tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50325715547635990872024-03-13T04:06:08.223-07:00PERICOPAEA pericope (plural: pericopae) is the technical term for a story unitdbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-37321778674731047142009-10-11T19:22:00.000-07:002009-10-11T19:31:25.694-07:00An attempt at Sabbath keeping....It's been weeks since I have really rested. Work has been brutal, with it's long hours and unforeseen challenges. I promised myself a respite of sorts from all that has to do with work. I have longed for this day of retreat, a day of thankfulness and regeneration.<br /><br />God says to me, "Enter my rest."<br /><br />I got up early and went to a morning service at the church my parents attend regularly. The message title was "How needed is the Holy Spirit?" I was wondering how the Dallas Theological, Mdiv. would field this question. In this case, Pastor Jesse was not a disappointment. He is a young, passionate, Spirit empowered man, whom I also find to be gentle and humble.<br /><br />God says to me, "Enter my rest."<br /><br />I tried going outside on our back deck to enjoy the warmth of sunshine, but in spite of it being sunny, it's a blustery day. It was peaceful though, as I shared the moment with our cat at my feet. Just when I began noticing the clean smell of the breezes, I had a gnawing thought that I should be outside mowing down the weeds, that have taken over, what once was a well-groomed lawn. My wife knows me well and poked her head out the door and said, "If you are thinking thoughtful thoughts that's good, but if you're thinking about mowing the lawn come inside at once."<br /><br />God says to me, "Enter my rest."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802804578/pericopae-20"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 49px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/StKUdyenl5I/AAAAAAAAAHk/pZ63rNTq-oA/s320/sabbath.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391534943403218834" border="0" /></a>To attempt a complete day of ceasing from work does not mean that work is wrong. Marva Dawn insists that our work is worship when we do it to the glory of God, but that Sabbath keeping is about "the rhythm of the worshipful life, alternating between regular days of work and a special day of ceasing, resting, embracing, and feasting." Eugene Peterson has said, that the Sabbath is set apart to "pray and play" or was it "play and pray?" The order probably makes no difference in God's economy.<br /><br />God says to me, "Enter my rest."<br /><br />Blessed art thou, O Lord God, King of the universe, who hast sanctified us by Thy commandments, and commanded us to kindle the Sabbath lights. May the Sabbath-light which illumines our dwelling cause peace and happiness to shine in our home. Bless us, O God, on this holy Sabbath, and cause Thy divine glory to shine upon us. Enlighten our darkness and guide us and all mankind, Thy children, towards truth and eternal light. Amen<br /><br />––opening prayer of the traditional home service for Sabbath evedbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-849078632552584412008-11-02T13:03:00.000-08:002009-10-11T19:15:29.755-07:00churched....Halloween night, my wife and I went out with two other couples for dinner and the movie, <a href="http://www.foxsearchlight.com/thesecretlifeofbees/" target="_blank">The Secret Life of Bees</a>. It was a good time to get out and be with close friends. All our kids are beyond the age to make a big deal about the evening, so any excuse to avoid trick or treaters and staying home with the lights turned off appealed to me. The restaurant staff was in full costume though, including a Sarah Palin look alike. </p><p>I generally don't pray out loud in restaurants, believing that prayer is sacred and not to be done for show, but in private, where our Heavenly Father can see us. In this instance however, everyone else at the table joined hands to pray for the meal. Feeling awkward, I clasped hands with the others and J.T. thanked God for the food. My silent prayer was that he would be quick about it, because I didn't want to draw the attention of others. J.T. prayed and immediately after, realizing the discomfort, began singing Kum-Ba-Yah. We all chuckled with comic relief.<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400074711/pericopae-20" onclick="window.open(this.href,'_blank','scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" style="float: left;"><img alt="Churched" class="at-xid-6a00d8341f1a1953ef010535ccbe7c970b" src="http://pericopae.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341f1a1953ef010535ccbe7c970b-500pi" style="border: 0px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 8px;" title="Churched" border="0" /></a>I bought a new memoir today, by author <a href="http://www.matthewpaulturner.com/" target="_blank">Matthew Paul Turner</a>. The book is entitled, Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess, and reading it reminded me of the antics many of us have encountered from being "churched." Like the author who finds the humor of his upbringing in the church, we still desire to love God and others regardless of all the nonsense we've been through in the past and even now, still sometimes experience. It's great to be able to laugh about our own fumblings toward being the people God wants us to be!</p>dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-2533047214317631012008-10-29T23:44:00.000-07:002009-10-11T18:54:15.622-07:00Prudence....Because of the economic troubles that many of us are sharing in at this time, we have been trying to cut back on our spending and look for ways in which we can save. This has required us to examine more closely how we live. <br /><br />The weather has been getting colder, so I've been wearing my winter jacket lately. Today I happened to find an old folded invoice in the inside vest pocket. Scribbled on the front and back side of the paper were notes I had taken a couple years ago while listening to a lecture by Eugene Peterson. One of the quotes resonated with me.<br /><br />"Prudence means taking what we have right now and using it intentionally for God. Everything you need to respond to God you have right now. You don't have to go looking for supplements. You don't have to take another course. You don't have to get your relationship tidied up, so you're ready. It's all there now! Exactly everything you need to respond to Jesus is there. And that's what prudence is__it's taking seriously what is given to us for the purposes of life and living. And for us, more specifically, living for God. Living intentionally with God."dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-21163856148586564522008-10-11T18:55:00.000-07:002009-10-11T19:10:07.784-07:00Last Sunday my wife and I were visiting with friends after church and P.F. recommended a book that she had been reading. Later that day I tried to look up the book online, but couldn't remember the authors name or the book title for that matter. I sent P.F. an email to ask her about the book and found her summary of the book very compelling. Most of the following is excerpts from our correspondence.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000VSGB90/pericopae-20"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 49px; height: 75px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/StKM7i0GdmI/AAAAAAAAAHc/QPF4uX0Tm5c/s320/gmay.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391526658501408354" border="0" /></a>She said, "The name of the book is Addiction & Grace, by Gerald May, MD. Scott Peck called it exquisitely written, and it truly is. The point of the book is that our attachments keep us from loving God and our neighbor. It is these addictions that create other gods for us, and because of our addictions we will always be storing up treasures somewhere other than heaven, and these treasures will kidnap our hearts. The book calls us to basically accept our incompleteness (rather than trying to fill it) and states that we can't personally achieve the state of perfection, that we must state our condition of incompleteness. And that this incompleteness within us does not make us unacceptable in God's eyes. He says that our incompleteness is the empty side of our longing for God and for love. It is what draws us toward God and one another. He says that if we don't fill our minds with guilt and recriminations, we will recognize our incompleteness as a kind of spaciousness into which we can welcome the flow of Grace. He says that we can think of our inadequacies as terrible defects if we want, and hate ourselves. But we can also think of them affirmatively, as doorways through which the power of grace can enter our lives. He covers the characteristics of addiction and how to heal. There are so many deeply profound thoughts in this book, I can't recommend it enough. It is a book of hope! Get it or borrow it!!!"<br /><br />I commented, that what she was describing so well was the practice of "detachment." And that the teaching of detachment is found in many religious faiths, especially in the Buddhist faith. I remarked, that Scott Peck always did have a Buddhist bent. The first line in his book, The Road Less Traveled is the Buddhist sentiment, “Life is difficult.” Others have called it the "art of letting go." Also, Larry Crabb wrote an excellent book called, The Pressure's Off: There's a New Way to Live.<br /><br />She said, "I think the one thing that is different between other spiritual tradition's idea of detachment and the one put forth in Dr. May's book is that human effort to detach is futile. We can't do it, no matter how spiritual we try to become! That we need Grace, God's holy intervention, along with our own actions, to succeed at letting go. The problem is that we choose attachments to fill up those spaces where Grace could have come in. My favorite definition of detachment is in Dr. May's book; he says it's "the liberation of desire" or freedom, and through freedom we can come ultimately to love."dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-69896791013864239182008-05-08T00:32:00.000-07:002008-09-08T22:38:13.868-07:00....knowing God from an early age<div class="entry-content"> <div class="entry-body"> <p>J.T. mentioned having had a real sense of knowing God from an early age. He related his experience of realization happened while serving as an alter boy in the Catholic Church. J.T. commented that after sharing this at a leadership conference, someone exclaimed that he had had a "John Wesley experience!"</p> <p>I googled <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wesley">John Wesley </a>and found that at the age of five, John was rescued from the burning rectory. This escape made a deep impression on his mind; and he regarded himself as providentially set apart, as a "brand plucked from the burning."</p> <p>I would have to say that my parents and grandparents instilled in me an early faith in Jesus. I remember conversations about God and heaven that I had with my granddad as a young boy. One of these conversations was after I had had a fight with my older brother and he was giving me the silent treatment. I was mad because I knew that the only way to set things right with my brother was to apologize. I told my granddad that this situation made me angry because I always seemed to be the one who apologized first. My granddad empathized with my position, but proceeded to explain that Jesus had said, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9). I've never since, struggled much against being the first one to say, "I'm sorry" in a conflict.</p> <p>I have a vivid childhood memory of entertaining myself by singing "He's got the whole world in His hands" while running and jumping on the sidewalk out in front of my grandparents house. I spent that summer with granddad and grandmother. We attended the First Baptist Church across the street. I remember the sense of pride that I had because my granddad helped build that church and my grandmother taught Sunday school.</p> </div> </div>dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-65486824395428029412008-03-04T00:51:00.000-08:002008-09-08T22:32:27.831-07:00undiscipled disciples....I met a woman in Borders a few weeks ago. She was in the religious book section and looked like she needed assistance. I asked her if I could help her find a specific book and she volunteered in frustration that she had been going to church all her life but she didn’t know why she did anymore.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1600060676/pericopae-20"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/SMYGMSfXItI/AAAAAAAAAE4/jA-kK9XDH4o/s400/6a00d8341f1a1953ef00e54feb8f7188_2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243885624311096018" border="0" /></a> She confessed that she was looking for a book, but didn’t have any idea what she wanted. Although this woman shared that she went to church it was obvious that she was disheartened about her Christian faith. I encouraged her to read Bruxy Cavey’s book, The End of Religion.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060882433/pericopae-20"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/SMYKQ472w7I/AAAAAAAAAFI/_jtPDiM3_3I/s400/6a00d8341f1a1953ef00e550430f638834.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243890101397144498" border="0" /></a>Unfortunately, many Christians never experience the “abundant life” promised by Jesus. Dallas Willard says this disparity has come about because of the “Great Omission.” Christ commanded Christians to go out into the world and make disciples of all peoples. Willard believes that discipleship is to often viewed as optional or for “Super Christians” rather than an imperative choice for all Christians. Yet Jesus called believers to follow him, to be disciples or apprentices. Being a disciple is more than just asking Christ in our life and heart, and goes far beyond baptism or our church membership. The Christian life is more than an “insurance policy” or “free ticket” to heaven or the eternal hereafter.<br /><br />Others wrote about the “Great Omission” in the “Great Commission.” A.W. Tozer called it a “great heresy” and Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it “cheap grace.” The British preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to say that in most Churches we hear only half the Gospel. We preach eternal salvation by grace but often fail to encourage the changed or sanctified life. A sanctified life is a life set apart as or declared holy, a consecrated life. The disciple is a student; one who follows or learns from a teacher. Discipleship is more than right thinking, it’s right living. The Christian who fails to see the value of their salvation beyond their eternal security has missed the point. Dallas Willard says, that this is like being a Christian Vampire, “I’ll have a little blood, but I want to live my life now and I’ll see you later in heaven.”dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-41779574140577729242008-01-23T12:35:00.000-08:002008-10-19T12:00:14.091-07:00....in the SpiritI've been reconnecting with the joy of my salvation! I'm overwhelmed with gratitude towards God, in Christ Jesus for the grace that is continually showered on me. Dallas Willard says, the Kingdom of God (meaning: the reign, government, rule, leadership, control, administration, regulation, management, supervision of the Spirit) should be characterized by righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit. This righteousness is more than goodness, it is God's transforming life working in me changing my very nature. This is an ongoing supernatural phenomenon! In the same way God's peace is pervasive, transcending even difficult times, when I give it to God in prayer. It is a peace that passes all understanding. The peace that comes from life in the Spirit gives me freedom. Allowing me to freely love my neighbor, family, coworker, house-mate, and even my "enemies," whoever they may be. The joy that should characterize every disciple of Jesus is rooted in our identity "in Christ." We love God because he first loved us. This love was not a one time thing. It is not pass tense or just something that happened once in the history of my conversion. God is always loving us. The Apostle John did not write that God was loving, he said, "God is Love."dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-86410323493087828212008-01-23T02:18:00.000-08:002008-01-30T21:34:20.362-08:00....without distinctions.Two years ago, I decided to attend Saint Stephens Episcopal Church. I thought that I needed a different worship experience. I was feeling discouraged about my faith and thought a change in practice and place would help. Sometimes when people talk about their “spirituality” they speak about having the need to experience more of the sacred. Unhappy with my own tradition, I thought that the rituals and traditions in the Episcopal Church would possibly instill a sense of the sacred in me. I found the liturgy and celebration of the Eucharist every Sunday to be a solemn and sacred event, but it wasn’t what I was looking for, it eventually left me feeling hollow.<br /><br />I worked at the <a href="http://www.mounthermon.org/">Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center</a>, located in the redwoods near Santa Cruz the summer after my freshman year of college. When people would come to the retreat center on pilgrimage to the redwoods, it was common, almost cliché to hear them ask, ”What’s it like to live in God’s country?” Is God especially present, more apprehensible or closer in some places more than others? “Taking their cues from the teaching of Jesus, the earliest followers finally came to realize that they didn’t need holy buildings or special places to meet with God. They saw themselves as living stones, built together into a new organic temple, made up of the people of God. They believed that the Spirit of God dwelled within this relational temple, this sanctuary-as-community (see 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; Ephesians 2:19-22) and that their entire lives were altars upon which to offer sacrificial love to God and others (see Romans 12:1). Because of Jesus, they understood that all of life is holy and every relationship sacred.”<br /><br />In a lecture series during the Missio Conference at Fuller Theological Seminary, speaker Alan Hirsch said, “What we’ve ended up with are vague reflections of what Jesus was in the gospels.” He points out that the reason for this is that we have built our religious systems over the top of it. In doing so we have<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802800491/pericopae-20"><img width="48" height="75" border="0" alt="Ellul_3_6" title="Ellul_3_6" src="http://pericopae.typepad.com/weblog/images/2008/01/23/ellul_3_6.jpg" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; float: right;" /></a>obscured the centrality of Jesus in our lives. Hirsch refers to the writings of Jacques Ellul, The Subversion of Christianity. He insists that one way we have subverted the Gospel is by the sacralization of time and space. The idea that some days are more holy than others and some places more sacred can be subversive when these things become important in themselves. The Scriptures point out that all of the earth is the Lord’s, without distinctions.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1600060676/pericopae-20"><img width="50" height="75" border="0" alt="Bruxy_2" title="Bruxy_2" src="http://pericopae.typepad.com/weblog/images/2008/01/23/bruxy_2.jpg" style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: left;" /></a>Bruxy Cavey says, “The Western practice of referring to church buildings as ‘churches’ (rather than the building where a church meets) can work against our ability to see this truth. Some Christians not only call the buildings they meet in ‘church’ but they also call a special room where they hold Sunday services the ‘sanctuary,’ a word that means the sacred place where God dwells. And, to confuse our minds just a little bit more, at the front of the sanctuary is often a big table called the ‘alter,’ a word that refers to animal sacrifice in the Old Testament ritual. But the only alter, the only place of sacrifice Christ-followers should need, is the alter of daily decisions of our lives, where we offer God our energies and agendas, our choices and our lives, where we offer God our desires as “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1).<br /><br />Like my hope in finding something more in the Episcopal Church or the sacral adoration of nature, I have often sought a “sense of the sacred” rather than the face of God. But on a positive note though, Leonard<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310242800/pericopae-20"><img width="48" height="75" border="0" alt="Sweet_2" title="Sweet_2" src="http://pericopae.typepad.com/weblog/images/2008/01/23/sweet_2.jpg" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; float: right;" /></a> Sweet says, “Ritual is not the way, the truth, and life, but ritual is a reminder that there is a way, a truth, and a life. Rituals fix you in space and time. Change your rituals and you change your ‘fixings.’ Change your ‘fixings’ and you change your realities.” These limits and directions can help us frame our activities; fix a center, orient ourselves. All places are not the same; just as all days aren’t the same. Setting them apart establishes differences that can help provide order to life.dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-80296483417333694102007-12-16T11:30:00.000-08:002008-12-09T19:30:48.524-08:00Dan Fogelberg....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.danfogelberg.com/"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/R3hkrV856PI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/NzDHa_DKVLM/s320/liveelectriccolor_tn.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149976869687912690" /></a>I was sad to hear <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/12/16/obit.fogelberg.ap/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail">news that Dan Fogelberg died today.</a> He was a great singer/songwriter. I still play his songs whenever I pull out my own guitar.<br /><br />Dan Fogelberg said, "My grandfather gave me my first guitar, an old acoustic with palm trees and dancing girls painted on it." He's also quoted as saying, "My dad was vehemently opposed to electric guitars. He did not look on that kind of music as legitimate in any way." But luckily he ignored his father's distaste for electric guitars, having said,"Strats are my favorite electric guitars, and I've got quite a collection."<br /><br />I remember seeing Dan Fogelberg in concert once. I went with Erin, Bill and Jenene. Bill used to visit my college dorm room with his guitar. He was a much better guitar player than I ever was, but we used to have a lot of fun playing together.<br /><br />I sang or played Dan Fogelberg's "Longer Than" at more weddings than I can remember.<br /><br />Check out the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy3GHCy49Dw">youtube</a> video of Dan Fogelberg playing "The Leader of the band."dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-27646171924527275582007-12-09T13:37:00.000-08:002008-12-09T19:30:48.765-08:00....with singleness of purpose<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060759712/pericopae-20"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/R3hni1856RI/AAAAAAAAAEg/FOz9kwecdA0/s400/foster_2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149980022193907986" /></a>Martin Luther dealt with the matter of simplicity in the most profoundly practical way in his book, The Freedom of a Christian. What he saw in acutely sharp focus was that the liberty of the gospel sets us free to serve our neighbor with singleness of purpose. If our salvation is by grace alone, we no longer need to keep juggling a myriad of religious duties to get right with God. We are free from constantly taking our own spiritual temperature. Our freedom from sin allows us to serve others. Before all our serving was for our benefit, a means to somehow get right with God. Only because the grace of God has been showered upon us are we enabled to give that same grace to others.<br /><br />Luther expressed this thesis in his famous paradox, A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all subject to all. Through the grace of God alone and not by any work of righteousness of our part, we come into the glorious liberty of the gospel. We are all lords and kings, and priests, as Luther put it. We are set free from the law of sin and death. But this freedom is not for our sake alone, it is also a freedom to serve others. Until we are righteous we cannot really do righteous deeds, no matter how hard we try. Luther said, "Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works. Evil works don't make a wicked man, but a wicked man does evil works." Lets illustrate this matter in a simple way. A poor artist may paint many pictures, but he will not paint any good pictures. An inferior contractor may build many homes, but he will not construct any good homes.<br /><br />The person who is still bound to sin and enslaved to others is not free to truly love his neighbor. A moments reflection on our part confirms the truth of Luther's insight. If we are still in bondage to sin our serving will flow out of that center. We will not have the single eye that gives light to all we do. Pride and fear and manipulation will control our actions. We will not be free to serve our neighbor in simplicity if we are still in bondage to others serving will flow out of that center. We will be controlled by a desire to impress them or receive their help. Without gospel liberty we will forever measure who we are by the yardstick of others. We will not be free to serve our neighbor in simplicity. But once the grace of God has broken into our lives we are free. When we are free from the control of our neighbor, we are able to obey God. And as we obey God with a single heart we are given a new power and desire to serve our neighbor from whom we are now free. We have become servants of our neighbors and yet lords of all. We know simplicity of life. Luther concludes, "A Christian lives not in himself, but in Christ and his neighbor. Otherwise he is not a Christian." <br />(Excerpt from Richard Foster, Freedom of Simplicity)dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-41594235616051309832007-10-09T17:45:00.001-07:002007-12-30T19:17:05.564-08:00....in all things and in all<span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">I find you, Lord, in all things and in all</span></span><br /><br />I find you, Lord, in all things and in all<br />my fellow creatures, pulsing with your life,<br />as a tiny seed you sleep in what is small<br />and in the vast you vastly yield yourself.<br /><br />The wondrous game that power plays with Things<br />is to move in such submission through the world:<br />groping in roots and growing thick in trunks<br />and in treetops like a rising from the dead.<br /><br />Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)<br />Born in Prague, Austria<br /><br />This poem is from The Book of Hours 1905. Rilke is said to have written these poems and a book of thirteen connected short stories called, Tales of God “out of his experience of Russia and Nietzsche and Lou.” Rilke was greatly influenced by “Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, who had given a name to the yearning place that the young poet had already hollowed out in himself: the death of God. And Nietzsche had defined the task of art: God-making.” Lou Andreas-Salome was the woman who Nietzsche had fallen in love with and had proposed to at age eighteen. The story has it that her refusal led to Nietzsche’s derangement. At age thirty-four she took Rilke for a lover and had accompanied him to Russia on two trips. She later became an associate of Sigmund Freud. The poems are written through the persona of a Russian monk. Rilke later worked as a secretary in Paris for the sculptor Rodin.dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-46673429624544386522007-09-20T16:45:00.000-07:002008-12-09T19:30:48.986-08:00Aligning my will to God's....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/R3hz7V856TI/AAAAAAAAAEw/HZknbCikp2o/s1600-h/esjones2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/R3hz7V856TI/AAAAAAAAAEw/HZknbCikp2o/s200/esjones2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149993637240236338" /></a>E. Stanley Jones described the effect of prayer on us like this: "Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God. Aligned to God's redemptive will, anything, everything can happen in character, conduct, and creativeness. The whole person is heightened by that prayer contact. In that contact I find health for my body, illumination for my mind, and moral and spiritual reinforcement for my soul. Prayer is a time exposure to God, so I expose myself to God for an hour and a half or two hours a day, asking less and less for things and more and more for Himself. For having Him, I have everything. He gives me what I need for character, conduct, and creativeness, so I'm rich with His riches, strong in His strength, pure in His purity, and able in His ability" (Kent Hughes: 1001 Great Stories and Quotes p. 326).dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-30498661110983885622007-09-08T10:21:00.000-07:002007-12-30T19:07:03.220-08:00What the Light Was Like: Poems....THE SIMPLE DARK<br /><br />Black birds slice their evening patterns—<br />long curves in the sky. Everything<br />is drawing down into shade.<br />But the dark, which is at first so simple<br />is not simple. Away from the farmhouse<br />with slits of yellow, the monochrome<br />develops like a print in the chemical bath.<br /><br />The unbroken velvet swims<br />with complications so subtle that<br />seeing and hearing must take their time<br />to know. The shadow purples,<br />the dusk intricate with crickets. The sky<br />infested with pricks of light.<br />My whole body an ear, an eye.<br /><br />Luci Shawdbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-12960626059279184902007-09-03T00:35:00.000-07:002007-12-30T19:04:40.790-08:00A person standing alone....I was reminded by my son last night of the importance of family. Sometimes I need others to help me keep it together. Thank you D.<br /><br />"Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.... A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-91594992634637086272007-04-22T01:31:00.000-07:002007-12-30T19:01:13.472-08:00join in the celebration....Two friends have sent me email reminders to join in the celebration of Earth Day weekend. One of these friends informed me that Lowe’s Hardware is having a special on energy efficient lights. My other friend shared that he was leading music Saturday night at All Saints Episcopal Church, because the congregants love Earth Day. He shared the lyrics of the old hymn, "Morning Has Broken," that Cat Stevens made popular years ago. He said, “The song still moves me, so I wanted to share it with you to experience anew this Earth Day.<br /><br />Every year, with the coming of spring, my wife and I are faced with the perennial task of yard maintenance. This work consists of clearing fallen branches and pinecones from beneath our Monterey Pines, trimming the lawns, and the assiduous weed control. Pulling the intruders from the soil by hand, or hacking down the first assault with my “weed-whacker” is a job I have learned to enjoy. Of course, the power tool is effective on the higher weeds, but the new growth quickly reclaims our one acre property, in spite of the new bark we put down to bring the land to submission. The insidious growth of weeds in our vegetable and flowerbeds, grass and rose garden is difficult to stay ahead of in an earth safe way.<br /><br />Poets and prophets have used flowers and weeds as metaphor in their sayings. They often ponder the difference between the two. Clearly, some analogies have reference to people, as does Jesus’ parable of “the wheat and the tares.” Jesus often uses weeds as instructive metaphors in many of his teachings. In the parable of the sower, he spoke about the “good seed” being “choked by the weeds” (Matthew 13:7). I recently read a contemporary story of "the wheat and the tares” in which “an enemy did this” (Matthew 13:28). Apparently, a disgruntled worker introduced the jimson weed to North America by scattering the seeds in the fields of a farmer who had fired him from his job.<br /><br />I commented to my Mom the other day saying; the Gravenstein orchard across the road was infested with mistletoe. She told me that Luther Burbank had imported European Mistletoe into California in the 1900s. I read somewhere that since that time, it has spread to 24 tree species, including the willow, alder, poplar, elm, mountain ash, crabapple, pear and the Gravenstein apple. In fact, one of Burbank’s experimental gardens is a five-minute walk from my house. I doubt Luther Burbank meant to cause harm, as the disgruntled worker seeking revenge did, but the plant has proven to be harmful to trees where the infestations are thick.<br /><br />In consideration of the earth, people, flowers and weeds I agree with the poet, Luci Shaw when she says, “How drab our world would seem without fields and mountainsides carpeted with wildflowers in spring––multicolored lupines, Indian paintbrush, Texas bluebonnets, California poppies, trilliums, snowdrops and buttercups, bunchberries, forget-me-nots, edelweiss. All of them, and many others, grow spontaneously, filling the air with fragrance and color. And they’re all weeds, every one of them….”<br /><br />In her book, “The Crime of Living Cautiously, Luci Shaw quotes from a Richard Wilbur poem, “Two voices in a Meadow,” In About a Milkweed Pod:<br /><br />Anonymous as cherubs<br />Over the crib of God,<br />White seeds are floating<br />Out of my burst pod.<br /><br />What power had I<br />Before I learned to yield?<br />Shatter me, great wind:<br />I shall possess the field.dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-63655720049210613262007-04-07T10:55:00.000-07:002007-12-30T18:57:59.328-08:00Practice resurrection....<strong>"Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front"</strong><br /><em>(Collected Poems: 1957-1982 by Wendell Berry)</em><br /><br />So, friends, every day do something,<br />that won't compute. Love the Lord.<br />Love the world. Work for nothing....<br />Love someone who does not deserve it....<br />Ask the questions that have no answers.<br />Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias...<br />Laugh.<br />Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful<br />though you have considered the facts....<br />Practice resurrection.dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-61323899495840116692007-04-01T13:26:00.000-07:002008-12-09T19:30:50.174-08:00WAYTRUTHLIFE....“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).<br /><br />In spite of the Evangelical emphasis on “personal evangelism,” “personal salvation,” and the need for a “personal relationship” with Jesus, much of the modern church experience has been depersonalized. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0800750438/pericopae-20"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/RhAnK9canVI/AAAAAAAAADY/Yh5hAM355qA/s400/battle.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5048578251528248658" /></a>In the face of the “God is dead” claims and the increasing secularization of culture, Evangelicals fearing that the authority of scripture and the influence of the church were quickly loosing ground, reduced Christianity to a “battle for the mind.” <br /><br />Christian apologetics focused on the truth claims in scripture, believing that a logical appeal to those outside of faith was all that was necessary. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000AV61RU/pericopae-20"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/RhAlGdcanUI/AAAAAAAAADQ/ukTXgMimjRU/s400/verdict.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5048575975195581762" /></a>Every thoughtful Christian had read Josh McDowell’s, Evidence that demands a Verdict, in an effort to honor the Apostle Peter’s admonition to “Always be prepared to give an answer…” The now infamous “Lord, lunatic or liar “ appeal was often delivered while ignoring the second part of Peter’s admonition, concerning, “gentleness and respect.”<br /><br />The accusation that Evangelical Christians are more concerned about “thinking right, rather than living rightly” is evidenced in the many unchanged lives of believers. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0801065410/pericopae-20"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/RhAkndcanTI/AAAAAAAAADI/RPw4FXeEqlo/s400/the-scandal.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5048575442619637042" /></a>Ronald Sider’s question, “Why are Christians living just like the rest of the world?” should be obvious. We have to often insisted in presenting the truth claims about Christ, while giving spare attention to the call, “...in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.”<br /><br />The modern understanding of what it means to “believe” or have “faith” in something or someone has clouded the true meaning of what it is to be Christian. In scripture “believing” concerns more than a mere “mental assent” that something is true. As my Pastor, today quoted from the book of James, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that –– and shudder.” Meaning that saying you believe something is true is not enough. Believing cannot be separated from what we do. <br /><br />From what we can know about the first century followers of Jesus, the description “Christian” was mostly recorded as a derogatory designation. The idea of a “personal relationship” with Jesus may have been implied, but was not referred to in the New Testament. “Confessing that “Jesus is Lord” or believing in the “Lordship of Christ" was the preferred requirement for followers of the Way. This was a political statement and cost many their lives. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/080282949X/pericopae-20"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/RhAZMdcanPI/AAAAAAAAACo/2CNUzqEeRio/s400/080282949X.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5048562884135263474" /></a>The Gospel of Mark gives us three imperatives as an invitation into the Jesus way. “Repent,’ requires a decision to leave one way of life for another. It commands a change of mind or heart that results in a change of direction. The second imperative, ‘Believe,’ requires a personal, trusting, relational involvement in this comprehensive reordering of reality. And the third imperative, ‘Follow,’ gets us moving obediently in a way of life that is visible and audible in Jesus, a way of speaking and thinking, imagining and praying, that is congruent with the present, immediate (“at hand”) kingdom realities” (Peterson, 21-22).<br /><br />Eugene Peterson points out that of all the “I am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John, one is most often quoted, “I am the way, and the truth and the life.” He says it is also the “most frequently dismissed.” Although Evangelical Christians have been quick to affirm that Jesus is the truth, we have mostly set aside the fact that Jesus is the way. Without “Way” and “Truth” operating together we never realize Jesus “the Life.”<br /><br />Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me" (John 14-23-24).dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-78964087018532472092007-03-30T13:02:00.000-07:002008-12-09T19:30:51.229-08:00uncomfortable with ambiguity....When I was in High School, I remember being concerned about the low view of science a family friend had expressed. This had been quite confusing to me because I had grown up believing this person was very smart. I recall asking my Dad about this, he explained to me that the less someone knows about a given subject, the more opinionated they can be, but that his experience had taught him, that the more someone knows about a subject, the less opinionated they become. I don’t remember being satisfied with that answer until I understood him to be saying, the smartest people are often less sure about things in spite of knowing a lot about the subjects, because the more you learn about something the more questions, more options and more implications you will have. Knowledge is a vacuum. Often, when people know very little about something, they suck up the first thing they hear on the subject. If it ends there without further investigation they tend to “spout off“ about the only things they know.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0465008313/pericopae-20"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/Rg-x4NcanMI/AAAAAAAAACQ/R3nUbt5kE7A/s400/compolo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5048449286545251522" /></a>It’s been a month or so since I read Tony Campolo's latest book, Letters to a Young Evangelical, but I have continued to consider my own experiences in evangelicalism. Compolo is certainly appropriate in the role of mentor; he is reasonably evenhanded in both the celebration of this heritage as well as its many pitfalls. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802841805/pericopae-20"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/Rg1vANcanHI/AAAAAAAAABk/3ZzmKA7TST8/s400/noll.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5047812806751722610" /></a>But other writers have been less charitable when considering the anti-intellectualism associated with Evangelicals. In his cultural critique, Mark Noll, McManis Professor of Christian thought at Wheaton College argues, "The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind."<br /><br />Having grown up in conservative evangelicalism, I can remember being cautioned about trusting information from disciplines like psychology, anthropology and history for that matter. I think there was a fear that using information from other disciplines would lead people in error concerning the Scriptures and their faith. Certainly there is some truth in this, because Science has often postulated ideas that were in seeming conflict with the Christian worldview. But the “God said it, I believe it” literalist approach to the Bible that fails so often to consider grammatical forms, meanings of language or the contextual relevancy of Scripture points to what Noll and others would call the “disaster of fundamentalism.” Any effort to harmonize special revelation with general revelation from other fields of study is often viewed as giving into the world or secularism.<br /><br />Many Evangelical Christians are overly uncomfortable with ambiguity. The tendency for many people is to reduce faith in God into something simple, formulaic, managed, safe. It's unfortunate, but often the need for safety in religion leads to dogmatic fanaticism. Evangelicals have spent a great amount of energy to determine how everything is going to turn out. The numerous end of world predictions and theories of Jesus' imminent return, the rapture (a term not found in scripture) and other eschatological confusion: postmillennialism, premillennialism, amillennialism and for those of us who just couldn't buy into any of this, panmillennialism (It will all pan out in the end!). The goal for some has been to figure out God and totally understand him, but as many thinking Christians have come to realize, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310273080/pericopae-20"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/Rg-zlNcanOI/AAAAAAAAACg/YkIR7AhGRrY/s400/031027308001_scthumbzzz_v44487158_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5048451159150992610" /></a>"The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God. We are dealing with somebody we made up. And if we made him up, then we are in control" (Bell, 25).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/080282949X/pericopae-20"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/Rg-zI9canNI/AAAAAAAAACY/MGnG9MGubi4/s400/080282949X.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5048450673819688146" /></a>"The way of Jesus cannot be imposed or mapped — it requires an active participation in following Jesus as he leads us through sometimes strange and unfamiliar terrritory, in circumstances that become clear only in the hesitations and questionings, in the pauses and reflections where we engage in prayerful conversation with one another and with him" (Peterson, 18).dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-80142822046945929102007-03-11T15:47:00.000-07:002008-12-09T19:30:51.597-08:00patterns, processes, and principles....<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0891091920/pericopae-20"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/Rg1wStcanII/AAAAAAAAABw/KGd4l7u-RGo/s400/rclinton.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5047814224090930306" /></a>While taking a coarse in business leadership I read Robert Clinton’s book, The Making of a Leader. In this book readers are encouraged to create a linear time-line of their life so that they can consider the “big picture” in terms of patterns, processes, and principles that are foundational to understanding the analysis of one’s life. The patterns are seen in long-term observations. To recognize these patterns you consider the “processes” or those providential events, people, circumstances, special interventions, and inner-life lessons. After analyzing these patterns and processes readers are encouraged to identify some of the foundational truths that have been gained though the analysis.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743227255/pericopae-20"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/Rg1wldcanJI/AAAAAAAAAB4/fEZVS-FLDBQ/s400/drphil.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5047814546213477522" /></a>A few years ago, “life strategist” and TV personality Phillip C. McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, wrote a book entitled Self Matters: Creating Your Life from the Inside Out. Although I’m not an avid fan of the self-help genre, I paused while flipping through channels to listen to him plug his book on Oprah. Like Robert Clinton, Dr. Phil enthusiastically explained the importance of recognizing some of the key external factors that have shaped everyone’s life. He encouraged people to trace ten defining moments, seven critical choices, and five pivotal people that influenced who they are today. Although I never read Dr. Phil’s book, I have been thinking about some of the pivotal people in my life.<br /><br />When I worked on the Clinton/McGraw analysis of my life for the course I was taking, I realized that one of the patterns that can be observed is that there are constants that characterize most people’s lives. Some of these constants can be identified as those people who have nurtured and encouraged you all of your life, Most often these are family members, but having grown-up in a military family we were often stationed far from grandparents and cousins. For this reason many military families end up “adopting” other people into their own families. Many of these “family members” play a provisional role, but some become more influential than “blood relatives”. Keeping in touch with these “extended family” has been one of those life lessons. Foundational to the health of any person are the people who care and love you. Those are most often the people whom we have shared life experiences.dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-28335005633819185872007-01-21T21:27:00.000-08:002007-12-30T18:45:30.855-08:00The iPod has changed my life....It was two weeks before Christmas and I still hadn’t purchased my wife’s big gift. I say big gift because I had already found some smaller gifts. You guessed it; by this I mean inexpensive gifts. Although she may have been satisfied with the Encyclopedia of North American Birds or the DVD version of the movie Pride & Prejudice, starring <a href="http://www.keirafans.net/">Keira Knightley</a>, I wanted her to experience what I had, even if it was in a small way.<br /><br />For a number of weeks before this, when we would go to the gym my wife would borrow my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod">iPod</a> while we exercised on the treadmills. It was at the gym I decided to get my wife an iPod of her own. Two years before, one of my employees had strongly urged that they should give me a 30GB Color iPod for my college graduation present. I knew that she probably wouldn’t be as excited about receiving an iPod as I had been, but thought it would be a fine gift anyway. At least she wouldn’t have to borrow mine.<br /><br />We were trying to be more modest in our purchases that year and I had been cautioned not to spend a lot of money. I went to Costco in hopes of finding an iPod that would be affordable. Although I had every intention in buying an iPod, it was difficult to decide which one I should get. My quandary was that I had a 30GB iPod and that wasn’t enough media storage space for me. This expectation made purchasing the iPod shuffle out of the question, and the 30GB or 80GB iPods were just too expensive. This left me with the choice of the iPod nano with the capacity of 1000 or more songs, six different colors, and storage space of 2GB, 4GB or 8GB. I narrowed it down to a choice between the 2GB and 4GB models because the price of $249.00 for the 8GB iPod was the same list price of the 30GB iPod with 2.5-inch color video display. After some determined deliberation I left the store without my wife’s big gift. I was plagued with the feeling that 2GB was priced reasonable but would not be enough memory, and that the cost difference between the 4GB iPod and the 30GB video iPod were so close that I felt it made the 4GB iPod a bad choice.<br /><br />A week later I was a bit disgusted with myself, not having purchased the gift yet. My indecisiveness had got the best of me and made me feel kind of silly for not making my mind up there and then to go back to the store and make the purchase. After all, what was the big deal! I expressed my disgust to a friend who in turn suggested that we look on <a href="http://sfbay.craigslist.org/">craigslist</a> to find an iPod that someone may be selling for a better price. In minutes we had found a 4GB iPod nano that was unopened in its original package for a little less than what it would cost to purchase a 2GB iPod at Costco. I made my mind up and after contacting the selling party I jumped in my car and drove to Mill Valley on one of the stormiest days of the year. <br /><br />During the forty-five minute drive through torrential rainfall I began to question whether I had made the right decision. Eventually I did find the sellers home but not without getting lost on the winding roads up to their residence. I knocked on the door seeing the man I had spoken with on the phone, through a front widow working at a desk. I was welcomed in out of the rain and we made our transaction in his entree way. I tried to make small talk by asking him what he did for a living. He told me that he was a corporate business consultant. Looking at his home and artwork on the walls I imagined that he was very good at what he did. He asked me if I was buying the iPod for myself or for a Christmas gift. I told him that it was for my wife but I had a 30GB iPod myself. The man told me that he had got the iPod nano as a promotion gift when he bought a laptop for his daughter. After telling me that he had the 30GB iPod too, he paused for a moment and said, “The iPod has changed my life!”<br /><br />On my drive home and since then I have been thinking about what this guy said. I realized that the reason I had gone to such lengths to purchase my wife an iPod was because my iPod had altered my life too. I know this may sound to some (those who don’t own an iPod) that I am a bit shallow or at the very least I have been swayed by consumerist exploitation, but the fact is that I do life differently since I was given the gift of an iPod. Proof of this is simple. Why else would I be taking it everywhere I go? Where else would I find so much of my growing music collection at my fingertips? How else would my treasured collection of hundreds of cds end up in my garage? How would I have listened to so many audio books, lectures and sermons? How could I be reading <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Søren_Kierkegaard">Soren Kierkegaard</a>’s, Fear and Trembling while listening to insights and commentary given in <a href="http://itunes.berkeley.edu/">lectures at UC Berkeley</a> by renown philosopher <a href="http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~hdreyfus/index.html">Hubert Dreyfus</a>? I could provide more examples and come up with the same conclusion. Why else would I have written this protracted post? “The iPod has changed my life!”dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-74709444591310852832007-01-14T14:29:00.000-08:002008-12-09T19:30:52.685-08:00Read by the Author....<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802829481/pericopae-20/002-9801704-8902466">Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading</a></b> <br /><strong>Lecture by <strong>Eugene H. Peterson</strong> at Calvin College</strong><br />(Reads the introduction to his book, see my <a href="http://pericopae.typepad.com/weblog/2006/04/index.html">April 2006 post</a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/RaqvREnENkI/AAAAAAAAABM/MxIXefzuWjI/s1600-h/peterson_114px.jpg"><a href="http://www.sonic.net/~drb/images/peterson.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/RaqvREnENkI/AAAAAAAAABM/MxIXefzuWjI/s400/peterson_114px.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020017442488071746" /></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_H._Peterson">Eugene H. Peterson</a>, now retired, was for many years James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He also served as founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. In addition to his widely acclaimed paraphrase of the New Testament, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1576834344?tag2=pericopae-20">The Message</a>," he has written many other books. His most recent book is entitled, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802828752?tag2=pericopae-20">Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places</a>", a conversation in spiritual theology.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.calvin.edu/january/2006/ram/20060124.ram">Listen to this lecture</a> (Requires <a href="http://www.calvin.edu/admin/webmanager/realplayer/">RealPlayer</a>)<br />dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-67091783062073985572007-01-12T23:05:00.000-08:002008-12-09T19:30:53.199-08:00An ongoing conversation....I was talking with a colleague at work the other day. I was excited about a book I had just finished reading and was trying to articulate some of its main points. In the book, The Powers that Be, Walter Wink explains his theology of nonviolence; more specifically what he calls “the myth of redemptive violence.” In an effort to keep the conversation short and get back to work I hurried through some of the details of the book. I’m not sure I was very clear, so I will take this time to be more specific. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385487525/pericopae-20"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/RaiGk0nENiI/AAAAAAAAAAw/N5rx40lyoDA/s400/powersthatbe.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5019409751860327970" /></a>Walter Wink’s book reflects an “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Theism">open view</a>” of God’s ongoing role with humankind and creation. Believing that the “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_theism_%28philosophy_of_religion%29">classical view</a>” of God’s providence over the affairs of humankind does not explain the problem of evil in individuals, nations, institutions and other areas of social reality. Wink believes that the Powers are inherently fixed into God’s system, whose human face is Jesus, but that God has self-limited himself (herself) by giving us freewill. The author affirms the importance of the Apostle Paul’s words about Jesus, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:15-17).<br /><br /><p>Wink believes power relationships between people, systems, institutions and structures are necessary and created for good; however he acknowledges that their authority or purposes can be perverted through the wrong choices of people. Ultimately, he says that we should resist the inducement to demonize those who do evil, believing that all Powers are salvageable or redeemable. He is particularly concerned about the invisible aspects of our institutions. “The Powers That Be are not then simply people and their institutions, as I had first thought; they also include the spirituality at the core of those institutions and structures” (4). Wink maintains that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel">Gospel</a> must extend beyond individual liberation to the transformation of the Powers in our societies, enabling them to do good rather than evil, helping them recover and live out their unique calling from God.<br /><br />The conversation shifted from thoughts about self-replicating systemic evil, national, and corporate violence to a discussion about individual evil. How do we learn to practice nonviolence in a culture that believes the myth of redemptive violence? My colleague said that his Buddhist teacher stressed the importance of guarding our words and thoughts, because our words always precede our actions. This reminded me of the now “bumper sticker” wisdom of postmodern philosopher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Derrida">Jacques Derrida</a>, “There is nothing outside the text.” This also relates to my understanding of the Buddhist teaching, “Life is illusion.” Without the text we would not know how to experience our world.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/080102918X/pericopae-20"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/RaiJT0nENjI/AAAAAAAAAA8/gzpecUsCpxA/s400/jsmith.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5019412758337435186" /></a>Philosopher <a href="http://www.calvin.edu/~jks4/">James K.A. Smith</a> says, “When Derrida claims that there is nothing outside the text, he means there is no reality that is not always already interpreted through the lens of language…Texts that require interpretation are not things that are inserted between me and the world; rather, the world is a kind of text requiring interpretation” (39).<br /><br />All this makes the description of Christ as the “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logos">Logos</a>” in the prologue to the Gospel of John more exciting, remembering that the Word is always previous. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 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 1:1-5).dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-75866455284675747742007-01-11T02:01:00.000-08:002008-12-09T19:30:53.362-08:00Wonder can’t be packaged....I was sitting with a friend in a booth at Marie Callender's restaurant. We hadn’t seen each other for a while because he lives in Europe, so I had driven to San Jose in order to spend some time with him while he was in the States. My friend works with an agency that seeks to develop relationships with local church leaders, providing encouragement and training in the area of church growth. He has a heart to serve, but was expressing the emotional feelings of burnout. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/078521223X/pericopae-20"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/RacQ1UnENgI/AAAAAAAAAAY/vCkZu-AsXhs/s400/tdekker.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5018998817979381250" /></a>Last year I read a book by Ted Dekker. In the book the author says that often it is new believers that are the most passionate about their faith but from the day of their confession they begin slipping into “the slumber of Christianity.” Many find that they have lost their passion and are only going through the motions. Somehow we lose our sense of gratitude, joy, and wonder.<br /><br />This was one of those times for my friend, but I could not wait to tell him how my life had changed since I had reconnected to faith in Jesus. Leo Tolstoy marveled at how faith and conversion turns a person around when he said, “Everything that was on my right side is now on my left.” This is where I found myself. I was filled with joy and experiencing wonder in the anticipation of what God was doing. I had been awakened from sleep. I was like a new convert trying to express the inexpressible. <br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_H._Peterson">Eugene Peterson</a> says, “It is not easy to convey a sense of wonder, let alone resurrection wonder, to another. It’s the very nature of wonder to catch us off guard, to circumvent expectations and assumptions. Wonder can’t be packaged, and it can’t be worked up. It requires some sense of being there and some sense of engagement.”dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-84092129486605973262006-12-17T16:48:00.000-08:002007-12-30T18:35:12.682-08:00visionary leaders and managers....I was looking at my bookshelf and noticing how many books on management and leadership I have. In consideration of the difference between visionary leaders and managers I find it interesting that the books I've read only speak of it as an either or situation.<br /><br />I think more attention should be given to the fact that leaders and managers are often the same person. In some cases doing one or the other poorly, but the point is that if you are going to be a significant leader of vision it is difficult to move forward without management and procedure in place. Without these things vision becomes a mere pep talk.<br /><br />It's been my experience that some of the best partnerships are a combination of these skills and gifts.<br /><br />Some of the most successful churches are those where the leaders have given administrative responsibilities to someone who is more capable.dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032571554763599087.post-2392308245010699252006-11-24T22:49:00.000-08:002008-12-09T19:30:53.797-08:00A vision we give to others....I recently heard a speaker talk about the importance of a person’s name. Jesus was a vision caster; he impacted the lives of his disciples by renaming them based on the vision of who they could be. Larry Crabb says, “A vision we give to others of who and what they could become has power when it echoes what the spirit has already spoken into their souls.”<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006066522X/pericopae-20"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vjP0ymLREW4/RacXbUnENhI/AAAAAAAAAAk/ieLEzDsjf_8/s400/leap.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5019006067884176914" /></a>Eugene Peterson tells a story about Martin Buber having said, "The greatest thing any person can do for another is to confirm the deepest thing in him, in her--to take the time and have the discernment to see what's most deeply there, most fully that person, and then confirm it by recognizing and encouraging it."<br /><br />Peterson stresses the importance of looking beyond surface appearances. "We have dealings with hundreds of people who take one look at us, make a snap judgement, and then slot us into a category so that they won't have to deal with us as persons. They treat us something less than we are; and if we're in constant association with them, we become less."dbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00337416399780503151noreply@blogger.com0