http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PBOlLJU_hk
If You Can't Have a Merry Christmas
Then a Melancholy One Will Have To Do
God Bless You Gentlemen
God Bless You
If You Can't Have a Merry Christmas
Then a Melancholy One Will Have To Do
Thursday, November 30, 2006
These Three Angels Are Dylan's Christmas Gift to Us Melancholics
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
When You've Only Got A Hundred Years to Live........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-YicWjgyXg
Go on and hug that old man.Because maybe you've only got a hundred years to live.....
Psalm 39:3-5 (King James Version)
3My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,4LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.5Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e0EQlQXoEo
YOU CAN RUN ON FOR A LONG TIME BUT
SOONER OR LATER GOD'S GONNA CUT YOU DOWN!
How Can We Hear God's Voice?
This was offered in response to the question by a person known as'tis' on Jenn's blog, Idle Rambling Thoughts (an excellent piece of work in its own right..check it out; Idle Rambling Thoughts ).
'Tis' has provided one of the best descriptions of what it means to hear from God that I have ever read. I am officially proclaiming it as one of my favourite quotations. I hope you find it instructive and inspiring.
"This type of question is usually reserved for theological exams and covers several pages, if not volumes. So, here is a brief sketch of what I think.............................. God works through power with, not power over. So, in that sense it makes it hard for me to think of God as speaking directions of any sort.
So how to know when God is speaking?
I think that I never quite know when God is active, except only through hindsight. There are moments of syncronicity that cannot be explained; things that come together for unknown reasons at the same time, nudges to do something I would normally not do, feelings of being filled with warmth and love. I understand these as Holy Spirit moments, of being touched by the Spirit of the Divine moving in and through us. This is usually felt in relationship with others.
Usually, when I sense the presence of the Divine it is actions of mercy, kindness, and love (moving me to be more open) or in instances of feeling utter despair and saddness (a feeling of comfort).
I don't experience God in language....that is I don't hear or know what God says, rather I experience the Divine embodied in the world, through others around me, in events and in creation. And of course, there are many times when I cannot sense the Divine in my life. I think by and large most of our lives are lived unaware of the Divine presence. Even monks and mystics who spend their lives trying to commune with GOd will tell you there are moments when we cannot see or feel God in our lives. It is part of being human."
tis
(thank you for the great thoughts 'tis')
'Tis' has provided one of the best descriptions of what it means to hear from God that I have ever read. I am officially proclaiming it as one of my favourite quotations. I hope you find it instructive and inspiring.
"This type of question is usually reserved for theological exams and covers several pages, if not volumes. So, here is a brief sketch of what I think.............................. God works through power with, not power over. So, in that sense it makes it hard for me to think of God as speaking directions of any sort.
So how to know when God is speaking?
I think that I never quite know when God is active, except only through hindsight. There are moments of syncronicity that cannot be explained; things that come together for unknown reasons at the same time, nudges to do something I would normally not do, feelings of being filled with warmth and love. I understand these as Holy Spirit moments, of being touched by the Spirit of the Divine moving in and through us. This is usually felt in relationship with others.
Usually, when I sense the presence of the Divine it is actions of mercy, kindness, and love (moving me to be more open) or in instances of feeling utter despair and saddness (a feeling of comfort).
I don't experience God in language....that is I don't hear or know what God says, rather I experience the Divine embodied in the world, through others around me, in events and in creation. And of course, there are many times when I cannot sense the Divine in my life. I think by and large most of our lives are lived unaware of the Divine presence. Even monks and mystics who spend their lives trying to commune with GOd will tell you there are moments when we cannot see or feel God in our lives. It is part of being human."
tis
(thank you for the great thoughts 'tis')
What the hell does God have in mind?
God's Loyal Opposition
God's tough love can be hard to take. But he provides the boot camp we need to be human.
By Frank Schaeffer
Writing fiction that reflects the gritty reality of a fallen world is not a crime. But sometimes it is treated as one.
I'm a writer who was raised evangelical. For the last seventeen years, I've lived my small spiritual struggle in the context of the Greek Orthodox Church. My writing includes sex, death, pain, and satire at the expense of people who are certain of things no one can prove. It is shaped by my experiences. Recently those experiences included having a Marine son at war.
God is a character in my new novel. He shows up as a foul-mouthed African-American Marine Corps drill instructor in a story--extruded from my worst nightmares--about a young Marine who is killed in Iraq and the aftermath for his family.
Some people believe that writers who are Christians should stick to writing books like “The Chronicles of Narnia." Maybe they can picture God better as a lion than as a DI who swears drinks and fights and trains young people to kill.
According to Christian teaching, we're made in "the image of God" and "God is love." But what is love?
If we read the book of Job, we see God strings a lot of people along and kills a few---all Job's children, for instance---before they have a clue that he cares. And when Job asks why, God tells him to mind his own business. This is not love as Oprah explains it, or as we like to think of it.
If we read the gospels, we see Jesus calling people snakes and/or filthy defiled bones in a tomb, which in Jesus’ time was as profane as yelling the expletive that begins with "mother" and ends with an abbreviated reference to sexual intercourse. We just don't feel the impact of Jesus' words because we're not the first century Pharisees being called "unclean" creatures. Perhaps God's love is sometimes closer to the love we find in the hearts of Marine Corps drill instructors than to the bland therapeutic definition we give it sometimes. Love leads from the front. We all die, so Christ showed us how to overcome death. We must suffer to learn humility, so our DI God provides the boot camp we call life and gives us the chance to earn the title of human--just as the DIs of Parris Island give their recruits the opportunity to earn the title of Marine.
God's love comes as a kick in the ass. Reality is a jolt to the senses, like when we first realize that our very existence makes us all killers. We live because other creatures die. But we filter out this reality for the same reason we'd rather buy our steaks in the supermarket than from a slaughterhouse reeking of blood.
Even when we wish for good things there is a dark side. When my Marine son went to war, every time I heard the words, "Today a Marine was killed," I prayed, "Please don't let it be John!" I knew I was really praying, "Let another father get the bad news."
Little is clear, let alone black and white. It turns out that steaks do come from slaughterhouses and even good prayers can be selfish. And in this world, if writing doesn't reflect paradox it is a lie. Telling only "nice stories"--about life, about religion--can be its own kind of lying.
Woody Allen was right--there is such a thing as loyal opposition to God. Asking tough questions is okay. Solomon knew all about this, as we see in the book of Ecclesiastes. If God didn't want us saying or thinking even despairing things like "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," he wouldn't have created writers.
Writing which reflects gritty reality is a way of exploring truth. Solomon just put into words the very reasonable question all writers worth their salt have been asking ever since: what the hell does God have in mind?
God's tough love can be hard to take. But he provides the boot camp we need to be human.
By Frank Schaeffer
Writing fiction that reflects the gritty reality of a fallen world is not a crime. But sometimes it is treated as one.
I'm a writer who was raised evangelical. For the last seventeen years, I've lived my small spiritual struggle in the context of the Greek Orthodox Church. My writing includes sex, death, pain, and satire at the expense of people who are certain of things no one can prove. It is shaped by my experiences. Recently those experiences included having a Marine son at war.
God is a character in my new novel. He shows up as a foul-mouthed African-American Marine Corps drill instructor in a story--extruded from my worst nightmares--about a young Marine who is killed in Iraq and the aftermath for his family.
Some people believe that writers who are Christians should stick to writing books like “The Chronicles of Narnia." Maybe they can picture God better as a lion than as a DI who swears drinks and fights and trains young people to kill.
According to Christian teaching, we're made in "the image of God" and "God is love." But what is love?
If we read the book of Job, we see God strings a lot of people along and kills a few---all Job's children, for instance---before they have a clue that he cares. And when Job asks why, God tells him to mind his own business. This is not love as Oprah explains it, or as we like to think of it.
If we read the gospels, we see Jesus calling people snakes and/or filthy defiled bones in a tomb, which in Jesus’ time was as profane as yelling the expletive that begins with "mother" and ends with an abbreviated reference to sexual intercourse. We just don't feel the impact of Jesus' words because we're not the first century Pharisees being called "unclean" creatures. Perhaps God's love is sometimes closer to the love we find in the hearts of Marine Corps drill instructors than to the bland therapeutic definition we give it sometimes. Love leads from the front. We all die, so Christ showed us how to overcome death. We must suffer to learn humility, so our DI God provides the boot camp we call life and gives us the chance to earn the title of human--just as the DIs of Parris Island give their recruits the opportunity to earn the title of Marine.
God's love comes as a kick in the ass. Reality is a jolt to the senses, like when we first realize that our very existence makes us all killers. We live because other creatures die. But we filter out this reality for the same reason we'd rather buy our steaks in the supermarket than from a slaughterhouse reeking of blood.
Even when we wish for good things there is a dark side. When my Marine son went to war, every time I heard the words, "Today a Marine was killed," I prayed, "Please don't let it be John!" I knew I was really praying, "Let another father get the bad news."
Little is clear, let alone black and white. It turns out that steaks do come from slaughterhouses and even good prayers can be selfish. And in this world, if writing doesn't reflect paradox it is a lie. Telling only "nice stories"--about life, about religion--can be its own kind of lying.
Woody Allen was right--there is such a thing as loyal opposition to God. Asking tough questions is okay. Solomon knew all about this, as we see in the book of Ecclesiastes. If God didn't want us saying or thinking even despairing things like "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," he wouldn't have created writers.
Writing which reflects gritty reality is a way of exploring truth. Solomon just put into words the very reasonable question all writers worth their salt have been asking ever since: what the hell does God have in mind?
Monday, November 27, 2006
John Stott Defines Evangelicalism
Ape's comments:
I like how John Stott subtly disengages the false premise that the Bible equals 'The Word of God' (aka Jesus) . Mr Stott elevates Christ over scripture without disrespecting the role of scripture as revealer of the Word of God.
I am also happy to hear that he encourages us to take up social justice and active love in the world.
All talk, prayer, study, preaching, verbal witness do not equal fulfillment of God's stated desire that we "Walk Humbly, Do Mercy and Love Justice".
Evangelism Plus
John Stott reflects on where we've been and where we're going.Interview by Tim Stafford posted 10/13/2006 09:10AMIn 2004, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote that if evangelicals chose a pope, they would likely select John Stott. Stott, 85, has been at the heart of evangelical renewal in the U.K. His books and biblical sermons have transfixed millions throughout the world. He has been involved in many important world councils and dialogues, not least as chair of the committees that drafted the Lausanne Covenant (1974) and the Manila Manifesto (1989)—two defining statements for evangelicals. For more than 35 years, he has devoted three months of every year to traveling the globe, with a particular emphasis on churches in the majority world. He is ideally suited to comment on evangelicals' past, present, and future. ct senior writer Tim Stafford interviewed him at his home in London.Related articles and links
As you see it, what is evangelicalism, and why does it matter?
An evangelical is a plain, ordinary Christian. We stand in the mainstream of historic, orthodox, biblical Christianity. So we can recite the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed without crossing our fingers. We believe in God the Father and in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit.Having said that, there are two particular things we like to emphasize: the concern for authority on the one hand and salvation on the other.For evangelical people, our authority is the God who has spoken supremely in Jesus Christ. And that is equally true of redemption or salvation. God has acted in and through Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinners.I think it's necessary for evangelicals to add that what God has said in Christ and in the biblical witness to Christ, and what God has done in and through Christ, are both, to use the Greek word, hapax—meaning once and for all. There is a finality about God's word in Christ, and there is a finality about God's work in Christ. To imagine that we could add a word to his word, or add a work to his work, is extremely derogatory to the unique glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You didn't mention the Bible, which would surprise some people.
I did, actually, but you didn't notice it. I said Christ and the biblical witness to Christ. But the really distinctive emphasis is on Christ. I want to shift conviction from a book, if you like, to a person. As Jesus himself said, the Scriptures bear witness to me. Their main function is to witness to Christ.
Part of your implication is that evangelicals are not to be a negatively inspired people. Our real focus ought to be the glory of Christ.
Our real focus ought to be the glory of Christ.I believe that very strongly. We believe in the authority of the Bible because Christ has endorsed its authority. He stands between the two testaments. As we look back to the Old Testament, he has endorsed it. As we look forward to the New Testament, we accept it because of the apostolic witness to Christ. He deliberately chose and appointed and prepared the apostles, in order that they might have their unique apostolic witness to him. I like to see Christ in the middle, endorsing the old, preparing for the new. Although the question of the New Testament canon is complicated, in general we are able to say that canonicity is apostolicity.
How has the position of evangelicals changed during your years of ministry?
I look back—it's been 61 years since I was ordained—and when I was ordained in the Church of England, evangelicals in the Church of England were a despised and rejected minority. The bishops lost no opportunity to ridicule us. Over the intervening 60 years, I've seen the evangelical movement in England grow in size, in maturity, certainly in scholarship, and therefore I think in influence and impact. We went from a ghetto to being on the ascendancy, which is a very dangerous place to be.
Can you comment on the dangers?
Pride is the ever-present danger that faces all of us. In many ways, it is good for us to be despised and rejected. I think of Jesus' words, "Woe unto you when all men speak well of you.".......................
You know our growing church probably as well as any Westerner does. I wonder how you evaluate it.
The answer is "growth without depth." None of us wants to dispute the extraordinary growth of the church. But it has been largely numerical and statistical growth. And there has not been sufficient growth in discipleship that is comparable to the growth in numbers.....................
What about what some call the greatest mission field, which is our own secularizing or secularized culture? What do we need to do to reach this increasingly pagan society?
I think we need to say to one another that it's not so secular as it looks. I believe that these so-called secular people are engaged in a quest for at least three things. The first is transcendence. It's interesting in a so-called secular culture how many people are looking for something beyond. I find that a great challenge to the quality of our Christian worship. Does it offer people what they are instinctively looking for, which is transcendence, the reality of God?The second is significance. Almost everybody is looking for his or her own personal identity. Who am I, where do I come from, where am I going to, what is it all about? That is a challenge to the quality of our Christian teaching. We need to teach people who they are. They don't know who they are. We do. They are human beings made in the image of God, although that image has been defaced.And third is their quest for community. Everywhere, people are looking for community, for relationships of love. This is a challenge to our fellowship. I'm very fond of 1 John 4:12: "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us." The invisibility of God is a great problem to people. The question is how has God solved the problem of his own invisibility? First, Christ has made the invisible God visible. That's John's Gospel 1:18: "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known."People say that's wonderful, but it was 2,000 years ago. So in 1 John 4:12, he begins with exactly the same formula, nobody has ever seen God. But here John goes on, "If we love one another, God abides in us." The same invisible God who once made himself visible in Jesus now makes himself visible in the Christian community, if we love one another. And all the verbal proclamation of the gospel is of little value unless it is made by a community of love.
These three things about our humanity are on our side in our evangelism, because people are looking for the very things we have to offer them.And therefore you're not despairing of the West.
I'm not despairing. But I believe that evangelism is specially through the local church, through the community, rather than through the individual. That the church should be an alternative society, a visible sign of the kingdom. And the tragedy is that our local churches often don't seem to manifest community.............
Where do we evangelicals need to go?
We've been through quite a trip in the last 50 years. My immediate answer is that we need to go beyond evangelism. Evangelism is supposed to be evangelicals' specialty. Now, I am totally committed to world evangelization. But we must look beyond evangelism to the transforming power of the gospel, both in individuals and in society. With regard to individuals, I'm noting in different expressions of the evangelical faith an absence of that quest for holiness that marked our forebears, who founded the Keswick movement, for example, and the quest for what they sometimes called scriptural holiness or practical holiness. Somehow holiness has a rather sanctimonious feel to it. People don't like to be described as holy. But the holiness of the New Testament is Christlikeness. I wish that the whole evangelical movement could consciously set before us the desire to grow in Christlikeness such as is described in Galatians 5:22-23.
Regarding social transformation, I've reflected a great deal on the salt and light metaphors, the models that Jesus himself chose in Matthew 5 in the Sermon on the Mount. "You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world." It seems to me that those models must be said to contain at least three things.First, that Christians are radically different from non-Christians, or if they are not, they ought to be. Jesus sets over against each other two communities. On the one hand there is the world, and on the other hand there is you, who are the dark world's light. Jesus implied that we are as different as light from darkness and salt from decay.
Second, Christians must permeate non-Christian society. Salt does no good if it stays in the saltshaker. Light does no good if you hide it under a bed or bucket. It has to permeate the darkness. So both metaphors call us not just to be different, but to permeate society.
The third, the more controversial implication, is that the salt and light metaphors indicate that Christians can change non-Christian society. The models must mean that, because both salt and light are effective commodities. They change the environments in which they are placed. Salt hinders bacterial decay. Light dispels darkness. This is not to resurrect the social gospel. We cannot perfect society. But we can improve it.
My hope is that in the future, evangelical leaders will ensure that their social agenda includes such vital but controversial topics as halting climate change, eradicating poverty, abolishing armories of mass destruction, responding adequately to the AIDS pandemic, and asserting the human rights of women and children in all cultures. I hope our agenda does not remain too narrow.
I like how John Stott subtly disengages the false premise that the Bible equals 'The Word of God' (aka Jesus) . Mr Stott elevates Christ over scripture without disrespecting the role of scripture as revealer of the Word of God.
I am also happy to hear that he encourages us to take up social justice and active love in the world.
All talk, prayer, study, preaching, verbal witness do not equal fulfillment of God's stated desire that we "Walk Humbly, Do Mercy and Love Justice".
Evangelism Plus
John Stott reflects on where we've been and where we're going.Interview by Tim Stafford posted 10/13/2006 09:10AMIn 2004, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote that if evangelicals chose a pope, they would likely select John Stott. Stott, 85, has been at the heart of evangelical renewal in the U.K. His books and biblical sermons have transfixed millions throughout the world. He has been involved in many important world councils and dialogues, not least as chair of the committees that drafted the Lausanne Covenant (1974) and the Manila Manifesto (1989)—two defining statements for evangelicals. For more than 35 years, he has devoted three months of every year to traveling the globe, with a particular emphasis on churches in the majority world. He is ideally suited to comment on evangelicals' past, present, and future. ct senior writer Tim Stafford interviewed him at his home in London.Related articles and links
As you see it, what is evangelicalism, and why does it matter?
An evangelical is a plain, ordinary Christian. We stand in the mainstream of historic, orthodox, biblical Christianity. So we can recite the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed without crossing our fingers. We believe in God the Father and in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit.Having said that, there are two particular things we like to emphasize: the concern for authority on the one hand and salvation on the other.For evangelical people, our authority is the God who has spoken supremely in Jesus Christ. And that is equally true of redemption or salvation. God has acted in and through Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinners.I think it's necessary for evangelicals to add that what God has said in Christ and in the biblical witness to Christ, and what God has done in and through Christ, are both, to use the Greek word, hapax—meaning once and for all. There is a finality about God's word in Christ, and there is a finality about God's work in Christ. To imagine that we could add a word to his word, or add a work to his work, is extremely derogatory to the unique glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You didn't mention the Bible, which would surprise some people.
I did, actually, but you didn't notice it. I said Christ and the biblical witness to Christ. But the really distinctive emphasis is on Christ. I want to shift conviction from a book, if you like, to a person. As Jesus himself said, the Scriptures bear witness to me. Their main function is to witness to Christ.
Part of your implication is that evangelicals are not to be a negatively inspired people. Our real focus ought to be the glory of Christ.
Our real focus ought to be the glory of Christ.I believe that very strongly. We believe in the authority of the Bible because Christ has endorsed its authority. He stands between the two testaments. As we look back to the Old Testament, he has endorsed it. As we look forward to the New Testament, we accept it because of the apostolic witness to Christ. He deliberately chose and appointed and prepared the apostles, in order that they might have their unique apostolic witness to him. I like to see Christ in the middle, endorsing the old, preparing for the new. Although the question of the New Testament canon is complicated, in general we are able to say that canonicity is apostolicity.
How has the position of evangelicals changed during your years of ministry?
I look back—it's been 61 years since I was ordained—and when I was ordained in the Church of England, evangelicals in the Church of England were a despised and rejected minority. The bishops lost no opportunity to ridicule us. Over the intervening 60 years, I've seen the evangelical movement in England grow in size, in maturity, certainly in scholarship, and therefore I think in influence and impact. We went from a ghetto to being on the ascendancy, which is a very dangerous place to be.
Can you comment on the dangers?
Pride is the ever-present danger that faces all of us. In many ways, it is good for us to be despised and rejected. I think of Jesus' words, "Woe unto you when all men speak well of you.".......................
You know our growing church probably as well as any Westerner does. I wonder how you evaluate it.
The answer is "growth without depth." None of us wants to dispute the extraordinary growth of the church. But it has been largely numerical and statistical growth. And there has not been sufficient growth in discipleship that is comparable to the growth in numbers.....................
What about what some call the greatest mission field, which is our own secularizing or secularized culture? What do we need to do to reach this increasingly pagan society?
I think we need to say to one another that it's not so secular as it looks. I believe that these so-called secular people are engaged in a quest for at least three things. The first is transcendence. It's interesting in a so-called secular culture how many people are looking for something beyond. I find that a great challenge to the quality of our Christian worship. Does it offer people what they are instinctively looking for, which is transcendence, the reality of God?The second is significance. Almost everybody is looking for his or her own personal identity. Who am I, where do I come from, where am I going to, what is it all about? That is a challenge to the quality of our Christian teaching. We need to teach people who they are. They don't know who they are. We do. They are human beings made in the image of God, although that image has been defaced.And third is their quest for community. Everywhere, people are looking for community, for relationships of love. This is a challenge to our fellowship. I'm very fond of 1 John 4:12: "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us." The invisibility of God is a great problem to people. The question is how has God solved the problem of his own invisibility? First, Christ has made the invisible God visible. That's John's Gospel 1:18: "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known."People say that's wonderful, but it was 2,000 years ago. So in 1 John 4:12, he begins with exactly the same formula, nobody has ever seen God. But here John goes on, "If we love one another, God abides in us." The same invisible God who once made himself visible in Jesus now makes himself visible in the Christian community, if we love one another. And all the verbal proclamation of the gospel is of little value unless it is made by a community of love.
These three things about our humanity are on our side in our evangelism, because people are looking for the very things we have to offer them.And therefore you're not despairing of the West.
I'm not despairing. But I believe that evangelism is specially through the local church, through the community, rather than through the individual. That the church should be an alternative society, a visible sign of the kingdom. And the tragedy is that our local churches often don't seem to manifest community.............
Where do we evangelicals need to go?
We've been through quite a trip in the last 50 years. My immediate answer is that we need to go beyond evangelism. Evangelism is supposed to be evangelicals' specialty. Now, I am totally committed to world evangelization. But we must look beyond evangelism to the transforming power of the gospel, both in individuals and in society. With regard to individuals, I'm noting in different expressions of the evangelical faith an absence of that quest for holiness that marked our forebears, who founded the Keswick movement, for example, and the quest for what they sometimes called scriptural holiness or practical holiness. Somehow holiness has a rather sanctimonious feel to it. People don't like to be described as holy. But the holiness of the New Testament is Christlikeness. I wish that the whole evangelical movement could consciously set before us the desire to grow in Christlikeness such as is described in Galatians 5:22-23.
Regarding social transformation, I've reflected a great deal on the salt and light metaphors, the models that Jesus himself chose in Matthew 5 in the Sermon on the Mount. "You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world." It seems to me that those models must be said to contain at least three things.First, that Christians are radically different from non-Christians, or if they are not, they ought to be. Jesus sets over against each other two communities. On the one hand there is the world, and on the other hand there is you, who are the dark world's light. Jesus implied that we are as different as light from darkness and salt from decay.
Second, Christians must permeate non-Christian society. Salt does no good if it stays in the saltshaker. Light does no good if you hide it under a bed or bucket. It has to permeate the darkness. So both metaphors call us not just to be different, but to permeate society.
The third, the more controversial implication, is that the salt and light metaphors indicate that Christians can change non-Christian society. The models must mean that, because both salt and light are effective commodities. They change the environments in which they are placed. Salt hinders bacterial decay. Light dispels darkness. This is not to resurrect the social gospel. We cannot perfect society. But we can improve it.
My hope is that in the future, evangelical leaders will ensure that their social agenda includes such vital but controversial topics as halting climate change, eradicating poverty, abolishing armories of mass destruction, responding adequately to the AIDS pandemic, and asserting the human rights of women and children in all cultures. I hope our agenda does not remain too narrow.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Rule of St. Benedict
LET ALL GUESTS who arrive be received like Christ, for he is going to say, "I came as a guest, and you received me." Rule of St. Benedict
ACCORDING TO PAUL, it was not truly the Lord's Supper unless everyone from any social status ate it together, signifying equal inclusion. Bread and wine eaten in the context of a full meal also symbolize care for the poor, for when all eat together, there are no needy.
Reta Halteman Finger, "An Instinct for Community"
IF WE CANNOT see God in the commonalities that constitute daily life, we would not recognize Christ if he walked into the room and sat down beside us.
DON C. SKINNER, A Passage through Sacred History
Every Christian community must know that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the community.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Community is first and foremost a gift of the Holy Spirit, not built upon mutual compatibility, shared affection, or common interests but upon having received the same divine breath, having been given a heart set aflame by the same divine fire, and having been embraced by the same divine love. - Henri Nouwen
If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. - Isaiah 58:9-10
ACCORDING TO PAUL, it was not truly the Lord's Supper unless everyone from any social status ate it together, signifying equal inclusion. Bread and wine eaten in the context of a full meal also symbolize care for the poor, for when all eat together, there are no needy.
Reta Halteman Finger, "An Instinct for Community"
IF WE CANNOT see God in the commonalities that constitute daily life, we would not recognize Christ if he walked into the room and sat down beside us.
DON C. SKINNER, A Passage through Sacred History
Every Christian community must know that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the community.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Community is first and foremost a gift of the Holy Spirit, not built upon mutual compatibility, shared affection, or common interests but upon having received the same divine breath, having been given a heart set aflame by the same divine fire, and having been embraced by the same divine love. - Henri Nouwen
If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. - Isaiah 58:9-10
Friday, November 24, 2006
Thursday, November 23, 2006
The Amazing Grace of Rick and Dick Hoyt
(Beautiful People Series)
DON'T MISS THIS VIDEO
it will rend your heart and make you believe that perhaps, just perhaps love is at the centre of the universe and it is the most powerful and important thing we will ever know...........and it is enough!
Be sure to visit Team Hoyt at
http://www.teamhoyt.com/
and support The Hoyt Foundation if you can.
DON'T MISS THIS VIDEO
it will rend your heart and make you believe that perhaps, just perhaps love is at the centre of the universe and it is the most powerful and important thing we will ever know...........and it is enough!
Be sure to visit Team Hoyt at
http://www.teamhoyt.com/
and support The Hoyt Foundation if you can.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Punk News on Johnny Cash's Death (R2E's beautiful people series)
The Man in Black, singer Johnny Cash has died at age 71. Cash's career in music spanned 6 decades. He died from complications arising from diabetes at 1 AM EST today at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, TN. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends. Cash's legacy and influence is impossible to measure and touched all corners of the musical spectrum. Thanks to all of you who submitted this news, there sure were a lot of you.
In Memoriam: Johnny Cash: 1932-2003
Posted by adam on Friday, September 12, 2003 at 9:33 AM (EDT)
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the time
Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,'
Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black
This was a real man of GodNever perfect
Always real
I have see only a few
in my lifetime
I pray we will see more.......
Johnny Cash: 1932-2003
J.C. Has Busted Out of His Rusty Cage and He Runs
Now that Johnny has boarded the 309
he can tell Death, the Devil and Sun Records Where to Get Off!
(and he has)
Rest in Peace
Hurt
There is no mystery so great as misery
The Happy Prince
There is no music video so great as
Hurt by Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin
See it now and know you are not alone.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go
I BELIEVE IN THE KINGDOM COME but i still haven't found what i'm looking for
by U2
(If Martina is my Thomas Aquinas
Bono is my St. Augustine)
I have climbed highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing
in her fingertips
It burned like fire
This burning desire
I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
I believe in the kingdom come
Then all the colors
will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well yes Im still running
You broke the bonds
and youLoosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Of my shame
You know I believed it
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
But I still havent found
what Im looking for...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryqUE_2D65I
Someday all truth will be God's truth. It just won't be quite what any of us expected. But of this I am confident, when all colours do bleed into ONE, that ONE will be revealed on a cross.
(If Martina is my Thomas Aquinas
Bono is my St. Augustine)
I have climbed highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing
in her fingertips
It burned like fire
This burning desire
I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
I believe in the kingdom come
Then all the colors
will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well yes Im still running
You broke the bonds
and youLoosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Of my shame
You know I believed it
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
But I still havent found
what Im looking for
But I still havent found
what Im looking for...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryqUE_2D65I
Someday all truth will be God's truth. It just won't be quite what any of us expected. But of this I am confident, when all colours do bleed into ONE, that ONE will be revealed on a cross.
Love is a Temple, Love's a Higher Law
We are one but we are not the same
We 'GET' to carry each other
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jag_CtwE-v8
I can't emphasize it enough
we don't 'have' to carry each other
we 'GET' to carry each other
that means
You Too!
We 'GET' to carry each other
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jag_CtwE-v8
I can't emphasize it enough
we don't 'have' to carry each other
we 'GET' to carry each other
that means
You Too!
Love's The Only House Big Enough For All The Pain In The World
In case you haven't figured it out....Martina McBride is one of my favourite Theologians
God Bless you good ol'country gal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVu3_xiJbQo
God Bless you good ol'country gal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVu3_xiJbQo
God's Will
It comes to us dressed as a bag of leaves
limping in a brace
wheeling in a chair
speaking with a lisp
being singled out for a joke
never being picked to play ball
be being told that if they kiss a tree
they can come to the party
but never getting invited
even after they embrace a forest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhLMJfTDNw4
Do You Know God's Will?
What did you do when you met him?
One Thing
WHAT REALLY COUNTS in life is that at some time you have seen something, felt something, which is so great, so matchless, that everything else is nothing by comparison, that even if you forgot everything, you would never forget this.
Søren Kierkegaard, Journals and Papers
What would be that one thing that you'd trade it all away for?
Matthew 16:26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Is this a live question for you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMn5UhxzE-w
Søren Kierkegaard, Journals and Papers
What would be that one thing that you'd trade it all away for?
Matthew 16:26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Is this a live question for you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMn5UhxzE-w
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
You Can Run On For A Long Time But........
Truth Telling
Few Did It Better Than You J.C.
We Miss You
Now That You've Taken That Ride on the 309
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e0EQlQXoEo
.....sooner or later God'll cut you down!
Psalm 39:3-5 (King James Version)
3My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
4LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.
5Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
Monday, November 20, 2006
This One's For You STAG
Kaj Munk (1898-1944) - Kaj Harald Leininger Petersen Danish playwright and priest, whose outspoken, passionately patriotic sermons during World War II led to his being killed by the Nazis.
Munk helped revitalize the Danish theatre by his rejection of the naturalistic drama in favor of the more spiritually oriented plays. Dominant features in Munk's writings were his deep Christian faith and admiration for the strong-willed man of action.
Quote:
"What is the task of the preacher (or the church) today?
Shall I answer: "Faith, hope and love"?
That sounds beautiful.
But I would say -- Courage.
No, even that is not challenging enough
to be the whole truth.
Our task today is recklessness.
For what we Christians lack
is not psychology or literature,
We lack a holy rage.
The recklessness that comes
from the knowledge of God and humanity.
The ability to rage when
justice lies prostrate on the streets . .
and when the lie rages across the face of the earth
--a holy anger about things that are wrong in the world.
To rage against the ravaging of God's earth,
and the destruction of God's world.
To rage when little children must die of hunger,
when the tables of the rich are sagging with food.
To rage at senseless killing of so many,
and against the madness of the militaries.
To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death
and the strategy ofdestruction -- peace.
To rage against complacency.
To restlessly seek that recklessness
that will challenge and seek to change
human history until it conforms
with the norms of the kingdom ofGod.
And remember the signs of the Christian church have always been --the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove and the Fish (Editor's note. Perhaps the STAG? as well)--but never the chameleon."
Kaj Munk<http://www.kevinburt.typepad.com/> Quoted in EXILES by Michael Frost
Munk helped revitalize the Danish theatre by his rejection of the naturalistic drama in favor of the more spiritually oriented plays. Dominant features in Munk's writings were his deep Christian faith and admiration for the strong-willed man of action.
Quote:
"What is the task of the preacher (or the church) today?
Shall I answer: "Faith, hope and love"?
That sounds beautiful.
But I would say -- Courage.
No, even that is not challenging enough
to be the whole truth.
Our task today is recklessness.
For what we Christians lack
is not psychology or literature,
We lack a holy rage.
The recklessness that comes
from the knowledge of God and humanity.
The ability to rage when
justice lies prostrate on the streets . .
and when the lie rages across the face of the earth
--a holy anger about things that are wrong in the world.
To rage against the ravaging of God's earth,
and the destruction of God's world.
To rage when little children must die of hunger,
when the tables of the rich are sagging with food.
To rage at senseless killing of so many,
and against the madness of the militaries.
To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death
and the strategy ofdestruction -- peace.
To rage against complacency.
To restlessly seek that recklessness
that will challenge and seek to change
human history until it conforms
with the norms of the kingdom ofGod.
And remember the signs of the Christian church have always been --the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove and the Fish (Editor's note. Perhaps the STAG? as well)--but never the chameleon."
Kaj Munk<http://www.kevinburt.typepad.com/> Quoted in EXILES by Michael Frost
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote this while awaiting execution in a Nazi prison.
"Nothing that we despise in the other man is entirely absent from ourselves," We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer."
Sunday, November 19, 2006
A New Christianity
A New Christianity
"The task before Western civilization today . . . is the greatest [our] civilization has ever faced. It is a complete reconstruction that is demanded. . .
"Nothing but Christianity can carry the Western peoples through this unparalleled crisis. But it must be Christianity in its purity and its fullness, not a Christianity wasting its energy on doctrinal controversy, broken by denominational divisions, or absorbed in taking care of its machinery. It must, in short, be a Christianity neither intellectualized, nor sectarianized, nor institutionalized.
"It must be a Christianity, born as at the first, in the hearts of the common people, simple, democratic, brotherly: like a tree, its top in the sky but its roots deep in common earth; treating institutions, even the most venerable, as the mere temporary contrivances that they are; with the faith of Jesus in the human heart and in the ultimate triumph of love, and a willingness, like His, to find a throne in a cross." [Salem Bland, The New Christianity, 1920!! ]
I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.... Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
- Amos 5:21-24
"The task before Western civilization today . . . is the greatest [our] civilization has ever faced. It is a complete reconstruction that is demanded. . .
"Nothing but Christianity can carry the Western peoples through this unparalleled crisis. But it must be Christianity in its purity and its fullness, not a Christianity wasting its energy on doctrinal controversy, broken by denominational divisions, or absorbed in taking care of its machinery. It must, in short, be a Christianity neither intellectualized, nor sectarianized, nor institutionalized.
"It must be a Christianity, born as at the first, in the hearts of the common people, simple, democratic, brotherly: like a tree, its top in the sky but its roots deep in common earth; treating institutions, even the most venerable, as the mere temporary contrivances that they are; with the faith of Jesus in the human heart and in the ultimate triumph of love, and a willingness, like His, to find a throne in a cross." [Salem Bland, The New Christianity, 1920!! ]
I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.... Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
- Amos 5:21-24
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Ugly Betty/Beautiful Betty? You decide!
Taken from paradoxum a mystical place where
'a gentle tongue can break bones' ~ king solomon
be sure to visit someday
Betty Joyce...
"...the Iroquois Indians attributed divinity to retarded children, gave them an honored place in the tribe, and treated them as gods. In their unselfconscious freedom they were a transparent window into the Great Spirit - into the heart of Jesus Christ who loves us as we are and not as we should be, in the state of grace or disgrace, beyond caution, boundary, regret, or breaking point."
In that moment on the airplane, after reading those lines, it struck me...
Betty Joyce was an icon of Jesus Christ.
I first met Betty Joyce when I was a young boy...probably 8 or 9 years old. She lived with her parents in a house that abutted our churches parking lot. My family lived in a parsonage on the other side of the parking lot so we were backyard neighbors...kind of. Betty Joyce lived with her parents...Betty was mentally handicapped............
(Read rest of post at
http://www.paradoxum.squarespace.com/journal/2006/5/26/betty-joyce.html)
That was a wonderful post. I had heard from Native artist, Bill Brissette, that some native people revered developmentally disabled children. Bill created a beautiful painting of my son Josh (20 years old in body 1 year old in mind, infinite in spirit). Bill took a scribble that Joshua had made on a canvas and developed a painting that told a wonderful story. It showed an empty cross with a blood soaked cloth drapped over the arm (my son's scribble was the outline of the cloth). Joshua was dressed in buckskin, sitting in a rickety wooden wheelchair (circa 1860), an arm reached past the cross to my son and was gently lifting him to his feet. It spoke to me about Jesus reaching across barriers of time, space, culture, race, disability and prejudice and false valuations of all kinds. I thot that was so true. Jesus has come to erase the barriers and to make us accept and love one another as Betty Joyce modeled so powerfully for you.
Sadly instead of taking down the dividing wall, we (the church) have erected new barriers and walls of condemantion and exclusion.
We need to rediscover Jesus in the least of these, that will be redemption.
Thank you Frank for introducing me to Betty.
She and her story are beautiful to me.
'a gentle tongue can break bones' ~ king solomon
be sure to visit someday
Betty Joyce...
"...the Iroquois Indians attributed divinity to retarded children, gave them an honored place in the tribe, and treated them as gods. In their unselfconscious freedom they were a transparent window into the Great Spirit - into the heart of Jesus Christ who loves us as we are and not as we should be, in the state of grace or disgrace, beyond caution, boundary, regret, or breaking point."
In that moment on the airplane, after reading those lines, it struck me...
Betty Joyce was an icon of Jesus Christ.
I first met Betty Joyce when I was a young boy...probably 8 or 9 years old. She lived with her parents in a house that abutted our churches parking lot. My family lived in a parsonage on the other side of the parking lot so we were backyard neighbors...kind of. Betty Joyce lived with her parents...Betty was mentally handicapped............
(Read rest of post at
http://www.paradoxum.squarespace.com/journal/2006/5/26/betty-joyce.html)
That was a wonderful post. I had heard from Native artist, Bill Brissette, that some native people revered developmentally disabled children. Bill created a beautiful painting of my son Josh (20 years old in body 1 year old in mind, infinite in spirit). Bill took a scribble that Joshua had made on a canvas and developed a painting that told a wonderful story. It showed an empty cross with a blood soaked cloth drapped over the arm (my son's scribble was the outline of the cloth). Joshua was dressed in buckskin, sitting in a rickety wooden wheelchair (circa 1860), an arm reached past the cross to my son and was gently lifting him to his feet. It spoke to me about Jesus reaching across barriers of time, space, culture, race, disability and prejudice and false valuations of all kinds. I thot that was so true. Jesus has come to erase the barriers and to make us accept and love one another as Betty Joyce modeled so powerfully for you.
Sadly instead of taking down the dividing wall, we (the church) have erected new barriers and walls of condemantion and exclusion.
We need to rediscover Jesus in the least of these, that will be redemption.
Thank you Frank for introducing me to Betty.
She and her story are beautiful to me.
Monday, November 13, 2006
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE CHURCH?
My pastor surprised me a few months back. He told a story about someone asking Billy Graham what was the biggest problem in the church today and without a minute's hesitation Billy replied 'Racism'. My pastor said he didn't understand the comment until he went to speak at a black church in Florida. Something clicked and he is a convert now.
I personally think my pastor has one tiny step to take and he will be into the blue sky of truth.
What is at the base of racism is a false sense of pride and superiority and a perverted need to think of ourselves as better than someone else.
People with disabilities of all kinds aren't victims of racism but they are victims of perverted pride and rejection by the 'in-crowd'.
If the problem at root of all the churches struggles was defined as prejudice of any kind (and not just the specific and particularily ugly kind called racism) I would say Billy G. and my pastor have it just about right.
So to all you who want to improve the church please keep loving and including the eccentric, the different, the outcast, the challenged and the challenging of all sorts. They are the cure to the disease of false valuations and prejudice that is so common in our 'In Crowd' church culture.
I personally think my pastor has one tiny step to take and he will be into the blue sky of truth.
What is at the base of racism is a false sense of pride and superiority and a perverted need to think of ourselves as better than someone else.
People with disabilities of all kinds aren't victims of racism but they are victims of perverted pride and rejection by the 'in-crowd'.
If the problem at root of all the churches struggles was defined as prejudice of any kind (and not just the specific and particularily ugly kind called racism) I would say Billy G. and my pastor have it just about right.
So to all you who want to improve the church please keep loving and including the eccentric, the different, the outcast, the challenged and the challenging of all sorts. They are the cure to the disease of false valuations and prejudice that is so common in our 'In Crowd' church culture.
LH
We Make Jesus Ugly
This is from a young lady struggling to be an authentic follower of Jesus.
I think she is in a stream of thought and practice that God would like to see become a transforming torrent.
I believe that if we begin to think act and live in the way explained in this post we will see a sweeping revival of faith in North America no less powerful or important than the earlier Great Awakenings in American history.
Solidaridad
"The point here is that it is very easy for us to confuse our own ideas of glory, with those of god.
And so Jesus pretty much says; if how we are living privileges us over others; if how we are living excludes others; if how we are participating in the world makes it so that others cannot also fully participate; then we are like the tyrants, we are not like Jesus - Because Jesus came not to be served, but to serve.
So, I am trying to be a Christian.
I want to be a Christian because even though we clearly fall short;
even though week after week we hear Jesus' good news and manage to make it bad news for so many;
even though, like the disciples, we seem to just not get it...I want to live my life, I want it to be shaped according to an ideal that is good news to the world.
On a practical level, we have to start by asking - how do we make Jesus ugly? How do people say that Christians make Jesus ugly?
It's a pretty easy question to answer: we make Jesus ugly when we exclude; we make Jesus ugly when we define Christianity in strict rigid ways that basically function to determine who's in and who's out; we make Jesus ugly when instead of treating each other as people of sacred worth, we condemn and dehumanize one another.
We know the ways we make Jesus ugly - we must instead focus on what Jesus calls us to participate in.
Jesus calls us to participate in a world, a system, a glory, that includes and welcomes those who would be excluded. A glory that loves those who would be hated; that makes first, those who would be perceived to be last.
Jesus calls us to participate in a system that works.
It loves and serves all, not just some.
If we can focus on trying to look more like Jesus, and stop trying to make Jesus look more like us - then as Christians we won't be a people that make Jesus ugly, but we will instead be people who participate with Jesus in being good news to the world. "
Read full post here
http://marydaly.blogspot.com/2006/11/we-make-jesus-ugly-reflections-i-gave_05.html
I think she is in a stream of thought and practice that God would like to see become a transforming torrent.
I believe that if we begin to think act and live in the way explained in this post we will see a sweeping revival of faith in North America no less powerful or important than the earlier Great Awakenings in American history.
Solidaridad
"The point here is that it is very easy for us to confuse our own ideas of glory, with those of god.
And so Jesus pretty much says; if how we are living privileges us over others; if how we are living excludes others; if how we are participating in the world makes it so that others cannot also fully participate; then we are like the tyrants, we are not like Jesus - Because Jesus came not to be served, but to serve.
So, I am trying to be a Christian.
I want to be a Christian because even though we clearly fall short;
even though week after week we hear Jesus' good news and manage to make it bad news for so many;
even though, like the disciples, we seem to just not get it...I want to live my life, I want it to be shaped according to an ideal that is good news to the world.
On a practical level, we have to start by asking - how do we make Jesus ugly? How do people say that Christians make Jesus ugly?
It's a pretty easy question to answer: we make Jesus ugly when we exclude; we make Jesus ugly when we define Christianity in strict rigid ways that basically function to determine who's in and who's out; we make Jesus ugly when instead of treating each other as people of sacred worth, we condemn and dehumanize one another.
We know the ways we make Jesus ugly - we must instead focus on what Jesus calls us to participate in.
Jesus calls us to participate in a world, a system, a glory, that includes and welcomes those who would be excluded. A glory that loves those who would be hated; that makes first, those who would be perceived to be last.
Jesus calls us to participate in a system that works.
It loves and serves all, not just some.
If we can focus on trying to look more like Jesus, and stop trying to make Jesus look more like us - then as Christians we won't be a people that make Jesus ugly, but we will instead be people who participate with Jesus in being good news to the world. "
Read full post here
http://marydaly.blogspot.com/2006/11/we-make-jesus-ugly-reflections-i-gave_05.html
Friday, November 10, 2006
The Tyranny of Normalcy
This post is from a Blog called Idle Rambling Thoughts of an Abstract Thinker (a wonderfully creative and self deprecating name given to a thoroughly wonderful and creative blog. Check it out sometime http://whatbox.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_whatbox_archive.html)
This reprinted post gives profound insight into the pain that is experienced by parents of children who are different in any significant and noticeable way.
Please read it and weep with people who love those who are seen and treated as being different, 'not normal'. Too often these people are singled out for unfair and hurtful responses from others who are desperate to establish their own standing in the hierarchy of the tyrannical and unChristlike Kingdom of 'Normality'.
My friend David Watson, whom you have read about in earlier posts, often asks in words almost unrecognizable by even those who know him well;
"WHAT IS NORMAL?" which being translated means, "WHAT IS NORMAL?"
http://impossibleape.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_impossibleape_archive.html
Here is Jenn's moving post form Idle Thoughts Blog.
If we learned to be open and affirming to everyone, especially the weak and the outcast, we would be closer to living in the Kingdom that Jesus came to deliver to us.
The Most Dangerous Place In the World Is Between a Mother and Her Child
"Friday night a terrible thing happened. I'll spare you all the crummy details, but in a nutshell Noelle crashed a birthday party for a little girl she considers to be her best friend. When we were in Hilton Head, Noelle spent time picking out the perfect birthday present for this girl. She was not invited to the party, but found out that it was going on and, since the girl hosting it lives on our street, Noelle took her present up there to give to this 'friend'. (I wasn't home at the time.)
Now, maybe it's just me, but I am of the opinion that any normal mother would have invited Noelle in and told her child that she is going to be nice and gracious. But this mother is not normal. Suffice it to say that Noelle was not invited in, and the birthday girl HID inside from her while the other party guests stood around laughing their snobby little asses off.
Two years ago, this little girl told Noelle that if she kissed a tree she could come to her party. Of course Noelle did it, and of course she wasn't invited. Then another girl told her to stand up on a table at school and sing some stupid song and she could come to her party. Second verse, same as the first. This is what it means to have Asperger's. Completely devoid of social skills or even comprehension of social dynamics. Noelle simply doesn't 'get it' and continues to believe these kids are her friends.When I try to explain to Noelle what's going on here, she makes excuses for these girls. I really thought that her therapist had reached a breakthrough and worked through some of these issues with her, but I see now that she still has a long way to go.
As a mother, it is so incredibly painful to stand by and watch this happen. I have tried over the years to talk with the mothers of these girls, to no avail. As you might imagine, they are part of the problem. There's no point in even trying to talk to them. All I can do is cradle my child in my arms, wipe her tears away, tell her that those girls are missing out on an awesome friend, and try to keep from killing the brats. "
Responses
Mary Beth said... How utterly heartbreaking that must be for you. It broke my heart to even read it.....
Aola said... Oh, God, Jen... I just sat here and bawled reading this. It brings up all those same horrible feelings I go through with Emily. She's the same way, as soon as someone pays her any kind of attention she thinks they are friends and then her heart gets broken over and over. I'm so sorry.
impossibleape said... My heart breaks for all the children, and adults for that matter, who are rejected for various reasons. We Christians really need to find ways to address this sort of thing in our churches and in society. I don't know if the mothers in this story attend any church or have any religious pretentions but even if not our churches need to lead the way by taking Jesus seriously when he says the last will be first and the first will be last. It almost requires an exaltation of those who suffer innocently as your daughter has. Her forgiving attitude is far more Christ like than mine towards those who have dispitefully used her.All I can sayis God Bless your precious little girl, she is a bit of Jesus to us and with us all.
Mary Beth said... Another thought, while I'm still fuming about this...Jennifer, you state that Asperger's renders Noelle "completely devoid of social skills." As a society at large, and as Noelle's neighbors, people should be filling in where she experiences this void. They should be going out of their way to be helpful and gracious, and to show tremendous hospitality, knowing that, for Noelle, learning such social skills is going to be a lifelong process. How about loving her into those skills instead of shaming her?
Jennifer said... Actually, one girl's mother teaches Sunday School! I guess I should define what I mean by social skills because I happen to think Noelle is the one acting socially appropriate here. What I mean is that AS kids are unable to read social cues from others such as "go away, we don't like you", etc. which leaves them vulnerable to be the butt of every joke. They also take everything very literally, so if a kid says "go take a hike"... she will. She's a female Forrest Gump. And I think we can all learn a few things from Forrest.
impossibleape said... Jenn can I use your daughter's story over on my blog? One of my life ambitions is to getChrsitians to recognize that Jesus visits us everyday in Noelle's and Joshua's and Forest's shoes, but far too often He is turned away.
Jennifer said... Gosh, I'd be honored IA. :)
What is normal?
Apparently it is people putting others down, judging, and excluding them.
What is normal?
Parents' hearts breaking as they see their children treated cruelly or simply shut out from life.
What is normal?
Religious people playing and reinforcing the 'normal game' but moving it to a higher level by claiming it is God who determines and enforces normal (usually that means, 'be like us in all our self righteousness') .
But one day, normal will be people caring for each other in open-hearted acceptance and loving interactions. Normal will be including and valuing the least of these my brethren as beautiful reflections of God's very image. Christ in our very presence.
What will be normal on that glorious day will be
'Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done On Earth as it is in Heaven!'
This reprinted post gives profound insight into the pain that is experienced by parents of children who are different in any significant and noticeable way.
Please read it and weep with people who love those who are seen and treated as being different, 'not normal'. Too often these people are singled out for unfair and hurtful responses from others who are desperate to establish their own standing in the hierarchy of the tyrannical and unChristlike Kingdom of 'Normality'.
My friend David Watson, whom you have read about in earlier posts, often asks in words almost unrecognizable by even those who know him well;
"WHAT IS NORMAL?" which being translated means, "WHAT IS NORMAL?"
http://impossibleape.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_impossibleape_archive.html
Here is Jenn's moving post form Idle Thoughts Blog.
If we learned to be open and affirming to everyone, especially the weak and the outcast, we would be closer to living in the Kingdom that Jesus came to deliver to us.
The Most Dangerous Place In the World Is Between a Mother and Her Child
"Friday night a terrible thing happened. I'll spare you all the crummy details, but in a nutshell Noelle crashed a birthday party for a little girl she considers to be her best friend. When we were in Hilton Head, Noelle spent time picking out the perfect birthday present for this girl. She was not invited to the party, but found out that it was going on and, since the girl hosting it lives on our street, Noelle took her present up there to give to this 'friend'. (I wasn't home at the time.)
Now, maybe it's just me, but I am of the opinion that any normal mother would have invited Noelle in and told her child that she is going to be nice and gracious. But this mother is not normal. Suffice it to say that Noelle was not invited in, and the birthday girl HID inside from her while the other party guests stood around laughing their snobby little asses off.
Two years ago, this little girl told Noelle that if she kissed a tree she could come to her party. Of course Noelle did it, and of course she wasn't invited. Then another girl told her to stand up on a table at school and sing some stupid song and she could come to her party. Second verse, same as the first. This is what it means to have Asperger's. Completely devoid of social skills or even comprehension of social dynamics. Noelle simply doesn't 'get it' and continues to believe these kids are her friends.When I try to explain to Noelle what's going on here, she makes excuses for these girls. I really thought that her therapist had reached a breakthrough and worked through some of these issues with her, but I see now that she still has a long way to go.
As a mother, it is so incredibly painful to stand by and watch this happen. I have tried over the years to talk with the mothers of these girls, to no avail. As you might imagine, they are part of the problem. There's no point in even trying to talk to them. All I can do is cradle my child in my arms, wipe her tears away, tell her that those girls are missing out on an awesome friend, and try to keep from killing the brats. "
Responses
Mary Beth said... How utterly heartbreaking that must be for you. It broke my heart to even read it.....
Aola said... Oh, God, Jen... I just sat here and bawled reading this. It brings up all those same horrible feelings I go through with Emily. She's the same way, as soon as someone pays her any kind of attention she thinks they are friends and then her heart gets broken over and over. I'm so sorry.
impossibleape said... My heart breaks for all the children, and adults for that matter, who are rejected for various reasons. We Christians really need to find ways to address this sort of thing in our churches and in society. I don't know if the mothers in this story attend any church or have any religious pretentions but even if not our churches need to lead the way by taking Jesus seriously when he says the last will be first and the first will be last. It almost requires an exaltation of those who suffer innocently as your daughter has. Her forgiving attitude is far more Christ like than mine towards those who have dispitefully used her.All I can sayis God Bless your precious little girl, she is a bit of Jesus to us and with us all.
Mary Beth said... Another thought, while I'm still fuming about this...Jennifer, you state that Asperger's renders Noelle "completely devoid of social skills." As a society at large, and as Noelle's neighbors, people should be filling in where she experiences this void. They should be going out of their way to be helpful and gracious, and to show tremendous hospitality, knowing that, for Noelle, learning such social skills is going to be a lifelong process. How about loving her into those skills instead of shaming her?
Jennifer said... Actually, one girl's mother teaches Sunday School! I guess I should define what I mean by social skills because I happen to think Noelle is the one acting socially appropriate here. What I mean is that AS kids are unable to read social cues from others such as "go away, we don't like you", etc. which leaves them vulnerable to be the butt of every joke. They also take everything very literally, so if a kid says "go take a hike"... she will. She's a female Forrest Gump. And I think we can all learn a few things from Forrest.
impossibleape said... Jenn can I use your daughter's story over on my blog? One of my life ambitions is to getChrsitians to recognize that Jesus visits us everyday in Noelle's and Joshua's and Forest's shoes, but far too often He is turned away.
Jennifer said... Gosh, I'd be honored IA. :)
What is normal?
Apparently it is people putting others down, judging, and excluding them.
What is normal?
Parents' hearts breaking as they see their children treated cruelly or simply shut out from life.
What is normal?
Religious people playing and reinforcing the 'normal game' but moving it to a higher level by claiming it is God who determines and enforces normal (usually that means, 'be like us in all our self righteousness') .
But one day, normal will be people caring for each other in open-hearted acceptance and loving interactions. Normal will be including and valuing the least of these my brethren as beautiful reflections of God's very image. Christ in our very presence.
What will be normal on that glorious day will be
'Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done On Earth as it is in Heaven!'
So This Is Why The N.Y. Met's (Baseball's Greatest Underdogs) Play in Shay Stadium
At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech thatwould never be forgotten by all who attended.After extolling the school and its dedicated staff,
he offered a question:"When not interfered with by outside influences,
everything nature does is done with perfection.
Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as otherchildren do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. "I believe, that when a child, likeShay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, anopportunity to realize true human! nature presents itself, and it comes,in the way other people treat that child."Then he told the following story:
Shay and his father had walked past apark where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball.
Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?"Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if ! his son wereallowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and someconfidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shaycould play, not expecting much.
The boy looked around for guidance and afew boys nodded approval, why not?
So he took matters into his own hands andsaid, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."
Shay struggled over to the team's bench put on a team shirt witha broad smile and his Father had a small tear in his eye and warmth in hisheart.The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted.
In the bottom of the eighth inning,
Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind bythree. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstaticjust to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as hisfather waved to him from the stands.In the bottom of the ninth inning,
Shay's team scored again.
Now, with two outs and the bases loaded,
the potential winning run was on base and Shaywas scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay batand give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was allbut impossible 'cause Shay didn't even know how to hold the batproperly, much less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the plate,the pitcher, recognizing the other team putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life,
moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly soShay could at least be able to make contact.
The first pitch came and Shayswung clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward totoss the ball softly towards Shay.
As the pitch came in, Sh! ay swung at theball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over, but the pitcher picked up the soft grounderandcould have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.
Shay would have been out
and that would have been the end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threwthe ball right over the head of the first baseman,
out of reach of all team mates.Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling,
"Shay, run to first! Run to first!"
Never in his life had Shay ever ran that far butmade it to first base.
He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed a! nd startled.Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"
Catching his breath,Shay awkwardly ran towards second,
gleaming and struggling to make it to second base.
By the time Shay rounded tow! ards second base,
the right fielder had the ball,
the smallest guy on their team,
who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time.He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but heunderstood the pitcher's intentions and he too intentionally threw theball high and far over the third-baseman's head.
Shay ran toward third basedeliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming,
"Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"
Shay reached third base,
the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned him in thedirection of third base, and shouted,
"Run to third! Shay, run to third"
As Shay rounded third,
the boys from both teams and
those watching were on theirfeet were screaming,
"Shay, run home!"
Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate,
and was cheere! d as the hero who hit the
"grand slam" and won the game for his team.That day," said the father softly
with tears now rolling down his face,the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world."Shay didn't make it to another summer and died that winter,
having never forgotten being the hero
and making his Father so happy and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!
he offered a question:"When not interfered with by outside influences,
everything nature does is done with perfection.
Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as otherchildren do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. "I believe, that when a child, likeShay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, anopportunity to realize true human! nature presents itself, and it comes,in the way other people treat that child."Then he told the following story:
Shay and his father had walked past apark where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball.
Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?"Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if ! his son wereallowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and someconfidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shaycould play, not expecting much.
The boy looked around for guidance and afew boys nodded approval, why not?
So he took matters into his own hands andsaid, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."
Shay struggled over to the team's bench put on a team shirt witha broad smile and his Father had a small tear in his eye and warmth in hisheart.The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted.
In the bottom of the eighth inning,
Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind bythree. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstaticjust to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as hisfather waved to him from the stands.In the bottom of the ninth inning,
Shay's team scored again.
Now, with two outs and the bases loaded,
the potential winning run was on base and Shaywas scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay batand give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was allbut impossible 'cause Shay didn't even know how to hold the batproperly, much less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the plate,the pitcher, recognizing the other team putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life,
moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly soShay could at least be able to make contact.
The first pitch came and Shayswung clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward totoss the ball softly towards Shay.
As the pitch came in, Sh! ay swung at theball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over, but the pitcher picked up the soft grounderandcould have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.
Shay would have been out
and that would have been the end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threwthe ball right over the head of the first baseman,
out of reach of all team mates.Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling,
"Shay, run to first! Run to first!"
Never in his life had Shay ever ran that far butmade it to first base.
He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed a! nd startled.Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"
Catching his breath,Shay awkwardly ran towards second,
gleaming and struggling to make it to second base.
By the time Shay rounded tow! ards second base,
the right fielder had the ball,
the smallest guy on their team,
who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time.He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but heunderstood the pitcher's intentions and he too intentionally threw theball high and far over the third-baseman's head.
Shay ran toward third basedeliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming,
"Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"
Shay reached third base,
the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned him in thedirection of third base, and shouted,
"Run to third! Shay, run to third"
As Shay rounded third,
the boys from both teams and
those watching were on theirfeet were screaming,
"Shay, run home!"
Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate,
and was cheere! d as the hero who hit the
"grand slam" and won the game for his team.That day," said the father softly
with tears now rolling down his face,the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world."Shay didn't make it to another summer and died that winter,
having never forgotten being the hero
and making his Father so happy and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Got MLK? Got the Real Thing!
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Psychic Love Connection------Froggie Style
A lonely frog telephoned the Psychic Hotline and asked what his future holds. His Personal Psychic Advisor tells him, "You are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you." The frog is thrilled, "This is great! Will I meet her at a party?" he croaks. "No," says the psychic, "in biology class."
I was sent this by a semi-retired pastor who is still taking the call to preach and laugh well into his late 80's.
We all should be so much fun at any age.
Bless You Rev. Stanley Hammond.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Evidence for Creation Receives Nobel Recognition
Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Evidence for Creation Receives Nobel Recognition:
The biblical description of the universe received scientific validation with the announcement of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics. RTB’s cosmic creation model entails a singular beginning (Genesis 1:1), continual cosmic expansion (cf. Isaiah 42:5), and constant laws of physics (Jeremiah 33:25). The combination of the last two leads to a universe that cools over time. These characteristics define a big-bang universe. Additionally, although originally smooth, the universe must become clumpy by the growth of galaxies and galaxy clusters. The ripples in the early universe that permit the future clumping were detected by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) in the early 1990s, further confirming that humans live in a big-bang universe. As a testament to the importance of this discovery, the lead scientists were recently awarded the Nobel Prize for their work. This recognition affirms the validity of RTB’s cosmic creation model, which includes big bang cosmology.
Phil Schewe and Ben Stein, "A Baby Picture that’s Worth a Nobel Prize," Physics News Update 795 (2006): #1.
Related Resource
"Big Bang-The Bible Taught It First!" by Hugh Ross and John Rea
Product Spotlight
Creation As Science by Hugh Ross
Evidence for Creation Receives Nobel Recognition:
The biblical description of the universe received scientific validation with the announcement of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics. RTB’s cosmic creation model entails a singular beginning (Genesis 1:1), continual cosmic expansion (cf. Isaiah 42:5), and constant laws of physics (Jeremiah 33:25). The combination of the last two leads to a universe that cools over time. These characteristics define a big-bang universe. Additionally, although originally smooth, the universe must become clumpy by the growth of galaxies and galaxy clusters. The ripples in the early universe that permit the future clumping were detected by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) in the early 1990s, further confirming that humans live in a big-bang universe. As a testament to the importance of this discovery, the lead scientists were recently awarded the Nobel Prize for their work. This recognition affirms the validity of RTB’s cosmic creation model, which includes big bang cosmology.
Phil Schewe and Ben Stein, "A Baby Picture that’s Worth a Nobel Prize," Physics News Update 795 (2006): #1.
Related Resource
"Big Bang-The Bible Taught It First!" by Hugh Ross and John Rea
Product Spotlight
Creation As Science by Hugh Ross
Monday, November 06, 2006
Does Anyone Out There Resonate with this Haggard Thought?
From the Resonate Internet Discussion. (Bill says it better than I can at this moment):
Warren, your question bothered me some [which is good] - because Ididn't know how to answer. And to make matters worse I feel a pontification coming on.
My mum is now in her 80's - and she is lefthanded. In school she was caned as a 'klute'. In Latin, lefthandedis 'sinister' in French 'gauche'. But now we know that it is simply a kind of standard deviance in God's creation. We know there is a continuum, with most folk being clearly right handed, some clearly left handed and some in the middle. I suspect we will find the same about sexual orientation.
Before acceptance, however, comes tolerance.Tho I don't like the analagy much, unlike our Muslim brothers and sisters, most Christians have come to tolerate interest on money[usury]. Not only tolerate, we've come to participate in the system. Our churches take out mortgages and members have RSP's. Yet in the bible usury is condemned at least as often as homosexuality. We admit women without hats, even with braided hair, and, gasp, allow them to speak instead of requiring they ask their husbands later.
Many Christians are offended by gay pornography, overt sexuality atGay Pride days, and, particularly, by promiscuity. Makes sense. We'd be offended by the same among heterosexuals. But . . .What if we accept the fact that homosexuality is not going to go away. It's always been there in human society [and among other critters as well, but that's a different matter] then what's the best way for a Christian to respond?
Wouldn't we want to encourage, notdiscourage, sexual fidelity? Stability? If a gay couple wants to stand before God, make a commitment to be sexually faithful to theother, to be honest, and loving, and kind, and supportive - why would we oppose this?
If we inisist on denying them the chance to have God-blessed, prayer-fused, commitment based relationships we will be forcing them into the nether realms, the dark corners of hidden sexuality.
So Warren I want to encourage your community to support/tolerate Gay marriage, to prayerfully engage in exporing the areas of ambiguity [and there are many] with healthy, committed Christian gay couples.This was a help in my life. Why oppose commitment? Why oppose folk wanting God to be integral to their union?This is probably familiar to most folk, but some might not have seen this nice animated bit on
'The Gay Agenda"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/02/18/fioreagenda.DTL
For what its worth, I had a pretty strong conversion on this, I was,at one time, vehemently opposed. . .Bill
amen
The Impossibleape
couldn't have said it better myself
(but I will try someday)
anyone wishing to visit o'bill can do so at
http://theoldbill.typepad.com/
Warren, your question bothered me some [which is good] - because Ididn't know how to answer. And to make matters worse I feel a pontification coming on.
My mum is now in her 80's - and she is lefthanded. In school she was caned as a 'klute'. In Latin, lefthandedis 'sinister' in French 'gauche'. But now we know that it is simply a kind of standard deviance in God's creation. We know there is a continuum, with most folk being clearly right handed, some clearly left handed and some in the middle. I suspect we will find the same about sexual orientation.
Before acceptance, however, comes tolerance.Tho I don't like the analagy much, unlike our Muslim brothers and sisters, most Christians have come to tolerate interest on money[usury]. Not only tolerate, we've come to participate in the system. Our churches take out mortgages and members have RSP's. Yet in the bible usury is condemned at least as often as homosexuality. We admit women without hats, even with braided hair, and, gasp, allow them to speak instead of requiring they ask their husbands later.
Many Christians are offended by gay pornography, overt sexuality atGay Pride days, and, particularly, by promiscuity. Makes sense. We'd be offended by the same among heterosexuals. But . . .What if we accept the fact that homosexuality is not going to go away. It's always been there in human society [and among other critters as well, but that's a different matter] then what's the best way for a Christian to respond?
Wouldn't we want to encourage, notdiscourage, sexual fidelity? Stability? If a gay couple wants to stand before God, make a commitment to be sexually faithful to theother, to be honest, and loving, and kind, and supportive - why would we oppose this?
If we inisist on denying them the chance to have God-blessed, prayer-fused, commitment based relationships we will be forcing them into the nether realms, the dark corners of hidden sexuality.
So Warren I want to encourage your community to support/tolerate Gay marriage, to prayerfully engage in exporing the areas of ambiguity [and there are many] with healthy, committed Christian gay couples.This was a help in my life. Why oppose commitment? Why oppose folk wanting God to be integral to their union?This is probably familiar to most folk, but some might not have seen this nice animated bit on
'The Gay Agenda"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/02/18/fioreagenda.DTL
For what its worth, I had a pretty strong conversion on this, I was,at one time, vehemently opposed. . .Bill
amen
The Impossibleape
couldn't have said it better myself
(but I will try someday)
anyone wishing to visit o'bill can do so at
http://theoldbill.typepad.com/
We Need Fewer Congregations and More Communities.
Ted Haggard has admitted to sexual indiscretions with a male prostitute. He has resigned from his positions with his church and as head of a large National Evangelical organization thathas been speerheading Anti-Gay marriage legislation.
Many things have been said about this sad but hopefully useful confrontation between evangelical fantasies (religious and sexual) and the real world.
Here is my 2 cents worth
I am always disturbed by our Evangelical ability to proclaim that God loves everyone but will automatically cast same-sex oriented people into the lake of eternal fire. How can we not see the monstrous inconsistency of such a claim? As people who profess to have the mind of Christ I wonder if we even have active, fully working human minds and hearts.
This is a real blindspot in our theologies and our lives. Until we can get past our deep seated prejudices and learn to think and act in a new way, our proclamation of the 'good news' will continue to be seen as hypocritical and even hurtful.
Someday I hope to be able to outline some ways for us to view sexuality that doesn't make us and God into monsters and yet doesn't contradict the teachings of Christ.
But for today I will simply offer this quote from the Canadian emergent church internet conversation called Resonate.
I hope this wonderful comment will Resonate with you and with the CEO style church government at many places of worship.
"We build large organizations and place people at the distant top..Loaded with power and prestige.. and alone..And then we are surprised when they fall..If we had more communities and fewer congregations we would see fewer of these issues..and when they did occur they would be less public, and would more likely engender a process of healing wonder if the churches where these things occur have any idea that they share the guilt in the falling of the leaders?"
Leonard Hjalmarson
resonate
Many things have been said about this sad but hopefully useful confrontation between evangelical fantasies (religious and sexual) and the real world.
Here is my 2 cents worth
I am always disturbed by our Evangelical ability to proclaim that God loves everyone but will automatically cast same-sex oriented people into the lake of eternal fire. How can we not see the monstrous inconsistency of such a claim? As people who profess to have the mind of Christ I wonder if we even have active, fully working human minds and hearts.
This is a real blindspot in our theologies and our lives. Until we can get past our deep seated prejudices and learn to think and act in a new way, our proclamation of the 'good news' will continue to be seen as hypocritical and even hurtful.
Someday I hope to be able to outline some ways for us to view sexuality that doesn't make us and God into monsters and yet doesn't contradict the teachings of Christ.
But for today I will simply offer this quote from the Canadian emergent church internet conversation called Resonate.
I hope this wonderful comment will Resonate with you and with the CEO style church government at many places of worship.
"We build large organizations and place people at the distant top..Loaded with power and prestige.. and alone..And then we are surprised when they fall..If we had more communities and fewer congregations we would see fewer of these issues..and when they did occur they would be less public, and would more likely engender a process of healing wonder if the churches where these things occur have any idea that they share the guilt in the falling of the leaders?"
Leonard Hjalmarson
resonate
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Surely This Was A Good Man
"There are some who still find the cross a stumbling block, and others consider it foolishness, but I am more
convinced than ever before that it is the power of God unto individual and social salvation. ... The suffering and agonizing moments through which I have passed over the past few years have also drawn me closer to God. More than ever before I am convinced of the reality of a personal God." - Martin Luther King Jr.Martin surely was a good man. A real man. A fallible man. A dreamer. An imperfect but nonetheless good man. I wish I could be more like him......minus the suffering and the vilification of course (and yes dear, even minus the adultery as well).
There is no smooth road to Calvary
and no road to Ressurection
that doesn't pass over that rugged hill.
How Low Can a Saint Go?
Here are a couple of questions from a Beliefnet quiz.
Q9. The Byzantine princess Anna did not want to marry St. Vladimir because:
1. He murdered his brother
2. He raped his sister-in-law
3. He practiced human sacrifice
4. All of the above
Q11. Before her conversion, St. Olga disposed of her enemies by:
1. Poisoning their borscht
2. Burning or burying them alive
3. Shipping them off to Siberia
4. Force-feeding them galumpkis
You can take the rest of the quiz at
http://www.beliefnet.com/section/quiz/index.asp?sectionID=10002&surveyID=353
Its good to know that plastic saints are not altogether representative of real ones.
I wanted you take this test before I offer a quote from, and a comment about, one of my all time favourite people. A Saint really, he just happened to be human as well.
From examples I saw in the quiz some of the Saints actions were more than a little bestial before they got on the Gospel Road. So my soon to be revealed hero looks not too bad if we are rating him on the Bell Curve!
Maybe we can aspire to be a bobble head doll on someone's dashboard someday.
(Not too darned likely, but hey we
can dream can't we?)
disclaimer....I personally believe John Paul II deserves to be venerated as a hero of the faith, so I am in no way am suggesting that he is unworthy of beatification and sainthood.
Go Karol Wojtyla!
Q9. The Byzantine princess Anna did not want to marry St. Vladimir because:
1. He murdered his brother
2. He raped his sister-in-law
3. He practiced human sacrifice
4. All of the above
Q11. Before her conversion, St. Olga disposed of her enemies by:
1. Poisoning their borscht
2. Burning or burying them alive
3. Shipping them off to Siberia
4. Force-feeding them galumpkis
You can take the rest of the quiz at
http://www.beliefnet.com/section/quiz/index.asp?sectionID=10002&surveyID=353
Its good to know that plastic saints are not altogether representative of real ones.
I wanted you take this test before I offer a quote from, and a comment about, one of my all time favourite people. A Saint really, he just happened to be human as well.
From examples I saw in the quiz some of the Saints actions were more than a little bestial before they got on the Gospel Road. So my soon to be revealed hero looks not too bad if we are rating him on the Bell Curve!
Maybe we can aspire to be a bobble head doll on someone's dashboard someday.
(Not too darned likely, but hey we
can dream can't we?)disclaimer....I personally believe John Paul II deserves to be venerated as a hero of the faith, so I am in no way am suggesting that he is unworthy of beatification and sainthood.
Go Karol Wojtyla!
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