is not in of itself sexuality. We see sexuality everyday. “When you see a young mother, so beaming with delight at her own child that, for that moment, all selfishness within her has given way to the sheer joy of seeing her child happy, you are seeing sexuality in its mature bloom.” We have all seen this, we seen people cry at the sight of new born, we seen people sacrifice their life for this newborn.

I get teary a lot. When I see people come together, we music flows, we forgiveness and reconciliation exist. I started to think because God has kept me safe, I have become sensitive to sexuality, and please understand I am such a screw up in this area of life, but I pray that I can move beyond my selfish desires in order to experience sexuality as a whole.

More on this later.

The quotes are from The Holy Longing by Ronald Rolheiser.

to sleep alone is to be poor....

2011-05-25T22:41:00.000-07:00

This will be quick. I read a chapter today called A Spirituality of Sexuality and this book/chapter fascinates me. Especially being a single, 27yr old, virgin, that’s right: virgin. It is tough to do nowadays, but as I get older I’ve learned so much and it has allowed me to reflect on life in a different way. I will have more to write about on this on a later date, but here’s an excerpt from the chapter:

“The word sex has a Latin root, the verb secare. In Latin, seacre means (literally) “to cut off,” “to sever,” “to amputate,” “to disconnect from the whole.” To be “sexed,” therefore, literally means to be cut off, to be severed from, to be amputated from the whole.”

“When you see a young mother, so beaming with delight at her own child that, for that moment, all selfishness within her has given way to the sheer joy of seeing her child happy, you are seeing sexuality in its mature bloom.”

“Sexuality is not simply about finding a lover or even finding a friend. It is about overcoming separateness by giving life and blessing it. Thus, in its maturity, sexuality is about giving oneself over to community, friendship, family, service, creativity, humor, delight, and martyrdom so that, with God, we can help bring life into the world.”

Simply put, when Christ went to bed alone at night he was in real solidarity with the many person who, not by choice but by circumstance, sleep alone. And there is a real poverty, a painful searing one, in this kind of aloneness…to sleep alone is to be poor. To sleep alone is to be stigmatized. To sleep alone is to be outside the norm of human intimacy and to acutely feel the sting of that. To sleep alone, as Thomas Merton once put it, is to live in a loneliness that God himself condemned.”

“it is false romantiscm, the unrealistic and imperialistic belief that we can have the full symphony that serves to hide the real tragedy, real meaning, and real nobility of human love and sexuality, as these express themselves in either marriage or in celibate friendship. A loneliness will always exist. We cannot be enough for each other and will always remain painfully sexed, separate, and somewhat alone.”

My mind is racing with thoughts, reflection, and observation. I hope it does the same for you. More to come on this topic soon.

What a Czech author and I have in common

2011-05-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

I read this today and considered it an answered prayer. My life has been spent single, minus a few months, and as the years go by I question this. Is there something wrong? I look around at my age group, people live together, married, divorced in their early 20s, and the list goes on. Regardless I look at my position in this environment and today I read this and literally said, “Thank you” out loud.

The author Ronald Rolheiser (The Holy Longing) discusses Ivan Kilma’s book My First Loves: “In his autobiographical novel, My First Loves, Czechoslovakian novelist Ivan Kilma struggles with some painful questions. He is a young man, full of sexual passion, moving among young men and women his own age who are less hesitant than he is. Kilma is reticent, celibate, and not sure why. Certainly it is not for any religious reasons. So he wonders: Is it because I respect others more than my peers and am less willing to be irresponsible? Is it because I carry some high, quasi-religious, moral solitude that I’m rightly hesitant to compromise? Or, am I just uptight, timid, and lacking in nerve? Am I virtuous or sterile? He is not sure.”

This is from Ivan’s book in response to these questions: “Suppose I spent my whole life just waiting, waiting for the moment when at last I saw that starry face? It would turn its glance on me and say: “You’ve been incapable of accepting life, dear friend, so you’d better come with me!” Or, on the other hand, it might say: “You’ve done well because you knew how to bear your solitude at a great height, because you were able to do without consolation in order not to do without hope!” What would it really say? At that moment I could not tell.”

I am far from having things together and I struggle mightily, but it’s this hope that won’t die. And yes the starry face is around. Maybe I’ve seen it? Or maybe not yet? Or maybe the face is hidden till I’m ready to see? Hope and Love go together in life, beyond the intimate relationship, it extends to the community. N.T Wright comments in Surprised by Hope on this relationship: “Love is at the very heart of the surprise of hope: people who truly hope as the resurrection encourages us to hope will be people enabled to love in a new way.” I believe in this with my heart.

So here’s to Hope.

Wait I'm to be perfect?

2011-05-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Mat 5:48 NAS)

This is the end of the Sermon on the Mount. After all the instruction, the beatitudes, the how to dos, Christ concludes that you are to be perfect. The gospel message I’ve always heard is that I am not good enough so don’t even try. Okay so I accept Christ and then what? Wait for the end? Is the gospel message personal salvation and forgiveness of sins? What about all the talk of the kingdom of God, all the parables, what is Christ Lord of? Perfect is something else than what we think it is.

The word perfect here is the greek word telios. I’m not a greek expert so I will not pretend to know anything. The defintion of telios is having attained the end or purpose, complete, perfect. This reminds of Paul thought, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus”(Phil 1:6 NAS). God began a good work, it will be made perfect or brought to completion. Paul a few verses later states, “Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus”(Phi 3:12 NAS). There is work to do as a Christian. Christ’s return or encore, as I like to call it, is history brought to its completion. Paul presses on by living out the life of Christ. It was Christ’s life the announcement the kingdom, a changing of the guard in the world. When we live that life we establish God’s kingdom now.

I wonder if I’m good enough often, I wonder what’s the point of hope, and I found hope in knowing that what I do now will last forever. The labor, the tough choices, the heartache and loneliness are worth it. I am to be perfect and God will bring me there until the day of Christ Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount is the instruction of kingdom building, the ethic of Church, and it is the Church that is to be a sign of the kingdom to come. We are to live now the future of humanity. It’s an impossible task alone, but God will bring about His kingdom, not us.

So when I’m down and broken hearted I will sing and I will smile. As Saint Francis said, "All the darkness of the world cannot extinguish the light of a small candle." My candle will never burn out. Christ is Lord over all. I need to start living out this truth.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love...

2011-05-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

"Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."
— St. Francis of Assisi

Prayer is the lifeline of faith. When prayer ceases, faith ceases. I’ve pretended to be alive, but without an active prayer I have no more life than a puppet missing a handler. I love the prayer of Saint Francis. Read it to yourself out loud and contemplate what is being said. Apply this to our lives. Allow yourself to imagine the possibilities. All that he prayed for isn’t for merely being good; this is the means of building the kingdom of God. These actions are eternal. Jesus came to proclaim the kingdom of God. His resurrection started a new age, a new creation of humanity under a second Adam. I’ve added a quote from N.T Wright that shows the present life has connection to the future. What we do matters more than just morality. I found a great hope in this. I hope you will too.

"The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die…What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it…What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God's future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether (as the hymn so mistakenly puts it…). They are part of what we may call building for God's kingdom."
— N.T. Wright (Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church)

What really is Hell?

2011-05-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

I am not a universalist or whatever. So if that comes up I will politely put a :) next to your comment. I read this today and found it enlightening because I have never thought this way. Please chew it up and spit out your thoughts.

“From my perspective hell as the outer darkness, eternal perdition, has been destroyed by the cross and resurrection victory of Christ, since he died for all and his gracious election goes out to all. The possibility of ontological separation from God has been cancelled by Jesus Christ through his universal atoning sacrifice. Yet an inner darkness remains as a sign and shadow of what has been overcome. To the rejected it appears to include the horror of eternal separation from God. The truth of the matter is that the pain in hell is due to the presence of God rather than to his absence, to his unfathomable love rather than to any abysmal hatred, or what is worse, gross indifference.” Donald G. Bloesch- The Last Things: Resurrection, Judgment, Glory (217)

It’s easy for me to judge until I look in the mirror.

2011-05-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

It isn’t about the other person.

You know when you dream and see someone you know? Logically it is perceived the dream is about them and not yourself, but this isn’t always the case. More often then not the person in the dream represents something about you. I often have a dream that has an old friend from high school and each dream, there have been around 5 or 6, and I see him and they reaction is different each time from him. I still haven’t figured it out, but I know he represents something about me.

Another more general example is having that person die in your dream and often that means that part of you has died.

I am fascinated with dreams. They have played a big part in my growth over the years. I’ve learned a lot about myself through dreams.

The point I realized is this isn’t the case in dreams only. In the ‘awake’ world it is easy to look at others as having problems, but you’re just as much in need of fixing to. Like with friendships it’s easy to look at the other and say they need to get it together, and then I’ll hang out with them. If you take the time to step back and give an honest assessment you will see how much you can improve also.

There is always something as love as we live.

It’s easy for me to judge until I look in the mirror.

Smiling at the Horizon

2011-05-08T22:09:00.001-07:00

I’m always wishing for the happy ending in every situation. What I’ve learned is waiting is essential to that end. There are shorter routes to get there, but I believe that’s settling. Plus the best is worth the wait, is it not? We know that when it does happen the time spent beforehand disappears as if it were only day, but in the meantime a day seems like an eternity. From that moment of completion we only see present towards the future. When we were once alone not sure where to go, we now stand side-by-side as friends, and face-to-face as lovers.

There is a design,
An alignment to cry,
At my heart you see,
The beauty of love
as it was made to be

In Honor of Mom's Day

2011-05-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

Letter from an Irish Mother to her Son

Dear Son,

Just a few lines to let you know I'm still alive. I'm writing this letter slowly because I know you can't read fast. We are all doing very well.

You won't recognise the house when you get home - we have moved. Your dad read in the newspaper that most accidents happen within 20 miles from your home, so we moved. I won't be able to send you the address because the last Irish family that lived here took the house numbers when they moved so that they wouldn't have to change their address.

This place is really nice. It even has a washing machine. I'm not sure it works so well though: last week I put a load in and pulled the chain and haven't seen them since.

Your father's got a really good job now. He's got 500 men under him. He's cutting the grass at the cemetery.

Your sister Mary had a baby this morning but I haven't found out if it's a boy or a girl, so I don't know whether you are an auntie or an uncle.

Your brother Tom is still in the army. He's only been there a short while and they've already made him a court martial!

Your Uncle Patrick drowned last week in a vat of whiskey in the Dublin Brewery. Some of his workmates tried to save him but he fought them off bravely. They cremated him and it took three days to put out the fire.

I'm sorry to say that your cousin Seamus was arrested while riding his bicycle last week. They are charging him with dope peddling.

I went to the doctor on Thursday and your father went with me. The doctor put a small tube in my mouth and told me not to talk for ten minutes. Your father offered to buy it from him.

The weather isn't bad here. It only rained twice this week, first for three days and then for four days. Monday was so windy one of the chickens laid the same egg four times.

We had a letter from the under-taker. He said if the last payment on your Grandmother's plot wasn't paid in seven days, up she comes.

About that coat you wanted me to send you, your Uncle Stanley said it would be too heavy to send in the mail with the buttons on, so we cut them off and put them in the pockets.

John locked his keys in the car yesterday. We were really worried because it took him two hours to get me and your father out.

Three of your friends went off a bridge in a pick-up truck. Ralph was driving. He rolled down the window and swam to safety. Your other two friends were in back. They drowned because they couldn't get the tailgate down.

There isn't much more news at this time. Nothing much has happened.

Your loving Mum

P.S. I was going to send you some money but I had already sealed the envelope.

I watch you spin around

2011-05-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick note of my current state of being. Last night I came down with something and woke up with a sweet soar throat and body aches. As of this moment I still feel it, but it’s tolerable.

I have been watching Scrubs all day, for those that know me will laugh, and there’s an episode that ends with the Dashboard Confessional song "Stolen". I couldn’t figure out who sand that song, but I humbly admit I really like that song. This is in part because of my romantic streak going on right now. Who am I kidding the romantic hasn't stopped.

This lyric captures exactly what’s in my head, “I watch you spin around, In the highest heels, You are the best one…” I will be honest and say the image in my head is the best. I imagine it’s at my wedding with everyone around on the dance floor. Her and I dancing the night away and when I spin her away from me I watch her feet twirl, her dress spin, as her hair follows her dress. The way she looks at me I know there’s nothing better than that moment.

It’s what I look forward to. Can you blame me?

Old Man Planting a Kingdom

2011-05-05T20:51:00.001-07:00

26 And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;
27 and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows-- how, he himself does not know.
28 "The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.
29 "But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." (Mark 4:26-29 NAS)

When I think of the word ‘kingdom’ I imagine gold, riches, beauty, and all of that good stuff. When I think of the word/person of ‘God’ I imagine power, knowledge, and those characteristics. The Gospel of Mark is doing its best to dismiss this idea.

This parable is unique to Mark that should indicate something about the author and what his theology is like. I like to read the parable and take a minute to play out what is happening. I image a man in a hot, dry field slowly walking on the dirt with a satchel over his shoulder, throwing the seeds into the dirt. I think he is just throwing it around liberally because he doesn’t have a plan, just wants a harvest. He empties his satchel and slowly walks back home at sundown.

The old man goes home to rest his head on his bed. There’s no anxiety, no worry, no thoughts about what more he could do; his job was to cast the seed upon the soil. Sunrise he wakes up, steps out on the patio to look over the field. His eyes squint to look closely at the ground. Walking out to the field to get a closer look he notices stems and green blades scattered over the field. A smile comes across his face, turns back to the house, and waits for the harvest.

The seed sprouted and he does not know how. How does this possibly apply to the kingdom of God? That story is how the kingdom of God begins. Seeds have been planted and now we see the followers of Christ 2,000 years later and we have no idea how we got here. The Church’s history is not one to brag about, but somehow the seed sprouted.

It is okay not to know all the answers. We don’t need to defend Jesus. The gospel has to be put out there with the possibility of rejection. He didn’t ask for fighters or fleers. ‘Take up your cross’ that’s it. The seeds will grow despite us and this should be freeing. Take a deep breath, take the cross, and go out into the world baptizing and preaching.

Love Is Rocking Chair I Sit In

2011-05-04T18:22:00.001-07:00

The more I think about love and what love is the more I find it isn’t what I thought. Sure I see parts that are unbelievably romantic, but love is simple. Perhaps it isn’t the grandiose vision; it could be simply a beautifully handcrafted rocking chair. I say this because that rocking chair may not grab the eye, doesn’t shine in the sun, and may never be truly noticed expect by its maker. In the same way love is built by work, choices, frustration, patience, and sacrifice. Just as the carpenter, attention is paid to details that will affect the long-term status of the chair.

I don’t believe love is glamorous anymore. Don’t get me wrong I am still the most romantic guy out there, but I’m learning the reality of it all. I’m loving learning about love. It’s such a struggle and thought consuming; at the same time you wouldn’t change it for the world. It really doesn’t make sense.

I am not one to speak on love. My heart hasn’t been broken. I find myself considering that if I haven’t experience all the pain do I really get it? I am naïve? Does someone need to experience the worst to get it? I believe all that to be a lie. I’d rather have a made one chair, then broken five. Then again I believe this is relative to the individual and that is obvious. We each have a story, which is sacred, and it is along the way that our stories meet. I tend to believe they meet at the right time.

Truth is I am in love and have been since 2nd grade. I haven’t left my love. I continue to grow in this love. It is this 1st love that is going to allow me to truly love another. My chair was made for me. So I ask myself why try to build my own chair? Let the rocking chair be built by the One who is Love.

If God is love, then to fully understand love is to fully understand God. That’s impossible. While I seek to know and understand, I equally take the time to bask in it all like a child wandering into the unknown, keep my eyes open, and my heart open to take it all in.

Love is transforming.

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” C.S Lewis

Story of a People Embodied By A Man

2011-05-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

“I still believe that this putting together of the two side of that great question-the historical dimension and the theological one-is one of the most important tasks we can engage in when studying Jesus”(Wright, 83). The Church, especially in the West, has the theology nailed down. Since the Reformation theological debate has taken full bloom. Yet, as is the case with human nature, we take something good and abuse it. The pendulum never seems to stop in the middle where there’s a balance. I chose this quote from N.T Wright because it is an issue facing the Church today. We have down the theological issues for the most part but we’ve lost sight of the man. The Church has taught the Gospel of John’s view of Jesus very well but as one learns that is only one aspect of the Christ.

Jesus Christ has become a Buddha type: a distant myth who accepted everyone and overall a peaceful person. What makes Christianity unique and what Wright emphasizes is Jesus’ action as a human being in Jewish context. “One the one hand, response to Jesus is response to a person, rather than adherence to a set of ideas or a movement”(Barton 196). The life of Jesus Christ was “the indestructible life” (Hebrews 7:16), not even death could hold him down. In contemplating this our understanding of Jesus the Jew is enriched. To imagine him walking by our patio as we sit outside eating dinner. This is the wonder of Jesus and equally the wonder of God’s dealing with mankind. It’s a shame the world sees Christ as they do Buddha. Jesus is thrown into the same category of good people. If Jesus was unique then our studying of him needs to be that which is unique. “On the one hand, as a real human being, he lived and worked in a specific time and place. That time and place is Israel in the first century. (Achtemeier, 176). That is the uniqueness of Jesus as compared to other “gods.”

In Wright’s book I have really enjoyed his discussions on understanding the parables. His section on the Prodigal Son really took root with me. “A story about a scoundrel young son who goes off into a far pagan country and is then astonishingly welcomed back home is-of course!- the story of exile and restoration”(Wright, 42). He sheds more light on an already multi-layered parable. The biblical narrative is a vast ocean with an immensurable depth. Also with Wright, the embodiment of Israel in Jesus Christ is vitally important to an understanding of Jesus. This really brings the narrative together and requires of us a thorough understanding of the Old Testament. “He would thereby do for Israel what Israel could not to do for herself. He would fulfill Israel’s vocation that she should be the servant people, the light of the world”(Wright, 90). One has to go back and find what Israel could not do for herself and then how is it that Jesus fulfilled it. This is the plan of salvation: salvation comes from the Jews. In our modern thinking this is offensive. Christians are supposed to be the answer and the Jews had failed. Once again the truth points back to this understanding of fitting Jesus into his Jewish context.

I have been on a journey of realizing the importance of the historical and Jewish context of Jesus Christ. One would think by understanding Christ in a first century context there would be no relevance to today because everything appears to be different. Yet, as the Bible being a story, to see Christ in the correct context allows me to see God’s plan of redemption of humanity through Israel. Jesus the Jew is a title that requires an extensive inquiry in understanding Jesus the Christ. These are titles that define who Christ was and is. To understand the work of Jesus is to look at his life. His was the life of a human being who lived “the indestructible life.” He came that we might have life and life in abundance. Jesus the Jew is a concept that I have seen to be lacking in Church teaching in my life and I honestly feel that this is contributing to the Church’s current lack of identity. Unfortunately, it is also the lack of identity in us, the disciples of Jesus Christ.

It's the Quiet Mystery that Draws Me In

2011-05-03T19:12:00.001-07:00

You when you don’t talk to someone for a long time and when you first catch up it’s complete word vomit? That was my first few quiet times last week, I had so much to say and think about. I actually do this in life just ask my mom. Monday morning my quiet was different because I didn’t have much to say, so I was actually quiet.

I sat and asked God to reveal to me what he thought was necessary. I did not have any epiphanies, nor did I expect any because I knew I needed to be still. I listened to the ocean and then tried to move beyond the ocean, as if in the middle of the sea. I’m not going to lie it was difficult.

I’ve been praying for patience in areas of my life and God has answered my cry.

The weekend was epic. It wasn’t epic because of the normal stuff; it was epic because I was with a good community. Friday involved burgers, beer, singing, and dancing. Saturday involved a jam session. Sunday we went to church and then played Ultimate Frisbee in the park. It was so relaxing and refreshing. I don’t believe the smile left my face.

I just finished a book called, To Share in the Body: A Theology of Martyrdom for Today’s Church by Craig Hovey, and I wanted to quickly share some parts and thoughts.

No single Christian is called to do what Jesus did; this is the mission and task of the whole church, the collected gifts of its members, the complete body of Christ. 29

There is no further justification for why we ought to love our neighbors than that this is what Jesus taught. 43

Let the good news encounter the unbelieving world open to the possibility of rejection. 49

Peter’s blocking of Jesus on the road names the desire to consume the benefits of the kingdom without engaging in the costs of discipleship. 66

Even though the New Testament clearly affirms the resurrection, it never tries to explain what a resurrection is. Even after Jesus’s resurrection took place, it seems all the church could do was narrate it and inhabit the way of life it made possible. 73

Telling the story, however, invites those who were not present to enter the mystery and inhabit the story themselves, becoming characters in it. 74

In Mark’s Gospel, it is precisely those who do not see and still believe-that is the “blind”-who receive their sight. 102

The risen Christ is not “seen” at all in Mark’s Gospel. If we have failed to see the glory on the cross, we will not be permitted to bend the resurrection to our conquering purposes. 102

These unlikely witnesses are undermined in their authority for the same reason that Peter will later amaze the crowds at Pentecost: the proclamation of the gospel does not rely on the gender or education of the witnesses. After all, a gospel proclaimed by women and uneducated fishermen is a social sign of the cosmic reversal that the gospel heralds. 12

Such eyes see the light shining in the darkness even, and especially, at darkness’s nadir, having understood the meaning of the light and the false pretense of the darkness. 135

It is a challenging book to say the least, especially in light of the death or killing of Osama bin Laden. Be careful how you think the Gospel works. The more I read, the more the mystery draws me in, the more I find that the economy of the Kingdom is a Kingdom of life. The message of Reconciliation has been entrusted to us. That is scary…

Light Bulbs and Kegs

2011-04-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

Last night was one of those light bulbs going off kind of nights. I have a class called Foundations of Spiritual Life and we had some guest speakers. People often ask me, “What do you want to do with this theology degree?” I often respond honestly, “I don’t know.” Pastor kind of, Teacher is appealing, and not working for the church is also an opinion. One of the guest speakers was a Spiritual Director and that sounds kind of new age or whatever, but get over it and grow up. So what is a Spiritual Director or Direction? “Spiritual direction is a ministry deeply rooted in the Christian tradition. Most fundamentally, the goal of spiritual direction is to help you become more aware of God's presence in your life and to make life decisions in fidelity to that awareness. Through the guidance of a trained spiritual director, this ministry can help you clarify, articulate and affirm your spiritual experience as revealed through all the situations and events in your life. This is done by providing a loving, open environment, giving support and feedback, and being a listener and companion for your journey. Spiritual direction is not psychotherapy or counseling, but utilizes the many skills of counseling.” That is taken from the Sister of St. Joseph website (http://www.thecsd.com/spiritual_direction.html). What I want to do has a name!

The other speaker was a therapist and I was fascinated. The coolest part was they way we think and react to situations.
1. Reality- just the facts. As if watching life without sound.
2. Perception- what the 5 senses take away from reality.
3. Interpretation- your interpretation of your perception of reality. Often one’s past bleeds into this part.
4. Feelings- this is how you feel about your interpretation of the perception of what is reality.

It’s truly amazing how the human mind works, let alone how fast we think. We can speak around 100 words a minute, but we think in images which we all know are worth….1,000 words we can process up to 1,000,000 words a minute in our head. What I took away from this is: listen and be patient.

I’ve spent a lot of time making decisions based on feelings. I know they are irrational and carry so much more than reality! There is a God given space between those steps where we can act in the image of God and make right judgment.

On a lighter note: Kegs are really heavy. I must have lifted 10 of them today and almost crushed my thumb and that would have really affected my ultimate Frisbee playing.

Ended Up Running Away Naked.....

2011-04-28T08:21:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a good day of reflection; it might have affected my work a little bit because I couldn’t get the mind change going. It was like I had this bottled up for sometime. Today I was excited, it was easy to get this morning, in fact I woke up before my 6:30 alarm.

I woke up a few times throughout the night and that scared me because I didn’t want my mind to start moving, therefore keeping me up, but I did alright in going back to sleep.

Yesterday I sat by the jetty, from that perspective the ocean is loud because of the rocks near by, there is a more chaotic aspect. Midway through I moved over away from the rocks and located myself on the sand. Funny how different it was. The ocean seemed peaceful, like one of the island getaway commercials. Often situations in life need to be scene from different perspectives. I get caught up in one spot and it is clearly chaotic, but if I choose to move that same situation might appear more peaceful. This requires patience and willingness.

I am a passionate guy with grandiose ideas. “Change the world!” and all that stuff. These thoughts do not fit in the way of the cross. The gospel message is so backwards it’s confusing. Because of Daniel Kirk I love Mark’s gospel. Did you ever notice the when Jesus is arrested there ends up being one young man following Jesus wearing nothing but a linen cloth. All the disciples had fled and the other group fought, but surely here is one following! No, no. This young man is seized, meaning he is going to face death with Jesus, but leaves behind the cloth and runs away naked.

To be with Jesus is to follow. This scene has those who flee and those fight. Both are wrong. So what does it matter? I was just thinking of what this looks like today? What situations have I fled or fought?

So what did I conclude for today? I don’t want to half follow only to end up running away naked and ashamed. The disciples failed to pray, therefore they failed to follow and perhaps the cross was also meant for them, but the sheep scattered. The leader was left alone and that is supposed to mean the movement is over. Yet here we are.

On a funny note there is a seal that lays on this rock off the jetty and sometimes I wish I was that seal. Fat, lazy, and basking in the sun. although when I go to the beach with my shirt off I do come close to my dream of being that seal.

Yesterday I talked about “Awake my soul” and what does it mean. Since then I have felt this personal renaissance boiling up in me. I’ve realized the past few years have been rather dead. I started playing and writing music again, my photography is coming back, and my passion for social justice is reappearing. I am happy about this. When I returned to the Lord he showed me where to go.

Impatience Thoughts from a Patient Man

2011-04-27T16:00:00.001-07:00

Alright so lately I’ve had a theme of impatience streaming in my life. This caught me off guard because I am honestly the most easy going person, but I met a wonderful woman which triggered this impatience in me. At first I thought it’s just who I am but this isn’t true, so I had to ask then what is this? Why is she the visible manifestation of my impatience? I asked God to reveal what’s hidden in all this.
If I reflect on why I’m patient it is because I’ve dealt with issues or I have a history that taught me to be patient. This situation brought up what I feel to be one of the deepest desires as a human being: being with someone special. Truly the desire of my heart is to fall and be in love with the most amazing woman these eyes have seen. So when she came along this desire woke up and it is like nothing I’ve felt before. Sure I’ve been interested, but I actually really want to be around her.
I know relationships take time and work. I gained perspective when I looked at my future plan. Got a good job, which I want to keep at least till I graduate around 2 years from now and yes, possibly be close to getting married then. So relax, I tell myself.
I read from Henri Nouwen, ‎"A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us." I have waited till now and I will continue to wait because I know what I desire, that which is hidden, will be revealed in perfect timing.
I am where I am meant to be.
I don’t feel life should be different for me.
So why be impatient my soul?
Like the Gospel of Mark tells us, “Watch and Pray.” A father takes care of his children.
I will just be.

"Peace, be still"

2011-04-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

“Awake my soul” was the song my heart sang as I sat silently. I didn’t realize starring at an ocean for an hour had the potential to bring me back to reality. I have been a bit out of sorts lately but not necessarily in a bad way. I took an hour this morning to spend time with God and I wanted to share some thoughts and observations.

Have you ever met with someone whom you have a past with, you haven’t seen each other for a while, you get back together and it’s a little awkward at first? Or that first date tension of what to ask or say? My relationship with Christ is like the former. We’ve been through a lot, he’s always been by my side whether or not I acknowledge him, and here we are again as old friends catching up.

I was thinking about Christ calming the sea while looking at the ocean. Do you realize how incredible that would have been to witness? Think about the ocean and how it constantly moves, then imagine a man calming all that chaos. The transition from chaos to peace is incredible to me.

I watched where the waves washed toward the shore where rocks were scattered. The bigger ones didn’t move on account of the water, but I thought eventually they would wear down. I thought about life and the baggage that is brought along, the daily anxiety, past mistakes, stress, ups, and downs. Those rocks didn’t move. There were massive ones and some medium sized scattered about the shore. Sometimes I feel like the massive rock, but mostly it seems my whole is comprised of scattered medium sized rocks along the shore. That hymn popped into my head “Just like that tree that’s planted by the water, I shall not be moved.” A smile came across my face.

I put these two observations together in my mind. Say life is the sea; it’s deep, beautiful, chaotic, calm, full of life, and desert. I am a rock of whatever size, it doesn’t matter, it the midst of this beautiful and ugliness. There’s Christ standing on the shore with an outstretched hand, “Peace, be still.” Not only would the ocean hear, but more importantly I would hear this. “Peace, be still.”

During the quiet there was a fight in my head. One side found a way to wonder, while the other yelled, “Quiet!” It was quite humorous. I’ve read that silence and solitude is where transformation happens. Damn it I want it. I feel like an amateur, first time swinging a golf club, it’s ugly as first but I’ll manage.

I saw a couple around my age sitting on the jetty together. The romantic side of me smiled in hope that one day someone will quietly sit with me in the morning by the sea. I had my first love though with me and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

People often ask, “How do I hear God speak?” or “How do I know?” I don’t have an answer, but experience tells me it is the thought that tells you to do something inconvenient. That whisper that says, “Say Hi to that man” and you respond, “Ahh I really don’t want to.” I believe that his voice. This morning carried the theme of “Awake my soul” it was my heart singing this. I don’t know the full meaning of why yet. Perhaps today will bring about perspective.

Thoughts on Justification

2011-04-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

Justification: Unity or Division?

As a child of the Reformation I was raised on hymn “Justification by faith alone.” Only recently did I realize “alone” does appear in the verse. When “alone” does appear it is James saying, “not by faith alone.” The irony is comical, spiced with “uh oh.” I must admit I am partial to unity. I always have been. For me there is nothing more powerful than a group of people with a common purpose: good and bad. Our denominations are littered with defining mottos, which indicate difference or superiority over another. One is more theologically geared and the other Spirit-led. One speaks in tongues and one memorized catechesis. We now understand the motto of justification separates the Protestants from the Catholics. It’s a word of division. Yet, justification, as used by Paul, was a term meant to bring together Jews and Gentiles. Where did we go wrong? I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised, but I think it is important to look at Galatians for some insight on the issue.
The Galatian ordeal is clearly stated: “a different gospel,” “distort the gospel of Christ,” “gospel contrary to what we preached to you,” “gospel contrary to what you received,” all of this in 1:6-9. I find this same struggle still existing. We hold so dearly to these mottos because it’s our truth of the gospel. Somehow if this motto is to be disputed, we rise up like an army to conquer the invading army. Sadly, our enemy is our brother or sister. So what is the gospel? I read a clever statement by Richard B. Hays in Daniel Kirk’s book Unlocking Romans, “It’s about God, stupid.” I love it. Paul points the same direction. The gospel preached by him was not according to man (v.11). How is Paul going to solidify his church? What is the basis for unity? What makes the Jew and Gentile alike?
Paul, seemingly annoyed, points to authority given by the “pillars” of the church. For him the council at Jerusalem had the truth of the gospel at stake! A very serious matter! There seemed for him to be false brethren among them, and their main concern is circumcision. Paul present his gospel with his companion Titus(uncircumcised) to the pillars. In the end Paul wins, Titus isn’t compelled to go that route (especially at an older age), and, for good measure, they agree to remember the poor.
Who wants to join the Circumcision Party?! Sounds ridiculous I know, but funny. Yet, this isn’t funny, in fact it is extremely serious. Paul gets in Peter’s face because Peter “stood condemned” (2:11). A reoccurring theme starts up again in this confrontation: circumcision, truth of the gospel, and compulsion. The circumcision party is the “right-winged” of the Christians. Even though I despise political terms, I will use them because we all understand what is meant. I am apprehensive in using “right-winged” because it follows that if Paul disagrees with them, then he is “left-winged.” It’s all stupid terms. It follows that the issue isn’t man centered but that the truth of the gospel is once again at stake (2:14): the gospel that is not according to man. Titus did not feel compelled to be circumcised and now Paul is accusing his fellows Jews, who are afraid to eat with the Gentiles because of the presence of “James’ people,” Paul is wondering why do they compel the Gentiles to live as Jews? While you, a Jew, live like Gentiles? There’s some hypocrisy brewing and cultural lines being drawn.
Paul turns his attention to the Jews and appeals to them, “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles” (2:15). A very Jewish statement! We are the chosen people, not Gentiles! BUT! I love the “buts.” Even though this is the case, we Jews know better, “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified”(2:16). We Jews know where our justification lies. These are not Jews who are seeking justification by the law. They are attempting to supplement the gospel, which ultimately supplants the gospel. We are justified by faith in Christ. It is important that the “in” can also be “of”, this makes things interesting. “The faith of Christ, expressed in his death, is therefore the objective ground of believers’ justification” . Have we overlooked the faith Christ has because we boxed him into the God box? Something to think about…
Paul begins to show that life, social, ethical dimensions have all changed. This is the new life of faith in the Son of God who loved and gave his life for Paul. “To live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, then, is to live in such wholehearted devotion to God that it expresses itself in sacrificial, or cruciform, love for others” . Imitate Christ’s life. The faith he held, we hold because that faith is the ground for our justification. Is important think about justification by faith as a “banner raised by Paul against any and all such presumption of privileged status before God by virtue of race, culture or nationality, against any and all attempts to preserve such spurious distinctions by practices that exclude and divide.”
The gospel they heard with faith has unified Jew and Gentile and fulfilled the promise of Abraham by the nations now being blessed. Paul leads us on a discussion of the Law and promise. To put in short: Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor (3:24-25). Our new identity in Christ Jesus unites us as sons of God. “To be ‘in Christ’ means to have responded in faith to the gospel of Christ’s faithful death and to have moved in baptism from outside of Christ “into” Christ” . It is through the “in Christ” that we are no “longer Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (3:28). It is vital for us to play close attention to the situation that Paul was writing into. He is dealing with the identity of God’s people. How is it that the Gentiles can be part of the covenant without “works of the law?” It is through the faith in/of the crucified and resurrected Jesus, whom God raised and made Lord and Messiah (Acts 2:36). As I think about the implications of this, I begin to question a number of my thoughts and attitudes towards certain people. I also begin to wonder at the faith of Christ. It’s an attribute of my Lord I’ve never fully taken in.

Overview of Hell in the New Testament

2011-03-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

Due to recent discussion I decided to take a quick look at hell, hades, lake of fire, etc in the New Testament. Some verses are interesting.

Hell/Hades in the NT and the context in which it occurs:

Matthew 5-
22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Mat 5:22 NIV)- Warning against the people of God and they way in which they interact.

29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Mat 5:29-30 NIV)- Sin isn’t worth going to hell with a whole body.

Matthew 10-
28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Mat 10:28 NIV)- Don’t be afraid of worldly enemies, but that which can destroy the soul.

Matthews 16-
18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Mat 16:18 NIV)- The Church will overtake Hades.

Matthew 18-
9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. (Mat 18:9 NIV)- Same as Matthew 5.

Matthew 23-
33 "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? (Mat 23:33 NIV)- Once again it is the religious who are endanger of hell.

Mark 9-
43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
44
45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.
46
47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, (Mar 9:43-47 NIV)- Same as Matthew’s teachings.

Luke 12-
5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. (Luk 12:5 NIV)- Same as Matthew 10.

Luke 16-
23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. (Luk 16:23 NIV)- Parable language.

James 3
6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. (Jam 3:6 NIV)- Seems to figurative speech warning the danger of what you say and seems to be reminiscent of Matthew 5:22.

2 Peter 2
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; (2Pe 2:4 NIV)- Angels in hell.

Revelation 1
18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (Rev 1:18 NIV)- Jesus holds the keys to Hades, not Satan.

Revelation 6
8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. (Rev 6:8 NIV)- Figurative speech typical of apocalyptic literature where Death and Hades are personified.

Revelation 20
13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.
14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Rev 20:13-15 NIV)- Here the personification of Death and Hades are thrown into the Lake of Fire along with those whose names are not found in the book of life.

In short I’d like to encourage all of our presupposed views of hell and what those views entail as far what, who, whys of hell. For me the N.T is less defined than a lot Theology is on Hell. It is interesting that Christ tells Peter the gates of hell will not overcome the Church and Jesus holds the keys to Hades! This challenges my view and honestly it’s encouraging. I understand this is a short overview and some can make some crazy theological arguments, if that was my purpose I would have written more, but I got other things to do. Share thoughts with me.

Barth CD 1.2

2011-01-19T10:03:00.001-08:00

This next entry on CD is Barth’s laying the groundwork for the rest of the collection. “By prolegomena to dogmatics we understand the attempt to give an explicit account of the particular way of knowledge taken in dogmatics, or, as we might also say, of the particular point from which we are to look, think and judge in dogmatics” (25). While there is so much going on in this chapter, what stood out to me was his discussion on human reason and revelation, or dogmatics and apologetics. Around the time of Junior High and High School I was introduced to apologetics and I took to it fairly quick. I read a lot of Francis Schaeffer, in fact almost all of his books, and numerous others book that I apparently have forgotten. Now I didn’t get into many discussions of having to prove God’s existence or anything like that, but the mode around apologetics is a mood of defensiveness and somewhat angry. I had this sense that I needed to be right, which led to opposition being dangerous or at least I had to have answer and have it quick. I quickly learned that no answer is better than a bad one. This is where Barth comes in and defines this problem as follows; “dogmatics is a struggle between this reason of man and the revelation believed in the Church”(28). It seems Barth is highly against the reasoning of man. I believe that man has reason and that reason can be useful. I can’t but think of Walter Brueggemann’s book An Unsettling God where he speaks constantly about the dialogue between the Creator and the created. God has to keep His promises as long as Israel obeyed. If that is the case then humanity has to have reason available and that reason has to be reliable. This might be getting off topic, but this is where my mind is going. I would like to close this entry with this quote from Barth, “If this is true, then the place from which the way of dogmatic knowledge is to be seen and understood can be neither a prior anthropological possibility nor a subsequent ecclesiastical reality, but only the present moment of the speaking and hearing of Jesus Christ Himself, the divine creation of light in our hearts”(41). The way of dogmatic knowledge does not originate in the study of humanity, nor the study of the Church, but only in here and now with the words of Jesus Christ. Barth’s claim is “our task is not to say what the apostles say, but to say what we must say on the basis of what the apostles said.” Blogging is a difficult art fyi.

Start of Karl Barth "Church Dogmatics" 1.1

2011-01-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

This is honestly my first time reading Karl Barth as an author let along Chruch Dogmatics and like any first time reading an author the majority of reading is trying to figure out his style of writing and flow of thought. In a way he is difficult to read, I read out loud and repeat parts where I might get lost. I just finished chapter 1 of volume 1.1 and I’m excited to continue reading. Why? I really enjoy his style of writing and open thinking, meaning he questions a lot and seems to rely more of God’s revelation than man’s systematic categories of answers. When I read I underline the parts that stick out the most to me at this moment in my life, I’m sure that when I read this at another point in life I will be underlining very different parts. The parts I underline will guide what I write. So lets begin…
First question, which I think is an obvious question, what is dogmatics? “As a theological discipline dogmatics is the scientific self-examination of the Christian Church with respect to the content of its distinctive talk about God” (3). So there is a relation between dogmatics and theology but what about the Church? “Dogmatics is a theological discipline. But theology is a function of the Church” (3). This raises so many interesting thoughts and I wish I was smarter to explore these thoughts, but until then I go with what I got now. This is the Church’s self-examination, which dictates the direction or influences the direction of Theology. As Daniel Kirk points out of Barth famous claim :our task is not to say what the apostles say, but to say what we must say on the basis of what the apostles said. For me this leaves room for change and a lot of room of change.
Barth speak of dogmatics as an ‘act of faith.’ Some other readers have now begun to wonder if a non-Christians can read the Bible as well or something better than a Christian. This is hard for me to resonate with because while anyone can pick up the Bible and read it in a way I’ve never read it doesn’t mean they should be the ones practicing dogmatics. I think back to the end of Luke when “Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” Without Christ there is no understanding of the Scriptures. Barth states, “We maintain that humanly speaking there is nothing to alleviate the difficulty. We simply confess the mystery which underlies it, and we merely repeat the statement that dogmatics is possible only as an act of faith, when we point to prayer as the attitude without which there can be no dogmatic work.” I tend to fall in line with Barth on this thought of dogmatics being an act of faith.
Barth states some great comments about faith. “This obedience to the call of Christ is faith,” and “faith knows God.” If dogmatics is an act of faith, faith knows God, and obedience to Christ is faith, then Barth makes a strong case that dogmatics is for those of the Church.
I am enjoying Barth’s thoughts about God and the grandeur of Him. Like I said this is first time reading Barth and it is task in and of itself to figure and following his thoughts. These are a few interesting comments that struck a chord in me. “We always seem to be handling an intractable object with inadequate means. And this appearance is too solidly grounded in the nature of the study itself to be permanently overcome by a mere change of methods.” The more I study and the more I listen, I find God to be something more dangerous that I thought before, not in a negative sense, but that He acts freely. What we have is faith and prayer. “We maintain that humanly speaking there is nothing to alleviate the difficulty. We simply confess the mystery which underlies it, and we merely repeat the statement that dogmatics is possible only as an act of faith, when we point to prayer as the attitude without which there can be no dogmatic work.”
I wish I could do a better job of explaining what I’m reading, but it’s a very long volume of books so by the end I should be able to communicate well ☺.

Mic Check

2010-10-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

I need to get better at this blog thing. My friend writes the best blog and creates some great dialogue. That is my desire for this blog. I know only a few read this, but if you do go ahead and leave a thought, comment or question. Don’t worry about disagreeing or agreeing. Discussion is the name of the game.

Marriage

2010-10-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

We were going through Genesis 2 and the creation of humanity. I’ve had conversations concerning the equality, or lack thereof, between man and woman. Many people fight for equality. Some Christians say equal, but man is the head. Though I believe the latter means well, it doesn’t come across as equal. Some people have used Genesis to support inequality. But there point of Genesis is to teach us what creation was meant to be.
Adam is in a good creation, perfect relationship with God and creation. Yet God stills finds that some more is needed. He creates woman from the side of Adam. Charles S Spurgeon noted that woman was not taken from the feet (inferior), nor the head (superior), but from the side. The literary image paints an image of equality.
Eve is described as ‘helper.’ And the Hebrew word, ‘ezer’, is the very same word used to describe God’s relationship to Israel. God is the ‘ezer’ to Israel. In different context this same word can also be translated ‘ally’. Is God less than or greater than in this context? Look up Psalms 10:14; 30:10; 54:4; and 72:12 and you will the picture of a helper.
The original state of marriage was one of perfection. Our problems are a result of disobedience or unfaith. Man and Woman coming together are described as becoming one flesh. They are perfectly united.
The work of Christ was God restoring, reconciling the world to Himself. Creation was good. As a new creation in Christ, we live and walk on resurrected ground. Marriage is to be restored to both man and woman being absolutely equal. The Christians that are married have a rate of like 50% divorce. We are not living the Gospel narrative, we are not believing, let alone acting, that we are a new creation.
This is just another short thought. The creation story isn’t so much concerned about the process, but the relationship.

Mercy and Gender Role

2010-10-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

The other day we, a couple of friends, spoke about the Good Samaritan. I loved the conversation because it was relevant to today and we look at a well-known story in a whole new light. What was this new light?
Often, more than not, we look at the villains of the story in a negative light. How do they not understand that they are to help an injured man? The Pharisees and priest are so evil! They don’t understand and they are so far from God. But a closer look and a look that involves context and culture, the story then becomes more scandalous to the reader. It is a story of a radical interpretation of the Torah. The Pharisee and Priest are men who follow the Torah. Part of the law is they are not to touch a dead body. If they do they are unclean and cannot perform their priestly duties. These ‘villians’ are following the law of God and nothing less. In the story it says the man appear to dead or half dead. So the religious men walk by and think what most people might think and that is this man is dead. What about the Samaritan?
Luke has a whole Samaritan motif in his work of Luke-Acts. Samaritan are these half-Jew and idolatrous people. Prior to this event some of the disciples ask Jesus if they can bring fire down upon the Samaritans, now the Samaritan is an example of being a neighbor, later a Samaritan leper is commended for his faith and the Samaritans are the first to receive the Gospel after Jerusalem. Christ is redefining neighbor. The Torah tells Israel to not hold a grudge against another Jew before it says love your neighbor. Love of neighbor is now breaking cultural barriers. One who shows mercy manifests following the law. The neighbor was the one who showed mercy. So what is practical about this?
Look at the controversial issues facing Christians now. For example we have the issues of homosexuality. The basic question for a Christian to know that they are loving their neighbor as themselves is to ask, ‘have I shown mercy?’ What does it look like to show mercy? Is what I think is right more important than showing mercy?
I don’t have the time to write all that we discussed, but I hope this can cause some thought. After this story is a short little, but popular story about Mary and Martha. Both of these stories are unique to Luke’s Gospel, which tells something about the author! In short this is a story that involves gender role breaking. Mary, the one who sat at Jesus’ feet, was taking the role of a male! Daniel Kirk says it perfect: “Martha assumes the role of hostess, extending hospitality and ministering to her guest. Mary, however, sits at Jesus’ feet in the posture of a disciple, a student learning from the master. In that cultural context, when Martha implores Jesus to send Mary to help her, she is looking to him to prod Mary away from the typically male role of disciple and toward the woman’s work around the house. But Jesus, as “the Lord” (which is how he is designated throughout the passage) has the authority to upset the applecart of social conventions. As Green summarizes: “Mary (and, with her, those of low status accustomed to living on the margins of society) need no longer be defined by socially determined roles”. Propriety within the Kingdom of God is not determined by the gender roles established by the dominant patriarchal society.”
It’s amazing how radical Jesus was and still is. The more you get into the gospel the greater the mystery becomes.

Luke 9 continued

2010-09-26T23:33:00.001-07:00

Luke 9:37-52

Following the Transfiguration scene, it seems to me, the tone of Jesus changes. We have a scene with a man, who has an only son, and the disciples were unable to heal his son. For me this is a Markan view of the disciples. Their seemingly inability to get it right! I am trying to figure why this scene plays out the way does. Jesus comes off bothered and sarcastic. ‘Bring your son here’ he says. He rebukes the demon immediately. It is almost as if Jesus is tired of the peoples and disciples unbelief. And in the midst of the people amazed, Jesus turns to his disciples saying, ‘Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.’
Son of Man is a loaded title. It does occur in Luke 9 five different times. The Son of Man is the one who ascends to the Most High to receive the Kingdom; read Daniel chapter 7. The Son of Man is one who is vindicated by God. For Jesus, the definition or character of the Son of Man is one who suffers rejection and death. This is the second time this chapter that Jesus has stated his coming death.
Once again this is the second time the disciples had heard this statement, but the did not understand and it was concealed from them. I get the image that Jesus is alone in understanding his calling. Christ identity is hidden for even his closet companions. Now the disciples are scared of their Lord. Achtemeier concludes on this passage: “Indeed, as though contemplating the significant degree to which the disciples’ beliefs and commitments have not been transformed thus far, Luke concludes that the meaning of Jesus’ desting “was concleaded from them.” I mean I’ve been afraid to ask a question for fear of what would be said to me in return.
It is quite amazing how humans can forget. In my own life in a matter of 15 minutes I can go from feeling as if I am the least of all to, suddenly, feeling on top of the world and that I am great. My transition from fear to pride is swift and easy. So it is with the disciples. They go from fear of Jesus to arguing who is the greatest among them. The audacity of them!
The story has changed. No longer is the story about who Jesus is, but it concerns are ‘represented by its character as a journey.’ Geography in Luke is vital. Jesus, Elijah and Moses had just spoken about his ‘exodus.’ It is now a journey like that of the exodus out of Egypt. The disciples and the reader are now going to learn what it means to ‘take up your cross daily.’
On a practical note how does this effect daily life? What are we to take from the lessons on the way to Jerusalem? I do find comfort in the disciples struggles in understanding Jesus, but I also find joy in the disciples when I read acts. There I see the disciples living out Jesus’ life.
I screw up and I screw up often. I succeed and I struggle. Most days I can achieve both in one day. I believe I have a idea of what is right, but the problem lies in taking up the cross daily. The cross represents death, but in light of the resurrection, the cross represents the means by which God reconciled the world to Himself. So taking that definition of the cross, what does it look like for me to take up my cross daily? I’d like to say I know the answer, but I’d lying. I am sojourner in faith. I am learning along the way. So I encourage, whoever if anyone, who reads to take this section of Luke and journey with Christ. Don’t act like you know. Instead let us sit at the feet of our Lord and listen. Then we will do. That is how we will be identified as God’s children; those who hear and do.

Transfiguration

2010-09-18T23:07:00.001-07:00

Luke 9:28-36

The Transfiguration:

We just finished reading about the display of power through Jesus’ acts: calming of the sea, his victory of Legion, the woman with uncontrollable bleeding, and the feeding of five thousand. Following this display of power Jesus tells the disciples the means by which one is to come after the Son of Man: deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

In the narrative of Luke the story takes a serious turn in the middle of chapter nine. Suddenly this idea of a looming death comes into play. Jesus begins his journey towards Jerusalem and ultimately towards his death. Yet before the journey begins, Jesus undergoes a change of sorts.

Jesus takes Peter, John and James with him to a mountain to pray. While praying Jesus appears to be transformed and two important people show up. Moses and Elijah show up and begin to speak with Jesus about what was going to happen in Jerusalem. While Moses is of the upmost importance in the story of God, Elijah is mentioned 5 times in chapter 9 of Luke. This is cause to look further into why Luke places Elijah so concentrated in this scene of the narrative.

Who was Elijah and what did he represent to the Jewish mind? I’m sure books have been written about this topic, but I plan on scratching the surface. 1 Kings 17:24 Elijah is described by a woman as follows, "Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth." The order of our NT has Malachi as the last book with this quote about Elijah, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” We have an expectation that Elijah as a sign of the end, but what also makes him so famous is he didn’t die. “Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” Luke’s story begins with John the Baptist going “before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, `to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." So why is Luke pressing Elijah into his well ordered story?

Previously the people mistake the identity of Jesus for that of Elijah. The readers of Luke story know clearly that Jesus is the Son of God. The reader also knows of John the Baptist as filling the role of Elijah. The great and terrible of day of the Lord has arrived and Elijah speaks to Jesus concerning his exodus that he is going to accomplish in Jerusalem.

Peter, John and James see all of this happen. A cloud suddenly surrounds the disciples thinking this is the full cast of the scene bringing to mind Moses receiving the Law, and the one whom the story is written about appears on the scene. There has been a confusion of Jesus’ identity among the people: John the Baptist, Elijah, or a prophet of old. But we have the ultimate voice of confirmation making a second appearance in the story. A voice from heaven states, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!" God speaks again as to who Jesus is, Jesus is His son, therefore Jesus is the Son of God. Luke labors this point in the opening 9 chapters.

At this point in the story, we the readers are clear that Jesus is Son of God, that he has power over evil spirits, diseases, and over creation. We know what it means to follow him. We know that faith saves and heals. From here the story takes a sharp turn and consists of what my dad described as a boxing match. Jesus sets up what it means to be the Christ and consequently what it means to follow the Christ.

1 Corinthians

2010-02-02T13:07:00.001-08:00

Today I've been reading Michael Gorman's book "The Apostle of the Crucified Lord". Currently going through 1 Corinthians. I've recently set out on pursuing a dream. In short my dream is a wandering teacher, set out to encourage small churches that are struggling. I'm constantly angered by division or factionalism in the Church and I'm seeing Paul felt the same way. Let me just throw out a couple excerpts that made me think:

"Paul counters with his own narrative. This is what it means to know only Christ crucified: to live like criminals awaiting the death penalty or prisoners of war paraded in public; to be foolish and weak rather than wise and strong; to suffer physically, whether by circumstance or choice; to bless and endure when mistreated, echoing the teaching of Jesus preserved in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount; to be treated like so much garbage."

"We might more appropriately say their stories, ideologies, and spiritualities of wisdom and power needed to be deconstructed and reconstructed-reshaped by the story of Christ crucified. In this sense 1 Corinthians is not merely deliberative but subversive- subversive of the status quo even within the church, whose values are being turned topsy-turvy. Yet the result of the reconstruction process would be a fuller partnership or ‘fellowship’ with God’s Son, in anticipation of the conclusion of the divine story- the revelation and day of the Lord Jesus and the resurrection of believers that day will bring. This is what holiness is for Paul: countercultural cruciformity in expectation of the coming day of judgment and salvation. "

Beer

2010-01-28T18:55:00.000-08:00

I just had two great beers at Hollingshead before class. The first was Twilight by Victory, then I had Goulden Carolus Noel. Amazing beers, but now class. Not a bad night.

Part 2: Process

2010-01-26T12:25:00.000-08:00

I’m assuming that I am like most Christians, in that I struggle with sin and how it is that I am to continue pressing forward. I’ve heard it over and over that Christ died for me and I am forgiven. Obliviously, this couldn’t more true, but what was the meaning of the resurrection? What about becoming ‘perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect’? Where does the Christian go after confessing Jesus is Lord? What about life after that confession? I believe a lot of Christians struggle with me in this. I find myself living in constant tension and asking, “Why do I still screw up?!”

Those of us familiar with the New Testament know full well that Paul addresses this issue in a wonderful way. It seems to me though that my voice is louder than Pauls. Meaning that I take what I know to be true and read it into Paul and look over things he says by dismissing or saying to myself “ya, ya.” I would like to stop doing this.

Dunn’s book explores this concept in a fresh way. Despite what people say about his writing, that he is…whatever (I actually don’t care and don’t wish to get into it. I’ll let the book speak for itself). The closing of the first chapter is beautiful and filled with encouraging words concerning Paul’s view of identity in Christ and the Christian life.

I just wanted to share some thoughts of Dunn’s and mine commenting on it. I hope you feel free to comment to.

Dunn’s gives 3 ways in which Paul sees himself as ‘being in Christ’:
a. To be ‘found in Christ’ means not having his [Paul] own righteousness which is from God to faith.
b. Knowing the power of Christ’s resurrection (we could substitute the Spirit here without changing the substance of thought).
c. Sharing in Christ’s sufferings and being conformed to his death, ‘if perhaps/somehow’ he might attain to the resurrection from the dead.

In my learning it is the power of the resurrection that I need to focus on more. In the Protestant tradition I have been so imbedded with Jesus on the Cross and not much thought give to the power of God’s resurrection of Christ. Case in point is Peter’s first speech in Act 2.
32This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says," 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand,  35until I make your enemies your footstool.' 36Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."
After the resurrection Christ was made both ‘Lord and Christ.’ To me it seems something changed about the Christ in the resurrection. That this was God raising him and therefore vindicating him. Israel was wrong in their judgment of him and God made his judgment concerning His Son and now he is ‘Lord and Christ’, ‘judge of the living and the dead.’ The source of transforming power comes because of the resurrection. We are to be transformed and that comes through the giving of the Spirit. “It is the transformation of the justified sinner by the power of the indwelling Spirit to become more and more like Christ, like Christ in his dying as well as his rising again, which best characterizes the ongoing process of salvation”(Dunn 95).

I want to end with the idea of being shaped into a cruciform manner. Life is a process and we need power to keep going, power that is possible because of the resurrection and giving of the Spirit. The tension between divine grace and human obedience finds its resolution primarily by “his understanding of the death and resurrection of Christ, not just as a once-for-all event, but as a divine power working steadily within and through believers individually and corporately to transform them to become more and more Christ-like, cross-like (cruciform), and thus to complete the process of salvation, maturity, perfection, and blamelessness, at the end of which they can face the final judgment with confidence in Christ” (Dunn 95). Our lives, as a community, needs to realize Paul’s message of a cruciform church. Living out the story of the Cross daily, which is a self-giving life.

That’s all I got right now, but the thought is still developing in my head and most importantly how do I translate this into daily life.

Off the Chest

2010-01-25T16:34:00.001-08:00

I am not in ‘theological’ mood today. The whole has been spent in mental tension, tension of God, people and myself. Sin does cause a type of death around us. My personal failings translate, in mood form, to frustration towards others. I try to let it be known I am not in a good mood so people will forgive me, but I can’t but wonder what I’m missing while blinded in self-loathing?

I spent last quarter of school immersed in the Gospels. I got lost in the story and I don’t have the intention of being found. I came to see the relationship between Jesus and disciples in a more ‘follow my lead’ fashion or as better said, ‘take up your cross’. In reading the gospel of Mark you should find comfort at the disciples constant failing. I mean it’s actually ridiculous once you notice it. Yet, those very men, who at the moment of conflict scattered, came to embody the Cross in their lives. What I mean by that is they took up their cross.

Now my current quarter is going to be spent mainly in Paul’s letters to the early Church. The story of the cross continues, but now it is written, formulated, explained by this apostle of the crucified Lord. His stress of the union with Christ and the belief that when we are in Christ, we are one. Our lives, as a community, must bear the image of the Cross. The mark of a successful church was their suffering.

I take a step back and look at the Church today. Why do Paul’s letters still have an effect? People have not changed. I am not speaking against any particular church or denomination. I hate when people do that. I think Paul would agree with me. We often take what Paul said as a unifying tool and make it a battle of separatist movements. I’m threw arguing and focused on love. What Jesus did; I will do.

Stop trying to right. Stop trying to convince. Jesus was an anointed man (Messiah) and made Lord of All in God’s resurrection (vindication) of him. He now sits at the right hand of God. He is the judge of the living and the dead. Repent and everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. He told us to love as he loved us.

What more do you need?

Sorry if I’m coming off short. Just tired of the bickering while our brothers and sisters around the world are suffering while argue about theological hair-splitting. Stupid.

Part 1: Conflict in Antioch-Gospel at Stake

2010-01-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

I started reading a book that was recommended by Daniel Kirk(jrdkirk.com), 'The New Perspective on Paul', by James D.G Dunn. To hard-line Luther apologist this makes the skin crawl, but fear not there’s nothing to be afraid of!

Recently, I’ve been able to get more involved in the current scholarship on the Bible. I had previously been dismissive of current scholarship because I had only heard of the bad. Just like someone who only watches only one news channel and the world to them seems to be at an end. I am a student in the classroom and in life. I am not a fan of limiting the Bible to one dogmatic way of thinking, but I am concerned on searching the full meaning of being a Christian and it translates into proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord.

My idea for this blog is to quote, summarize, comment, and have you more or less learn with me. Dunn states the purpose of this book, “as complementing other perspectives and as contributing to a fuller and richer understanding of the gospel and theology of the first and greatest Christian theologian” (preface xi).

Galatians 2:16- know that a person is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

The question Dunn asks is “What was Paul reacting against? What were these ‘works of the law’”(p. 1). This is a question I fail to ask and it’s unfortunate. The argument needs to be in context. If Paul is talking to Gentiles, Jews, God-fearers, or whoever, the context does change a bit.

This incident in Galatians coincides with Acts 15, the council at Jerusalem. Here are some thoughts from Dunn:
As the sequence of Gal. 2.15-17 clearly implies, Jewish ‘attitude’ to Gentile ‘sinner’ was a make or break issue for the gospel, the gospel of justification by faith" P.31.

What was it that roused Paul’s anger at Antioch? What was it that he saw as such a threat to the fundamental truth of justification by faith?- precisely the refusal of one group of Christians fully to accept another group of Christians!" P.32.

At Antioch Peter acted in a way which implied that it was still necessary for (Jewish) believers to observe (certain key) works of the law, even thought he already agreed that justification was by faith in Christ" P.40.

The belief that justification was from faith in Christ Jesus was the common ground. The events at Antioch showed Paul that the teaching had to be sharpened- faith and not works" P.41.

I keep in my mind that Israel is God’s chosen people. Now that Christ had come as Simeon (waiting for the consolation of Israel) prophesied, “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel" (Luke 2.29-32). The ‘revelation to the Gentiles’ has now become a major factor in the spread of the Gospel.

How are the Gentiles to be apart of God’s people? The Jews had the Law given by Moses. This separated them from the nations. Because of Luther and subsequent Protestant preaching my view of Law and Judaism was negative: “My concern has always been that the doctrine of justification, as rediscovered (or reasserted) by Luther and as consistently expounded within Protestantism, has neglected important aspects particularly of Paul’s original formulation in the context of his mission”(P.21) and “The problem, if I may put it so, is that Luther’s fundamental distinction between gospel and law was too completely focused on the danger of self-achieved works-righteousness and too quickly transposed into an antithesis between Christianity and Judaism”(P.22). I tend to agree with the two previous statements from Dunn. Also, part of this negative view also comes from certain things Paul said, but Paul also acknowledges the good purpose of the Law.

I feel that this enough to write right now. Next questions are: How does Paul define God’s people? What does that mean? What does it mean to be righteous? What is the role of the Law? So many questions to ask. I don’t any answer, but I love the learning process and I hope you can enjoy it with and I hope you find yourself asking these questions and how it pertains to your Christian life today. That is the whole purpose of learning God’s Word.

Thoughts on learning

2010-01-22T16:10:00.000-08:00

This is spur of the moment, but has been processed in the mind for sometime now. I am speaking from experience. I know I don't have much experience, as I am only 25yrs old and my thought will continue to develop. That is the point I wanted to address now. Why is it inherit in our minds that thought can't develop? This is mainly concerning Christians and their view of the Bible. Why are Christians people who look back 400 years and claim that they had it right? Thought should have ceased there. The Gospel doesn't change, but people do. The world is different than it was at the time Calvin and Luther. Why would we assume that theological learning or the process of continued, growing knowledge be bad. Is the concern the Gospel or a specific way that you feel is right?

We wonder why the Church is silent here in a America. Why Christians are view as hypocrites or self-centered. The Church is mostly stuck in the 1600s. The very 'tradition' breakers have now become the 'tradition' bearers. Keeping the Church stuck.

Is their bad theology out there now? Yes. Was there bad theology at the time of Paul, Peter, John, Calvin, or Luther? Yes. Do I therefore dismiss the good theological thought of today because there are some apples out there? Often the criticism I hear concerning modern thought, is that it is crap and whatever. So you then dismiss all current scholarship. Seems to me to be a problem. I can't find another area of thought that would uphold this logic. We can agree that the building of the Egyptian pyramids is impressive. We know that architecture has developed, but there is bad architecture out there. Would I then dismiss current thought and proclaim the Egyptians had it right and we should go back? That analogy probably doesn't make sense, as I just thought of it.

Christians have this irrational fear of 'new.' There's something threatening about 'new.'

I gotta go...to be continued

The Good Man

2010-01-19T15:35:00.000-08:00

I wrote this poem a little a while ago. The inspiration behind this was reading books on human trafficking. I read all the books by Kevin Bales, Disposable Perople, and Ending Slavery. I also read MLK’s book “Why We Can’t Wait and poetry by John Greenleaf Whittier. All of this led me to tears. This poem is about me.

The Good Man

Justice, where have you gone?
That blind fold has been on for far too long.
You’ve missed much over the years,
Most of which are you worst fears.
Your enemy runs as a rabid dog,
Prowling in Greed’s fog.
But what would cause your disappointment, Justice,
Is simply this:
A good man stood and looked on as your enemy roared with all his might.
The good man did nothing, not even a verbal fight.
The good man saw the child’s tears,
Yet he stood still, frozen in his rationalization and fears.
Your enemy did all he could, no matter the cost.
The innocence of both child and man now lost.
This, Justice, I’m glad you did not see.
As I stand before you,
I confess….
The good man was me.

A Letter

2010-01-17T09:30:00.001-08:00

I wrote this 3 years ago and I feel the same today, but with more education and maturity or what would resemble maturity. I vividly remember watching the guy I refer to. I remember watching this guy talk, like a cartoon, my chin was on the floor. It is funny, but sad. Hope you enjoy. It's a little pessimistic. I am much more hopeful today. Please view in 'historical context' haha

Thursday, February 23, 2006
Letter to my generation:

I'm sitting down watching the Winter Olympics with my mother and the men's figure skating is on. This American skater has a little clip of him talking and giving us some insight into who he is. I realized after hearing what he had to say that my jaw could actually drop to the floor. Recently, I’ve been talking to a few people about my generation, the good and the bad aspects. I've notice through, knowing something about myself, and being apart of this generation just the complete arrogance and this idea of individuality that possesses us. Why is it that everyone thinks they are such the revolutionist? That they are such the individual and are so liberal it should piss off anyone and everyone. Their very existence is offensive to some greater evil. This figure skater was the epitome of this train of thought that has consumed this generation. I hope the older folks were watching that program to get a glimpse into the arrogance of our minds. I heard this guy say that the republicans should be afraid of what he is going to say and he speaks revolutionary things. First off, I feel republican was the wrong word and conservatives would have been a better choice. What do you say to a statement like that? I mean give him a thumbs up and find him in ten years later divorced, living in a studio apartment, and still preaching to his cat. Maybe a study should be done on those people who were revolutionist to see if they ever bragged or predicted the revolution. I'm still amazed by this guy. I asked my friend what's the deal with this generation? He mentioned how pride comes before the fall and perhaps a fall is coming soon and that is interesting because of all that is happening in the world. To me it seems that things are not looking bright. I'm going to apologize in advance for the tangent I am about to take. I realize that the Middle East is not a good situation. The living is hard. What about Africa and everywhere else in the world? Talk about the voices that have been screaming for so long that now we've become used to it. Why? Do they have to attack the U.S to get attention? I hate to say that but is that the only way for us to wake up, to be punch in the face while asleep? What if for a year we as a country did not complain about our problems and strictly focused on others in the world? Imagine what could happen, a lot of good and a lot of bad. I bet some people would just sit back silent and watch T.V and ignore everything. What if the media actually made the main stories on the injustices in the world? The mainstream media has failed miserably! Sex, Drugs, Violence is glorified! We love it! We adore it! I had a teacher tell us that the media transmits culture. Go to a bookstore or magazine stand and pick up a magazine. That is our culture: 8 million ways to please your man or woman, sex, sex, sex, sex. You want me to keep saying it because that is all I see sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. This should bother you and make you feel uncomfortable. Fashion is not a political statement, music is not a political statement, words are not a political statement, and movies are not a political statement. Those are just a mere whimper of someone who is afraid to embrace the problem at its root. These can be tools used but in terms of the body it's only the elbows. Everyone speaks of going against the grain but if you stand back to take a look they are only moving on a side in the direction. There is one man who was completely against the grain. A Jewish man who changed the world, who threw a wrench into the machine, the man who stood against the norm. Everything that this generation and past generations speak of has already been laid out on how to accomplish it but they speak against him who has done it. Why? because we our to full of ourselves to admit we can't do it on our own. This figure skater is still amazing to me. I want a poster of him but that would be weird. He was wearing a CCCP jacket for the interview and I bet that it was a statement he was trying to make but the New York Dolls already did the "red" statement. Also, I should mention the Ugg boats he was wearing too. What a statement! Let me stop typing to stand up and applaud…alright. I better watch what I type because who knows what revolutionary ideas might be printed. I always think of the teacher in Ecclesiastes who said so simply, "THERE IS NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN." Anything I say has already been said, anything my figure skating hero says is unoriginal. Our pride is so nauseating. My pride is so revolting. Just a thought.

Post Rachel's Vineyard

2010-01-15T13:14:00.000-08:00

Nearly a year ago I spent a weekend at Rachel's Vineyard in Temecula. Check up the website to see more about what they are about http://rachelsvineyard.org/. The results of my time there is the reason I have hope. I don't know who said this but I know the reality of it now, "I cannot be an optimist but I am a prisoner of hope." I saw true healing there and was blessed to be apart of it.
"His healings were not evidence of his divinity, nor simply evidence of his compassion for those in physical need. No: the healings were the symbolic expression of Jesus’ reconstitution of Israel… His healings were the sign of a radical and healing inclusivism-not simply including everyone in a modern, laissez-faire, anything-goes fashion but dealing with the problems at the root so as to bring to birth a truly renewed, restored community whose new life would symbolize and embody the kingdom of which Jesus was speaking." (N.T Wright. The Challenge of Jesus). Taking the this thought and applying it to what I was apart of, I realize the call of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
The following is what I wrote after that retreat. I was emotionally drained, yet more hopeful than ever before. I hope this writing communicates this reality. I wrote it from the perspective of the people I was with.
How can life resume after this grief? Woe is me! For death feels nearer than ever. Words have never fallen so short. I’m barely able to stand on my own. My Beloved, wipe my tears; embrace me. I see double for the tears won’t stop. This candle hardly stays lit in my trembling hand. As I pass over to You my loved one. All my hope lies in You. I’m so lost and distraught. My Lord and My God! How does this end? My will is about to snap. How can grace cover this pain? This room is filled with pain unimaginable. Your children lie in bandages. Can you stop the bleeding and begin the healing? I can’t see past arms reach: draw nearer. The world could crumble now. Around me this building may fall. This pain is all I feel; this mourning has consumed my all. How can light penetrate this darkness? My heart has been frozen for so long. My soul has been comatose for as long as I can remember. I’ve laughed but never smiled, I’ve cried but never with tears. I haven’t felt in years. I can’t recall life without regret and self-hatred. Why have You allowed this to happen? Where is Your justice? My mind knows the answer yet my heart is still hard. How can God possibly accept me?
All these questions race through my mind. My past, the sins of my youth replay in my mind. There is no silence for me. By day I cry; by night I toss and turn. My bones are dislocated; my heart is like melting wax within me, my strength failed me long ago.
After all this Lord, I will still turn to You, my God. Because my faith is the substance of what I cannot see and my faith is the proof of what I am hoping for. I will lay here in the shadow of Your wings. The hem of Your garment I will pursue with reckless abandon like child running to his father’s arms. I will sow with tears that I may bring rejoicing into this hurting world. I will remember Your words, “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.” To this I say, “I do believe! Help me with my unbelief!” Remember me Lord in Your loving-kindness. Deal with me as Your child for You alone are faithful.
In grace I stand, I can do no more. I’m eternally grateful to You, my Beloved Christ. Amen

Revamping

2010-01-15T12:44:00.001-08:00

To those who actually read this:

I'm going to revamp this blog and make it more legit. I have started at Fuller Theological Seminary and with that has come a great deal of learning. This blog is going to represent my process of learning. During my time there, I hope that my thoughts and learning can cause those who read this to learn with me.

Please give feedback and criticism. The process of learning as a community is the best way to learn.

Stay tuned for updates.

Brian White