Biblical Interpretation

Leighton Tebay has an excellent post on biblical interpretation. Here is part of its beginning...

The real truth is what we get taught in Sunday school is often very narrow, very shallow and I would say dishonest. We sacrifice our intellectual integrity when we consistently offer one simple interpretation of scripture while ignoring all other valid ones. Some may answer back with “well then you can make scripture say anything you want”. This is often true; people do this all the time. However I don’t believe you be honest and not go deeper with the text.

Meanwhile, over at Signposts, Dan talked about an article about the Uniting Church in Australia and goes in the same direction. Here's part of what she said..

It frustrates me when the advocates of a particular position say or imply that to hold any other position does not take the bible seriously. This makes a mockery of the complexity of Biblical understanding and study. It also means that anyone who tries to introduce into the discussion an examination of the Biblical basis for this belief or that belief is immediately accused of cultural relativism and of bending the Bible to their own viewpoint. If this is the standard, then you can say that you are taking the bible seriously when you support slavery, capital punishment, polygamy and racism, as all are clearly supported by the bible. If you don't want to do that, then at least admit that two people who take the bible seriously can still disagree about what it says.

Last week I posted here from my journaling about accepting the Gentiles into the church in Acts. We discussed this section in our study/trainin on evangelism this morning. And it fits into what Leighton and Dan posted about biblical interpretation.

The acceptance of the Gentiles was preceded by one of the most revolutionary actions in the still young church. Peter went to Cornelius's house and ate supper. We don't know if pork or shellfish were on the menu, but simply being there and eating food prepared in non-Kosher ways was enough. Imagine Peter's incredible tension. He had this dream, this vision, that allows him to eat everything.

BUT, the Bible says, very, very clearly that if you do what Peter is doing you will be expelled from the People of God! You have broken the law of God!

As the denominational officials from Jerusalem came to find out what was happening, they came quoting scripture. The Bible says.... Peter, what you have done is sin.

Looking back from 2000 years later we know that the dream was from God. Peter knew because he dream was affirmed by what Cornelius also knew. The community had to learn. The community had to discover that the Word of God is alive and active. They came and discovered that the Gentiles were in the Spirit. Here is how Luke tells it:

15“As I (Peter) began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?”18When they (the officials from Jerusalem) heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

Bottom line - the law of God was changed. They knew it by the fruits of the Spirit's arrival on the Gentiles.

Now, I learned a few things in the discussion this morning.
... First, there are people who don't realize that the "Jewish Law" that is often referred to is all from the Bible. One person said that Peter was just moving beyond "man-made laws." That person didn't know that the Kosher laws are in scripture. (This is part of the issue of Biblical interpretation- people don't know the Bible as deeply as they could.)
... Second, to Peter and the early Christians, to break the Jewish Law was the same as saying that the Bible doesn't hold true anymore. Paul had to dance around that issue, and left it somewhat undecided as far as Jewish Christians were concerned. He, in essence, said that those laws were not meant for the non-Jews. (I know that's over-simplifying, but that was the effect.)
... Third, to take this to its logical conclusion, would get me into a deep debate from which there is no escape. What if we see someone who we believe to be a sinner (Gentile) who has been given the Spirit and exhibits the fruits and power of the Spirit? Would we say- that can't happen. They're still a sinner? Or would we at least stop and consider that God is moving in ways far beyond the scope of my poor human understanding. I know I am not giving an example here. I think I am still afraid to go that far.
... Fourth, I need to evangelize, share the story of Jesus and the promise of His power and hope, without regard to issues of the sinfulness of the person I am talking to. I am not there to be a judge, jury, or the one to decide they are to be excluded. I am to share the Good News. Focus on Jesus. Share Jesus as my personal experience, strength, and hope.

If God would then bring them in, just as they are, and give them the Spirit, who am I to say that God can't, won't, or shouldn't? I am still working on this but thanks to LT and Dan, I have at least made some movement.

Friday's Love Poem

Absolutely Clear

Don't surrender your loneliness
So quickly.
Let it cut more deep.
Let it ferment and season you
As few human
Or even divine ingredients can.
Something missing in my heart tonight
Has made my eyes so soft,
My voice
So tender,
My need of God
Absolutely
Clear.

Hafiz
from The Path of Love website

Into the World

Thanks to Fred Peatross I found an article on Six Ways I Quit Church by Chad Hall.

It's counter-intuitive, but we must find ways to disconnect from the church way of thinking, feeling, and living so that the pre-Christians in our community stand a better chance of being influenced by Christ and the church.

1. Get out of the office. Leaders who spend nine to five in a church office inevitably dry out to the rich rhythms of life on the outside. My main office is a bagel shop where I write sermons, do planning, and have meetings. I can't quite explain it, but I take on a whole different attitude when I trade ministry books, seminary diplomas, and last Sunday's bulletin for real-world surroundings and lots of fish-talk.

Since February that has been my arena of ministry. My wife (and co-pastor) does all the internal stuff- worship planning, administration. My job is in community outreach and ministry. Kind of like a church planter for an established church. One of the guidelines was that I not be in the office. I found an office at our local Caribou Coffee. I read and write and visit there. Or I go to lunch at a local fast food and watch and listen and pray. I have run into interesting people and situations. I watch children play with their parents and workers at lunch relaxing. I see people who aren't part of my church but are seekers. Or I just read or journal.

A lot of people don't entirely understand how what I am doing is "ministry." In our modern church world it is hard to see that what happens outside the church is ministry unless it is visiting the sick or doing some kind of door-to-door evangelism. It doesn't appear to be benefitting the church. It isn't as visible to the members as Sunday worship. Yet, it is right where I think Jesus would be going to meet people and let them know that they are cared about. Not that what I am doing is anything like Jesus. But I'm trying. And as Chad Hall talks about in the article, it is a whole different world than what I have been living in.

A Couple Bits

A New Sunday Elective
Found this thanks to Blog4God at Upward Way Press

If you were to announce an elective Sunday morning class in your church on "Knowing God's Will for Your Life", probably 50-75 percent of all adults would choose that elective. Almost everybody wants to know and do God's will. Those who don't will be among those who don't attend the class, I guess.

The call here is for us to make ourselves a living sacrifice. It is an earnest call. It is reasonable for God to ask it of us, it is spiritual, and it is for God's sake we do it. The outcome is that we are changed. As Peterson has it, we are "changed from the inside out". We are transformed.

This renewal, this transformation, leads to an ability to figure out God's will. It is as simple as that. The class mentioned above wouldn't take long to get through. "Hey, guys, just make your lives a living sacrifice, let God transform you, and you will start getting it." The class wouldn't take long, but the homework would.

More on Post-Christendom
Phil and Dan at Signposts are continuing their images from Charles Bayers' book - A Resurrected Church. Here's their latest:

Christendom - the use of biblical texts as a weapon against outsiders.

Post-Christendom - the use of texts as stories, metaphors, celebrations and testimonies to God's grace.

Charles mentions that old game. You know the one... I quote a biblical reference to support my position, you quote on to support yours and we keep going until someone runs out. The person who last used a biblical text supposedly wins. Charles, thinks that this game of "Biblical gotcha" is not played even by conservatives. In the light of our experience with S11 and what it has revealed about attitudes towards Muslims, and also the recent issues over homosexuality and the Church, I am not as convinced as Charles that we have moved past this game.

What marks Christendom, Charles argues, is "the need to construct boundaries defining who is in and who is out, and having marked that designation, to produce Bible verses supporting the exclusionist claims." The post-Christendom church, Charles says needs to position itself with the outsider, the marginalised and non-person. It is much more hesitatant to say this one is in, and this one is out.

As we look at Jesus' depiction of the reign of God, I think we need to regain the same sort of fluidity, fuzziness and the benefit of the doubt that Jesus seemed to offer outsiders. I always become uncomfortable when I see that whenever someone said that "those" people are out, Jesus went and stood with them and said no you have it wrong, they are in. It makes me reassess my own tendencies to categorise people.

Thought that was appropriate follow-up to yesterday's blog on who are the Gentiles?

Who Are Our Gentiles?

In working on my postModern Journal blog tonight I came to Acts 11

1 The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

By the end of the section, the Jerusalem powers-that-be were convinced and agreed that these Gentiles truly had received the Spirit.

18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

- - The revolution pictured here cannot be overstated. This is BIG! Peter has broken the Law. He has gone into unclean places. He has eaten with unclean people. He has eaten unclean food! I cannot even think of something that is as equivalent- at least not without really getting into trouble myself. The repercussions of this will echo for a while through the book. God has made a move that makes no sense to those raised in the faith. God has seemingly broken His own laws. The Gentiles, it appears, do not have to accept the Jewish Law in order to be accepted by God!

- - We know that God is at work, it would appear, when the Holy Spirit comes on people and is seen as being present. In this case, it would appear to be the Pentecost-type tongues speaking, just as at the beginning. This only reaffirms that this is something new, as seen by Luke. This is the beginning for the Gentiles. The church will never again be the same!!!

SO::
:: Who are the Gentiles that we would not expect to see given the Spirit? Who are the people that we would throw up our hands in fear and judgment and criticism if they suddenly were accepted as the people of God, too. Who are the people that God would even break His own laws to bring into the Kingdom?

:: This is not a philosophical or theoretical set of questions. These are very practical questions.
   ... It deals with perceptions of sinfulness (the Gentiles were, by their nature, unclean and therefore unapproachable.)
   ... It deals with cultural conflict (the Gentiles had different ways of seeing the world and responding to the world.)
   ... It deals with acceptance of persons who are different.
   ... It deals with the same issues we will face when we leave our churches and go out into a postmodern world that doesn’t look, think, or act like we do in the church. We will probably come up against the same problems, criticisms, and fears that the early church faced.

At least we can know that the times we live in aren’t unique.

Language of the Sacred
Language of the Secular

Spain. From the 8th Century through the 15th Century. A land of Muslim, Christian, and Jew. Especially Al Andalus- Andalusia.

I fell in love with Andalusia last year when we went to visit our daughter who was then studying in Seville. When you visit Andalusia you know something exciting and unique once happened there. It is still in the air.

What happened was a true cultural melting pot that was almost unique in world history. Maria Rosa Menocal subtitles her book Ornament of the World- How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain.

It was a culture where
:: a Jewish prime minister served a Muslim leader
:: a Christian warrior for hire fought for local Muslim leaders against other Muslims or other Christians
:: the riches of the old Greek world were preserved for future civilizations by being brought (already translated into Arabic) from the Middle East and placed in libraries beyond the wildest imagination of Europeans from where they would be available for those same Europeans when the time came
:: the oldest continuing version of the Mass (in Arabic) had to fight to keep from being replaced by the young, upstart, Latin Mass.
:: Hebrew, the language of Holy Scripture, was transformed into a language of poetry and wonder.

It is this last one that struck me in a postModern way. And perhaps may even have something to do with our “worship wars.”

For centuries prior to the ascension of Al-Andalus, Hebrew had been only a language of the sacred- scripture. No one would have considered writing secular poems, songs, or even stories in Hebrew. In medieval Spain the arose some remarkable poets and story-tellers whose native language was Arabic. They discovered the wonders of language through the wonderful lyricism of Arabic. It was both the language of the Koran and the marketplace; of talking to God and of talking to your lover.

Maimonides, an Andalusian Jewish philosopher had written that when they “prayed in Hebrew, [they] were unable adequately to express his needs or recount the praises of God without mixing Hebrew with other languages. Menocal continues:

It was not that Jews should speak other languages but that the Hebrew they spoke was no longer the language of true love, of complex emotions, of seemingly contrary ideas and feelings: maternal, erotic, spiritual, material, transcendent. Maimonides, Andalusian that he was, believe that God needed and wanted to be spoken to in a language alive with that whole range of emotions. It was an attitude that later allowed English to find its voice in the love sonnets of Shakespeare as well as in the prayers on the King James Bible. The prayers prove more satisfying, perhaps even more true, for being in the language of the love songs.

Because they had absorbed, mastered, and loved the principles that made Arabic easily able to sing to God and Beloved in the same language, they had been able to revive Hebrew so that it could, once again, sing like the Hebrew of David’s songs, and Solomon’s songs.- Ornament of the World, pp. 161-162

Some felt, however, that the two languages should be separate. One is for the holy and it would be awful to express one’s devotion to God in the same words as one expressed base human emotions or even the language of the street.

Consider the parallel with our modern music. Church music has been the language of the sacred- the separate- the expression of devotion to God. That language is not the language of the streets anymore. It is not a language that the person on the street would recognize as expressing emotion. It is special, even elite. Like the King James English, what may have once been a powerful language of love has become outdated. It has lost its original ability to inspire and express passion to most people.

That in strong contrast to the music of the streets. Whether rock and roll, heavy metal, country and western, or jazz these are “vulgar” languages. These are not words or styles that one would consider using to express one’s love for God. We must keep the God-music separate.

The problem is that in many ways the music of the people is the music of emotion and devotion. Goose-bump producing music that can make one remember or cry or laugh. We don’t want that language in church.

But we do. We have even taken some of the sacred songs and made them emotion-laden. The power of Amazing Grace is not just the words. Consider how that would not be popular were it written to a marching song. No, the power is in the music. It is a language of the people, not of the church. Many of the most popular hymns are similar. They are in a musical language that people understand and respond to.

The contemporary Christian worship movement has done what the medieval Spanish Jewish poets did. They have revived a dead- or at least separate- language, church music, through infusing it with modern style and postmodern rhythms.

Of course, we have also “institutionalized” our Christian music in an era when music changes rapidly. What “baby-boomers” call “contemporary” has become a “traditional” style. New, edgier music are mixing with new, edgier understandings of faith to produce new worship. Others are merging with older styles to bring an ancient-future perception.

But it is always an attempt to express in language the often indescribable emotions of love and commitment. The best way, I feel, remains the same language we use to tell others that we love them.

A Blog Quilt

Rachel has had another great idea- a blog quilt. Here is my quilt block.



It is the seal of the Moravian Church, the Lamb who has conquered that we are to follow. It may not be a straight-line, in fact it may look like the wanderings of a postModern Pilgrim. But if we follow the Lamb who was slain, we may discover that Jesus has already gone ahead of us and is just wondering and waiting why we're taking so long.

Thanks Rachel!

Falling in Love With Jesus

Donald Miller has written a wonderful book on non-religious thoughts about Christian spirituality called Blue Like Jazz. In his chapter on Jesus he talks about reading through the Gospel of Luke, coming to the end of the book and being overwhelmed. Here is what he said:

   ...I remember sitting at my desk, and I don't know what it was that I read or what Jesus was doing in the book, but I felt a love for Him rush through me, through my back and into my chest. I started crying...

   I remember thinking that I would follow Jesus anywhere, that it didn't matter what He asked me to do. He could be mean to me; it didn't matter, I loved Him, and I was going to follow Him.

   I think the most important thing that happens with Christian spirituality is when a person falls in love with Jesus.

   Sometimes when I go forward at church to take Communion,... the thought of Jesus comes to me, the red of His blood or the smell of His humanity, and I eat the bread and I wonder at the mystery of what I am doing, that somehow I am one with Christ, that I get my very life from Him, my spiritual life comes from His working inside me, being inside me.(Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, 2003, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)

Donald Miller knows the truth and power of what we have read about this week. He knows about the power of unity in and with Jesus. He knows of the power of conversion like Paul. He knows of the deep, overwhelming love that God has for all people because he opened himself to God. Do we have this to share? Do we know that same joy and awe that lets us know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is in our lives? This is what will compel us to be witnesses for Him.

A Love Poem from God

Wherever You May Look

Wisdom is
so kind and wise
that wherever you may look
you can learn something
about God.

Why
would not
the omnipresent
teach that
way?
St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
--from Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West by Daniel Ladinsky

Basilica Block Party

This is the weekend for the Basilica Block party in downtown Minneapolis. Hosted by St. Mary’s Basilica, there is great music, name bands, youth and young adult orientation.

Over the eight years they have been doing this party, the number of young adults and young adult households who are members of the parish has more than doubled. It has been one of the fastest growing “young adult” congregations in the Twin Cities.

Hmmmmm

I may not know much about God, but I'd say we built a pretty nice cage for him.

Homer Simpson, after helping some island natives construct a chapel.
Thanks to Rachel at cre8d.

Another Quiz

Which Peanuts Character Are You Quiz

The Reasons Have Changed

Came across this article thanks to Dan Hughes at They Blinked. Donald Rumsfeld now tells us that what they said wasn't what they said or what we really thought they said. Hindsight is such a wonderful skill. It can even change history- after it has happened.

I am not surprised. Deeply saddened. Deeply disturbed. I had truly hoped that we could at least admit errors and take responsibility for what we have done. This article doesn't seem to look like that.

I hate to be one of those Jesus People, but I wonder what Jesus would say or do?

Some Thoughts

The Joy of Hospitality
Realized I missed another day yesterday. Not so much that I have nothing to say (that never happens). More like my mind and body are still renewing from the week in Miami. Maybe I'm not as young as I used to be, but a week of short nights and long, hot days got to me. Then we made a major effort at cleaning our house for guests.

I had forgotten the fun of having good house guests. This time it was my sister-in-law and her husband. Had a great conversation about the church and sin and being Christian and witnessing and how the world doesn't want to hear what we have to say. It is easy at times to get caught up in our own lives and problems and forget about the joy of having good guests to talk with. Hours fly by. We can agree, disagree and attempt to settle all the problems of the world, then go to bed. What a wonderful thing.

Another friend coming tomorrow- and now the house is clean!! Maybe I'll get some blogging done.

Another Book Finished
Finished Year Zero- on the book list this past week. While one has to suspend a lot of logic to accept the premise, it is interesting, challenging, and disturbing and generally a good read. It seems there is this virus that has been let loose upon the world by some rogue archaeologists who have stolen bones and artifacts from a discovered crypt of bones under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In other words, the bones of Golgotha. The virus has mutated over the 2000 years and no one is immune to it. It spreads quickly and is 100% fatal.

The scientists have all gathered at Los Alamos as a last stand, an Alamo, against the virus, seeking to find a cure. They do this through the now highly developed science of cloning. What will happen as the virus spreads and threatens to wipe out all humanity? Will there be a cure? And is one of those clones really Jesus?

As I said, it is a fun read if you like sci-fi-type thrillers. Suspended belief helps, but as a lover of sc-fi and fantasy, I have no problem with that. It is an edge-of-the-seat story with a great deal of humanity in it.

What made it more scary than it might have been was the recent SARS scare. Out of nowhere came a disease that was, at times, fatal. At first no one knew where it came from. What would stop it? What are its long-term affects? At least with HIV/AIDS we now know it is only transmitted in certain clear ways. SARS seemed to be airborne.

So, what if....
Could humanity be threatened with extinction because of a previously unknown bug? Might we all be in danger- not today, but someday- of getting the incurable disease?

Sure it's far-fetched. Sure it won't happen. Yet, I realized as I shivered at times while reading the book, we do have that incurable illness. It is called life. And it ends in death. Someday it will be over. So what then is the purpose of life? Why live in the first place? Those are the real questions struggled with in the book. It is not a great work of literature. But it is a good read and made me think about what living is all about.

For me, it is about living in a way that brings honor to God and others. It is about living in such a way that I can sleep most nights with a clear conscience. It is about confronting my demons and shortcomings and failings and sins- honestly. It is about trusting that there is a power greater than myself that will bring sanity to the midst of the insanity. Life is not pointless. It has a purpose- found for me in God in Jesus Christ. That is not the ending point, it is both the starting point and the center point around which all else is to revolve.

How would I deal with a doomsday virus or an apocalyptic disease threatening me and all humanity? I will only know that when I trust God for this life and the next when I have already been infected with such a disease. May God grant me the wisdom, courage, and serenity to live for him, no matter what.

Going Global

Jordon Cooper posted an interesting blog today on the change he has been going through toward a more global understanding. After a long and excellent quote from Thomas Friedman's book,
The Lexus and the Olive Tree he ends with this:

For a long time I was the "the most narrow of pastors." I was reading just the stuff that would hopefully make my church run a little better. Wanting to visit other churches so I knew who they do it. As I awoke to a new world around and went looking for answers, I realized my questions were wrong and too narrow. I realized that not only my answers were wrong but also my questions. In addition to that I had a horrible feeling that there were questions out there that I should be asking but I hadn't found yet.

An expanding worldview is what he calls all this. I agree in its importance for us in this postModern world.

The theme for our Moravian Young Adult Convo last week was Global Voices::Global Choices. We spent a great deal of program time dealing with this New Global World of globalization. Whether it's Friedman's book or Philip Jenkins The Next Christendom, the change is being reported. We need to be ready and open to the changes and find ways to be Christian in this new globalized world, especially those of us who are "western, northern" Christians.

Miami- A Vision of the Future?

At the end of our Moravian Youth Convo on Saturday evening, a pastor commented to us that in Miami we have seen what the rest of the country will one day look like. The diversity of peoples and languages and human color. It is remarkable.

It was truly like being in a foreign country. The weather, of course, was not like Minnesota which gives Miami a real tropical attitude. But it was also the stores and the languages. At the church we were at on Saturday, the pastor who welcomed us was an American white person. The pastor who read the call to worship was from Surinam and read first in Dutch. Worshipers and leaders were from Jamaica, Nicaragua, Barbados, Honduras.

It was an exciting experience at church and throughout Miami. At times it was work to understand the dialects and accents. But it was worth it. I was reminded, since it was the 4th of July Weekend, that this is clearly the result of being a nation of immigrants. We are a country that is rich in diversity. We are not a melting pot with some innocuous mixed color or style. We are many as one- E Pluribus Unum. For that I am grateful.

A Love Poem from God

The Perfect Stillness

Love is
the perfect stillness
and the greatest excitement, and most profound act,
and the word almost as complete
as His name.
Rabia of Basra (c.717-801)
--from Love Poems from God:Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West by Daniel Ladinsky

Just a Post of Thanks

Well, this is the first time in a few months that life has truly trumped blogging. I'm still in Miami and still doing the web site for our Moravian Young Adult Convo. It has been fun. A small group this time around- only about 25 or so young people. We are looking at what our program leader calls the New Global World- the impact of globalization and its technologies on all of us. We are working on how are we to be Christians in this globalized world.

I am personally struck by the way the blogosphere has impacted my life and has given me a couple of things.
:: First there's just the opportunity to write and actually think that someone might even care about what I am writing. It has allowed me to in some small way publish what I am thinking.
:: More importantly is the world-wide community that develops here. We are scattered around the globe. At first I was amazed when I saw that I was getting hits from New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, and other places. Then I realized that I am reading some of your thoughts from those places. Talk about the ability to maintain and spread the thoughts and ideas of a changing world.
:: Probably most important for me is the faith-based aspect of this for so many of us. We may very well just be talking to each other right now, but we are developing the very basics of a system that may just might be a whole new way to be evangelists, Christians, and disciples. When Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press he didn't know that Martin Luther was in the wings to use it to make a huge shift in faith. Who is waiting in the wings- or perhaps already blogging- who will be the next Martin Luther?

So, I guess I am trying to say thanks to all of you for what you have helped me do and how we all, in humility and trust look to Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith. I haven't had much chance to read around the blogosphere this week, but I know I will have a chance to do so next week. And I do have a Friday love poem already in the computer so that will be posted to.

Have a great and blessed weekend.

A Weather Jinx?

At 1:00 p.m. EDT today there was a heavy thunderstorn and rain in Miami with a temperature of 73. At the same time the Twin Cities, MN temperature was 86 and sunny. I'm in Miami. Hmmm.

A Travel Day

As often as I may do it, it never fails to amaze me. Less than 12 hours ago I was in Minnesota. Tonight I was at a baseball game in Miami. (More later.)

It was a quiet trip- after I got on the plane. I got 90% of the way to the airport (in morning rush hour, no less) and realized I left my digital camera under some papers on the couch. So, we made a quick trip across the back way to home, picked up the camera and came rushing back to the airport.

Where there was an airport police officer with a radar gun aiming down the road from where I couldn't see him. Pulled over within 150 feet of where I needed to be. No ticket, just a warning.

Made it to the plane on time and it was a quiet flight.

Oh well.

Baseball

Had a chance to go to the Marlins-Braves game tonight at Pro Player Stadium. Not many people there to see the Marlins set a club record for both runs and hits (final score: 20-1, with 25 hits for the Marlins.)

I have been a baseball fan for years. There is something about the pace of a baseball game that is good for slowing down. (I know- some would say going to sleep.) But I have always been a Field of Dreams kind of person. Can't play the game to save my life. My buddy Wilson and I would love to play right field in High School Phy Ed. Nothing ever happened out there. I was the only left-handed batter in my class, I think.

But I have always loved to go to games. The first one was years ago when the Braves played the Dodgers- at Ebbets Field. I wish I remembered more about that fabled place. But that was what got it in my blood. Have not be a rabid fan, but have been to a World Series game (Philadelphia, 1980). Became an American League fan when I moved to Wisconsin and got to games at County Stadium with the Brewers. Didn't make the switch with them to the National League and have found myself a Twins and Yankees fan the past few years.

There is always that first moment for me when I walk into the stadium from the walkway around the outside. The grass is green, the seats are brightly colored, the sounds and the people and the lights and the sky. It is magic. Summer magic. Sitting out in right field tonight behind the foul pole, I could sit and meditate on the beauty of the evening. The warm but comfortable Florida air. The Dads and Sons, Moms and Daughters, Friends and Lovers, Retail Groups in the picnic area, a group of Jewish young people with kipot and fringes. People were having a wonderful time. It helped that the Marlins walked away with it.

I didn't feel rushed. The friends I was with talked and visited and cheered and just watched the game. I found myself sitting and watching the field, the players and the pitches and hits and outs. It was calming. It was summer.

Yes, I love football. I lived in Wisconsin for too long to be anything but a Packer fan. I can tolerate basketball and hockey. But those are winter sports. In the winter you have to move fast to keep warm. You have to be on your toes or you might get frozen in place.

Summer is for baseball. The World Series (now pushed far into the fall) was the end of summer. It brought a close to the ease of summertime. But it was still the Boys of Summer coming to the end of their season. What a way to spend a night in Miami in July.

Am I Out of My Mind?

I am leaving tomorrow morning for five days in Miami. It is our national young adult -post high Convo. I am the Internet/Web coordinator (or as Andrew Careaga called us in a recent magazine article- Jesus Geek). The address is www.convo2003.org- surf on over and see what happens during the week- I wish I knew. Maybe I can introduce blogging to some more people.

But Miami? In July? Leaving the cool (?) comfort (at least the lower humidity) of Minnesota to go to Miami in July. I am looking forward to it and seeing some new ways to use the web to share the Good News. If anyone has any ideas what we might do, drop me a note.

I will try to keep blogging here with insights- if I can come up with any. But will keep you all posted.

What Do I Believe?

Pen at The Gutless Pacifist has challenged the blogosphere to a "spirited conversation." He has an excellent post on his response to a young man searching in his faith. It will be interesting to see what happens next. I'll think about it- and maybe get some of the young adults at Convo to think about it.

The Book of Life

Fred Peatross over at Future Margins had a wonderful post this morning. He talked about all the reams of knowledge that Biblical Scholars have developed over the years. He wondered how some of this intellectual knowledge has any impact on the suffering and the lost. His ending line was a classic:

The church is cluttered with shipwrecked scholars who thought the Bible was written for understanding and didn’t recognize it was written to give life.

What he is talking about is the depth of study and scholarship that, in many ways, is the result of the modern understanding that knowledge is important and even powerful. If we can only know all that we can know, we can overcome all problems. They take the life out of it, though. Modern fundamentalism falls into the same difficulty.

Not that scholarship is bad. It certainly can help us discern depths of meaning in the Bible that we might otherwise miss. But if it is simply for the sake of knowledge, it is not life-giving.

In the end it is all about Jesus. He is in the book. Which is reason enough to read it.

Rest in Peace

Katherine Hepburn, 1907 - 2003.
She made the movies great!

Deja Vu
All Over Again

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. — General Omar Bradley

Got that quote over at Eclipsoul, a blog by Nate Wildermuth who describes himself as Christian - Pacifist - Anarchist - Radical - Skydiver - Harmonica - Faith - Love - Hope - Peace. He has been in the military and at West Point and has come to see himself as a Conscientious Objector. He has even posted his CO packet on the web. Currently he is waiting on the slow process of the military to come to a decision on his application.

Considering that all the way back in March when this blog was born, the theme of the world was the war in Iraq, and part of my posting at the time was my struggle with a war that seemed to be justified, coming across this web site was a real kick in the pants. It took me back to those wonderful days of yester-year known as the Sixties and early Seventies. It was December of 1969 when the draft lottery took place and I was a soon to be graduating senior in college. I had thought little about my own future at that point. Sure, the Vietnam War was raging but it was far away, mentally, physically, emotionally. Sure I thought I was a pacifist. But at that point I had no reason to think about it- other than to protest. Yes, I had supported McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy. Yes, I was opposed to the war and war, but it had nothing to do with me. That changed when I realized that I would be drafted. What was I to do?

Hours were spent in prayer and a lot of discussion with a lot of people. I don't remember any more what all the links and networks were that I followed, if any. All I came to know was that I could not, as a Christian, a follower of God, be a part of the military. I really understood that I was a pacifist.

Fortunately I was granted the CO status, was drafted, and did my two years alternative service, first in a home for the handicapped and then as a youth center director for the city.

Reading Nate's blog and his CO application reminded me of the power of the Gospel when faced with such decisions- literally life changing decisions. Nate thought he had made a choice that was the one for him. He has now discovered a different choice. His struggle, prayer, the wrestling with God (and probably the US Army) reminds me that sometimes when faced with doing what we feel God is calling us to do- and be- we have to make hard choices. They didn't look like that to me as a 21-year old college senior. Seeing them now, in someone else, I can see the power of God at work.

As I said way back in March, my struggle today is not with pacifism. I still am a pacifist, although, like Stanley Hauerwas has been quoted as saying, that is as much so others will remind me of what I say I believe when I am tempted to live another way. My struggle is that I know I am capable of NOT being a pacifist. I am capable of living and acting in ways that are contrary to my stated beliefs.

Thanks, Nate, for your witness that has brought me back to who I like to say I am.

Bedroom or Boardroom
I guess this is a rant....

Okay, I'll add a comment on the previous sex discussion. Found this quote on Chad Canipe's blog.

The Church is uncommonly vocal about the subject of bedrooms and so singularly silent on the subject of boardrooms.
—Dorothy L. Sayers

That about sums it up for me. When Jesus talked about sex-type issues he was putting all of us in the same boat of sin. Don't think you are better than the adulterer because you haven't done that. Remember the last time you looked with "lust" on a woman. That's the same as doing it. Or don't think you are better than the CEO of Enron. Remember the last time you wanted that you looked with "greed" on someone else's house or car. That's the same as doing it. Don't think you are better than that common murdered you saw get arrested on TV tonight. Remember the time you said something hateful about the guy who cut you off on the highway. That's the same as doing it.

I agree that sin needs to be named. I also agree that we are dealing with types of questions that were unthinkable in Jesus' day. And I also agree that we have found ways to sin that can have a greater impact on the whole world than anything even Herod could have done.

Perhaps instead of picking on others who have different understandings of sin, we should listen to each other. I don't see sexual sin as easily as I do alcoholism, for example. I am more sensitive to the presence of addiction to chemicals and the resulting behavior than I am to sexual temptations. At youth camp one year one of the counselors noticed a particularly suggestive top a girl was wearing. The counselor couldn't believe that I, the director, would let that happen. I had never noticed. No one else noticed the Budweiser T-shirt on one of the guys. I did.

So maybe we need to talk together about all the realms of sin that each of us is sensitive to. I need to listen to those who are able to see and name sexual sins and take their sensitivity into account. I need to hear the words of a friend who can see the depth of the sin of gambling and take her sensitivity into account. I need to hear the words of a prophetic type like Stanley Hauerwas who names the sin of violence and war and take his sensitivity into account. I would hope that when I speak words of the sin of other areas where I have a sensitivity that others will listen and take my sensitivity into account.

The danger of elevating one sin or one type of sin to the top of the list is that we can easily let other sinners off much too easily. And the sinner that I am usually ready to let off the hook is myself. I do not believe that sexual sins are the worst. I do not believe that homosexuality is a sin that we should elevate (or denigrate) to some SuperSin status. Nor is abortion or war or greed or lying or dishonoring your father and mother or a parent being so strict that they drive their children away. Sin is Sin is Sin is Sin. And as I remember in a sermon somewhere- right at the center of sIn is I.

I guess the one other thing I believe is that sin is probably not the center of our message. Greg Laurie in his book How to Share Your Faith tells the story of approaching a street-corner evangelist in Hawaii. The guy was raving and raging about the wages of sin being death. Laurie went up to him and told him that he thought that was being unfair to the gospel. Especially since the rest of the verse says that the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus. The man turned to Laurie and told him he was a sinner to.

The gospel is a challenge to all of us to accept the free gift. It is about the love of God. Sometimes we have to point out sin. But I have a hunch that sometimes what we need to do more is offer people our hand and friendship in love and grace and let them know how we have overcome the sins of our lives in Jesus. That is a whole lot more hopeful than talking about how bad someone else is. 'Cause that someone else is me.

So, enough of a rant. We won't get rid of sin. We won't stop sin. All we can do is become a community of brothers and sisters who have found a better way. Then become a community of sinners that helps other sinners find out where the grace is at.

A Love Poem from God

He Asked for Charity

God came to my house and asked for charity
And I fell on my knees and
cried, “Beloved,

what may I
give?”

“Just love,” He said,
“Just love.”
St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
--from Love Poems from God:Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West by Daniel Ladinsky

A Spirituality for the Road

Len at NextReformation had a good post on June 25 about spirituality as it relates to the changes and work of the emerging church. Here is part of it:

Ultimately we do need a true spirituality, a spirituality for the road, an outside-the-walls, tested and proven spirituality that goes beyond individuality into purposeful relationships of love and grace and giving. There is a spirituality of the safe places, and a spirituality for the road. There is a spirituality that is good enough for Sunday mornings, and a spirituality that will endure on the street. There is a spirituality that is adequate when we are in large and impersonal gatherings, and another for the face-to-face and open heart encounter.

In these chaotic and uncertain times, when so many things we depend on are changing or have ceased to exist, we long to see something new revealed. And we long to be part of the of something that is truly life giving, truly God centered, and truly liberating. We want to see His kingdom come.

But it will only be born as we let go of fear, as we let go of our own addiction to control, and as we learn to embrace insecurity. Only as we release our hold on the things of this world can we embrace the new thing that God is doing. Letting go of the old things will bring fear if we are not deeply rooted in a different reality. And if we walk in fear, we won't even recognize the new thing when we see it. Fear is a binding and blinding force that causes our sight to turn inward.

I like how he contrasts the spirituality that most of us are used to on Sunday mornings and the spirituality that can survive on the streets of the postModern world. I wonder if that is why so many of us can fall into the trap of compartmentalizing our lives. We have never learned how to develop a spirituality of the street or of the face-to-face and open heart encounter. We have made spirituality a nice pious thing that has to do with saying your prayers and being good. Nothing wrong with that. It just doesn't hold up well in the daily light of life.

Which made me think of a book I read a number of years ago. The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning by Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham. I have to dig it off the shelf and do some re-reading. Basically the authors took the spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous and the 12-Step programs and put it together in a book that is full of insights and stories. Reading Len's post brought that to mind because if you work the program of the 12-steps you will develop a spirituality for the streets. It is a spirituality that moves beyond fear as a blinding force and not only causes us to look inward, but also outward to the others still suffering.

With all the stuff around here about sex and Harry Potter (just one more attempt there to get noticed by the search engines) it is easy to get sidetracked away from our basic purpose as Christians- to make disciples and to make one you have to be one and that takes discipline as Len also points out. The spiritual disciplines are the foundation of being disciples. I keep blogging away so as to find new insights. I leap around the blogosphere seeking stories of spirituality and find myself growing in my disciplines. What I am finding cannot be held within the Sunday morning ghetto or just be found in world-renouncing Quietism. It begs to be let free, exploding from the church with power and hope. Maybe we are getting somewhere after all.

Sex Sets Record
No Film at 11:00

Just a quick note with more comments to come later...

I think yesterday proves Richard's point about sex. Thanks to his post on sex that I linked to, there was a record number of visits to this site and a record number of comments for any post. Gee, Richard, maybe we've found the secret to getting people to visit our web sites. :>)

A Trinity Poem

Jonny Baker linked to Steve from Small Ritual who wrote this poem on the Trinity last Sunday.

three is the magic number
calling us out of individualism
insisting on relationship
i to you
we to another
trinity seeding networks
until all the cosmos joins in

one to create
one to save
one to sustain

one to author
one to fight
one to enliven

one to conceive
one to die
one to resurrect

one to plan
one to act
one to explain

one's sufficient
two's company
three's community

trinity expose our self-reliance
trinity break open our exclusivity
trinity seed our joining tonight

amen

Jesus and Sex

Have to at least jump in with a thank you to Richard over at connexions. In a series of excellent posts starting with a tongue-in-cheek statement, he has brought all of us up short with his insights into our Christian sexual obsession. Here are a few quotes to get you interested...

--with tongue in cheek-- A careful reading of the gospels makes it plain that sex and sexual morality was at the heart of the ministry of Jesus. His absolute condemnation of sexual sin, the many parables and stories he told about sexual behaviour and the way that he refused to have anything to do with those whose sexual lives were anything less than totally pure all point to the priority of sex as the lodestone of Christian morality. Twenty-first century disciples of Jesus will want to emulate his priorities, and Christian pronouncements about morality will reflect this. permalink
-------
If sex was not a priority for Jesus, why does it occupy so much of the churches' (and bloggers') time? I'm convinced that part of the answer lies in our continuing "conformation to the world". Western Christians may claim to be in Christ, but we still share the world's obsessions: sex and wealth.
We talk about sex the most because, frankly, sex is interesting. Exciting, even. There's no thrill in listening to a condemnation of greed, or pride, or gluttony. In any case, condemning those sins leads us to condemn ourselves.
-------
So I have a suggestion to make. Let's give the same priority to sex that Jesus did -- you know, like, none at all. Remember Jesus' words about specks and planks? Let's take them seriously and work on the planks in our own eyes before we trouble about the specks in other peoples. Or we could just continue in our sin, smugly ignoring the greed and covetousness most of us are a part of. But I hate to think of the consequences of that. permalink

Thanks, Richard. My thoughts exactly. Perhaps we are also afraid that if we don't condemn all those sexual sinners people will think we are like them. Or perhaps we all are as a culture still stuck in those adolescent years when bodily functions of all kinds are the center of jokes, cruelty, or just plain embarrassment- at least for the boys cabins at camp.

As to those filled with greed and lying, well, they may only be helping to better the economy or get rid of evil dictators or... (oops, I have a hunch I just started meddling.)

A Great Deal of Prayer

And this was in the latest edition of Internet for Christians newsletter..

An Awful Lot of Knee Hours

How long does prayer-meeting last in your church? Do the fidgits set in after ten or twenty minutes of prayer? We'll estimate the average prayer meeting at an hour. How much longer do you think the world's longest prayer meeting lasted? Multiply an hour by 24; then multiply that by 365; and then multiply that by 100. That tallies up to 876,000 hours. The longest prayer meeting in the world actually lasted longer than that! It began this day, August 27, 1727, in Herrnhut, Germany, when Moravians under Count von Zinzendorf commenced an around-the-clock prayer chain that lasted more than 100 years!

The result of that prayer was the beginning of the Protestant Mission movement, a deep faith that in its witness influenced the Wesley brothers and the development of the Moravian Church, and a world-wide Christian fellowship that, while remaining small (and often unknown), continues to have an impact. One of the places that considers itself a spiritual descendent of Zinzendorf is the 24-7 Prayer Movement in England. It is truly inspiring and exciting to to see this happening.

The world-wide Moravian prayer watch still continues, by the way, in different parts of the world each day.

As a Moravian, and a Christian, I often in prayer wonder what would happen if we would take that kind of bold step again. Maybe watching the 24-7 Movement will give us all some new ideas.

(The above info on the Moravian prayer meeting is from CHI NOTES: A JOURNEY BACK TO OUR CHRISTIAN PAST. CHI Notes, newsletter of Christian History Institute, offers interesting "morsels of courage, faith, hope and love," and a glimpse into our rich Christian past--20 centuries of church history. Subscribe at the address below and start enjoying this informative and inspiring newsletter now! Be sure to visit the CHI Web site to find daily updated stories, key church events, "Glimpses" bulletin inserts, Early Church video scripts and more. Chi Notes (subscribe online): http://www.gospelcom.net/chi/BETWEENF/Guestbks/notesubs.shtml. Subscribe by blank email: chinotes-subscribe@chinstitute.org Christian History Institute: http://www.gospelcom.net/chi/.)

God Over Country Flag Flap

This came through in my daily email from Crosswalk Religion Today Summaries.

A Christian businessman in Pennsylvania is causing a flap in his community for flying a Christian flag above Old Glory. Greg Podlucky, the owner of the Le-Nature's beverage company, has been flying the flag for months now, irritating some residents of Latrobe, located in Westmoreland County, local TV station WTAE reported.
The United States code reportedly states that the American flag always comes first on the flagpole. "Nothing flies above the American flag," said veteran Dick Johnston. "But this guy just don't want to cooperate with us."
Another Latrobe resident Steve Semnisky added: "In my estimation, it's a contempt for the city of Latrobe and contempt for any citizen. He's doing it and he knows that it's not right and why he won't change it. I have no idea. It's sad."
But Podlucky said his flag move wasn't meant to offend anyone. He said his inspiration was a Bible distributed by President Roosevelt right before World War II. In that Bible, there's a picture of the U.S. flag being flown under the Christian flag, Podlucky said.
The American Legion has tried to convince Podlucky to switch the flags, but Podlucky reportedly said it's "God over country." "That's a fine statement to make," Semnisky said, WTAE reported. "But that gives no one the right to fly the flag above the United States flag." Semnisky said his family plans to boycott the popular Le-Nature's, and many others in Latrobe said they'll do the same. from Charisma News Service

As one who tends to be patriotic and who still gets goose-bumps and takes off my hat when the National Anthem is played, I continue to be saddened whenever the flag becomes an issue of who is first- God or country. We call ourselves "one nation, under God" but often only when God is on our side. We certainly are afraid of anyone who would actually believe that we are "under God." Instead of boycotting and villifying someone like Greg Podlucky, we should thank him for reminding us of the true meaning of the American flag- freedom, even the freedom to be religious, to live out one's own interpretation of the pledge of allegiance or just to disagree.

It also points out the power of symbols, like a flag. In our postModern world, symbols will only get more important. We need to know how and when to use them in ways that are healthy and point us to the realities they stand for.

A Day Off

Took a day off yesterday from blogging. It's amazing how guilty I felt. Like I wasn't doing my part to keep the blogosphere filled with words. In many ways this doesn't feel like work (it isn't!) so I just do this each day. But I think getting the other blog set-up and posted with daily journals left me with not much to say yesterday. Next I will probably work on moving this blog to Moveable Type. It sure is a lot easier.


Large Church, Small Church, or...

In the typically roundabout blog way here is a quote that I found from Pen at Gutless Pacifist who got it from Len at NextReformation who got in from an article at CoolChurches.com:

If the megachurch is the legacy of the Baby Boomers, the legacy of the next generations may be just the opposite -- smaller churches designed to feed the need for close-knit, authentic relationships. The trend, if it is one, doesn’t show up yet in church statistics. But, according to consultants and researchers, there are early indications that many new churches are being designed to stay small. “You don't see many church planters today who have their sights set on huge congregations or buildings," says Carol Childress, a researcher who carries the title of “knowledge broker” at Leadership Network, a Dallas-based think tank for innovative churches. "Unlike many Baby Boomer pastors who were set on starting and growing big churches, today's church leaders are not concerned with becoming big but rather with growing authentic disciples of Christ,” says Childress, whose job it is to spot trends in church life.

Echoing Pen, I do applaud the movement toward smaller churches. From an anti-institutional point of view it is a good trend. We have talked often around the emerging church blog world about how becoming institutional is the problem of churches and denominations. Small churches with the opportunities for close personal contact and relational evangelism and discipling can revolutionize the church.

BUT

a significant majority of churches today are small and do not offer those opportunities. Small churches in the modern world paradigm are often family-based units that are hard to break into- or out of. Small churches in the modern world paradigm are simply institutions that want to protect tradition, building, and be ministered to. The emerging small churches will have to be careful that they don't become a next-generation of the same old thing. Some more from the original article:

"Smaller is working," says Bill Easum. "That's because it is the way the church spread the fastest in the first century -- organically instead of institutionally." Easum is one of the few ready to predict a major shift: "I believe the megachurch will be replaced by smaller congregations that meet in multiple settings."

As usual, Bill is right on target, I believe. The change I see in the emerging small church is an organic one. It is not based on institution but relationship. It is not necessarily based on location. It is willing to move and adapt as needs change or even to be a house-church movement. It is willing to be non-churchy, and even multi-tasking. It is also, I think, willing to serve as much as to be served. A big shift in the post-modern paradigm. And one more quote:

And the skills required to lead a smaller, more relational church are different than the skills required to preach to the masses, Childress adds. "These churches will require lots of relationship building, lots of leadership skills, perhaps less emphasis on proclamation and more emphasis on teaching Scripture, but in a more conversational, participatory, storytelling sort of way."

Here is where the key to the growth of the emerging small church movement may lie. The skills and passions of the leaders and all participants of the movement. It will not look like church in the modern world, even when it has the trappings of that church. It will be an organic community that has no - or few - "professional" leaders who do the ministry. It may have more bi-vocational pastors. It may often be led by non-seminary trained spiritual friends. It will be somewhat fluid and open to the leading of the Spirit. At least it will start that way. Just like the 1st Century Church did.

From Discipling to Evangelism

I was pondering my own ministry last evening as I thought about the evangelism course I am teaching at the church. I realized that almost all of my ministry for most of the past 30 years has been in disciple-making. Sure, I have done the ministry stuff- visiting, etc. But my main work has been in helping people who already believe to move beyond simply believing to being disciples. I had been reacting inside to the fact that I have led very few people to Christ, even though I myself was not born and raised in the church. Never was in one until I was 15. But when I got into ministry it was not as an evangelist. It was as a discipler. Then I realized that I have been obeying the Great Commission. I have made disciples as I journeyed through my life. Wow. What a neat insight.

Thanks to the great blessings of God's gifts in my life, I have had a great time leading people deeper into being Christian. Things like mission trips for youth before they were commonplace. Helping develop Cursillo in my denomination and seeing remarkable results as people discovered Christ's call to ministry in discipleship. Sitting with friends and just having the mentoring and caring relationship that allows them to grow. It has been great.

But in the past few years I have been feeling the calling or push into church planting (whatever that may come to mean) or at least some form of relational evangelism. I have been reading and trying to work it out. I have been looking for ways to find out if I can do it. I have been spending a lot of time in prayer. One of the significant things I have realized about being an "evangelist" is that it happens outside the church. Yes, I know there are probably people in the church who haven't yet Jesus as their Lord, even though they may think they do. (Just think about that pastor in the news the other week who claim he didn't believe in God- and his church supported him.) But that is not the mission field. Not in this postModern world.

To be outside the church is a tough thing. After 30 years of being in the church as a pastor/discipler that is a scary idea. The world is different from the one I started in ministry in. How do we convince the church (i.e. the institution and denomination) that evangelism is harder to do from the church now than it has been in centuries. Many posts around the blogosphere in the past month or so, including here, have spoken to the issues and problems of the insitutional church of the "modern" world. It
becomes clearest when we begin to talk about going outside the church to find the people who are looking for directions and spiritual friendships. The church gets scared. It becomes harder and harder to do discipling in the church. Let's not even talk about evangelism. I get scared.

Yet I also get excited. The possibilities are endless and truly life changing for the people out there as well for the church. I will continue to ponder this, seeking the direction of the Holy Spirit.