There are times, too many too count, when I look back on things in my life and in hindsight realize I did something foolish, illogical, stupid, or without caution. There are times though, when I can look back on decisions and feel good that I did make the right decision. James K.A. Smith brilliantly explains [...]
I was asked to contribute to the Patheos network’s theoblogger reflection on “How the Holy Spirit Moves Today…in 100 words or less.” You can read my response here. There are some other great contributors, including Brian McLaren, Tripp Fuller,Monica A. Coleman, Sam Hamilton-Poore, Callid Keefe-Perry, Amy Julia Becker, Byron Wade,Carl Gregg, Alyce McKenzie and Bruce [...]
Sometimes I just read things and laugh. Laugh hard. I don’t really know how to explain the lunacy of this quote, so I’ll just reproduce it: Another symptom of postmodernism’s influence on evangelical hermeneutics is what could be called “middle-ground mania.” The interpretive atmosphere of today appears to impose an insatiable appetite for theologians to [...]
While watching TV last night Denny’s aired a commercial for some gigantic, industrial, over-processed and super cheap breakfast deal. I am usually revolted by such things, and me and my wife often make fun of the gross food that is displayed on TV, especially after just finishing a brie and pear melt on fresh sourdough [...]
I haven’t been able to blog this week because I have been busy preparing for the college writing class I begin teaching tonight. As I rode on the train this morning in the waking light the whole world seemed to rise from a slumber, and it was beautiful, the world moving from shadow into light. [...]
This is the time of year when people start voicing their opinions on how this year has gone by so fast.
It hasn’t for me. Really. This year went at a nice, even pace. It was savored more than previous years, something my wife and I have been trying to work on. We are not that busy anymore, which is a great thing. Time does not move quickly or slowly, it just moves. And we have learned to enjoy that normalcy in the midst of so much frantic mania surrounding us.
Yet in our new found pace of life we are even more tried by the concept of waiting. When time moved "quickly" we didn’t have to wait that long for the next big thing. We were so busy that the next big thing was always close, and our lives were framed by hoping from next big thing to next big thing at a frantic pace. Now that we have toned down our lives, the next big thing can be very far off.
So I find myself looking for distractions. I have time on my hands. Time to read, time to play video games, time to write, time that I should be using to finish off my Ph.D. applications. I have time to be.
In the small, unscientific sample which is my small group, the number one source of persecution is other Christians.
It seems odd doesn’t it? We read in our Scriptures and Church History about the persecution of Christians, then somewhere in the Middle Ages, as the Church becomes more powerful, the Church becomes it’s own source of persecution.
I have a lot of respect for Sir Thomas More, but he burned "heretics," or Protestants, at the stake. Protestants then burned Catholics. Then Queen Mary burned some Protestants to even things out. And there was that whole Spanish Inquisition bit, and the shocking scene of the Christmas Armistice during World War I when fellow believers celebrated Christmas together then went back to blowing each other to bits and burning each others lungs with mustard gas.
Today there is not a whole lot of Christian on Christian physical violence, but there is a lot of verbal violence. We have all experienced the gossip, the heretic calling, the witch hunt. I think we start to develop a keen sense for the stuff in youth group and then carry it right along into leadership and elderships. We spend our time committing acts of verbal violence and persecution on each other, especially in the blogosphere.
There is always time for disagreement. We are unified as a body through Christ, not through our doctrine, and though we never disagree about our center we may indeed disagree about the other things. And that’s okay.
We just can’t continue to persecute one another for it. We can’t continue the op-eds, screeds, news alerts, declarations, manifestos, or attacks on character on those who we call our brothers and sisters.
"The translation I have used is the King James Version, not
only because of my love and respect for the language of that version, but also
because it is the version that most English-speaking Christians have been
reading for the last four hundred years while disobeying or ignoring Christ’s
commandments and praying for His help in their wars."
—Wendell Berry, on why he chose the King James as the
version for the excerpts from the gospels in his book Blessed Are the
Peacemakers: Christ’s Teachings About
Love, Compassion and Forgiveness
In his commentary "On the Meaning of Baseball" in the excellent online journal The Curator published by International Arts Movement, Michael Toscano writes about the metaphor of baseball:
Simply put, baseball has a visible level—a physical dimension viewable
by all, even cynics—and an invisible level—a metaphorical dimension
experienced by fans only (often on the subconscious level) which is
unknown to cynics; especially empirical statisticians. If baseball is a
body, the rules are the bones and flesh, and story is the blood. Only
together does it have fullness and its fullness can only be found in
fandom.
What he writes about baseball can apply to the church as well. If Church is a body, the rules are the bones and flesh, and the story is the blood. Only together does it have fullness and its fullncess can only be found in participation with the story.
When I was a kid I always liked getting those mixed bags of candy at Halloween or birthday parties. It was my own personal buffet of treats. A buffet that allowed me to trade candy I didn’t like for candy I did like, in my eternal quest to end up with all Mr. Goodbars and Special Darks.
I think people are mixed bags too, just like those party favors and treats we received as kids (and Lord willing as adults as well!). I came to this conclusion after a brief episode of anger. A screed if you will. Let me explain…
I came into my house last night and saw a printout of material Andy Stanley had written about kid’s ministry that my wife was looking over. This did not enthuse me one bit. I do not want to take the advise of someone who champions McChurch franchising and building five million dollar bridges over fragile wetlands so that his congregation can attract peple to the church because of the increased ability to speed away in their SUVs faster. I certainly don’t want the bridge perspective effecting kid’s ministry. I just imagine all the solutions as ways to streamline goldfish cracker disbursement and more efficient passing of infants from the hands of nursery workers back to their parents.
Yet I have read an Andy Stanley book on leadership and there was good advice in it. He talked about how his church had a specific vision and focus and that even if someone has a great idea for ministry if it doesn’t fit the vision of the church he will not bend the vision to accept a good idea. That would break the focus of his church’s ministry. I really think that is sound advice. I have no idea how Mr. Stanley takes this approach to his church’s vision and gets church franchising and environmentally damaging suburban sprawl bridges out of it, but it is a good approach to controlling vision nonetheless.
So maybe the kid’s ministry advice my wife is reading is good advice from someone I deeply and immensely disagree with. We are not all bad advice. We are not not all good advice either. We are mixed bags.
