Blokus!

http://www.blokus.com

For anyone that has not heard of this game - one of my favorites :) Wish more people played online. Kind of a mix between Go and Chess.

Trinity Baptist Church

I have tried very hard to avoid talking about the struggles of my church. Mainly because I wanted to not tear into people with whom I do not agree. Bottom line would be that people don't agree about a number of things and some have chosen to leave (are they all gone yet?)

I keep going back to two sets of scripture:

1 Corinthians 13 - Hard Stuff
Galations 5:19-21

Key 'works of the flesh':
enmity, strife, rivalries, dissensions, divisions

Obviously we can disagree (Acts 15:38-40,) but I think we need to be careful not to let the flesh take over. My personal assessment of my church's situation is that the flesh has taken over. I fight with the flesh as well - one of the key reasons I've not posted much on this topic. I won't lie, I get pissed off something fierce.

My hope is that people's hearts will be filled to the same extent they've filled their heads (I think too often we encourage nothing more than head knowledge and abandon the heart, the relationship.) I pray that those who are leaving find what they are looking for, and have enough decency to make a clean cut.

Is it almost over?

Void of Posts

Just wanted to apologize for the lack of posts. I have had a ton on my mind, and plenty of material but have really struggled with what is and is not appropriate to blog about. The majority of my thoughts have been about my church and struggles inside it.

Ass, Shit & Conforming...

Some random thoughts that have been stuck in my head for a little while. I thought I would share. Please feel free to add to this stream of thought or correct my course as you feel led.

I have often wondered what exactly defines 'coarse' or 'obscene' language.

Ephesians 5:4
Colossians 3:8

Who gets to define what words can be used and what words are inappropriate? What is the true goal of these scriptures? More recently I listened to the following sermon:
http://gracelifepulpit.media.s3.amazonaws.com/SC-2009-03-06-PJ.mp3
(Pornification of the Pulpit)

Based mainly on Titus 2:7-8

So all these got my brain flowing, and basically resulted in the following:

1. I don't really understand how some words are ok based on their usage and others are not. The two examples are Ass or Jackass vs Shit. I have friends, and know many in my church that won't let their kids say Ass (at anytime really,) but they can sing it in church if we sing the right hymnal. However shit is never ok, even if your talking about taking a shit. Or stepping in horse shit. Etc...

If a non-believer heard an entire congregation singing about an ass, would they still think of it as a 'bad word'? Does it matter if its in context or not? Going even a bit further, both piss and damn are considered obscene by many (who I assume don't use a king james bible.) Would it be wrong to read verses out loud about those that 'pisseth on the wall' and 'damnation'? Would this be 'coarse'? Obscene? Would reading Song of Solomon out loud be obscene?

2. As best I can tell, our list of 'bad words' is nothing more than accepted norms for a society. What becomes difficult for me is when I consider this against Romans 12:2

Now I know this verse is not directly related to how and what we say, but I have a difficult time understanding how we filter our speech based on the 'world' (our society) while not 'conforming to this world'.

I do not want to be a potty mouth, and to be honest I wouldn't say these words out loud. I said ass two weeks ago, and spelled shit. Too many visits with a bar of soap I guess. But what are we striving for? What is sound speech? How do we avoid 'conforming to this world'?

I am not trying to rationalize anyone's usage of certain words. I just want to better understand scripture. I enjoyed the sermon I posted above, but I am probably on a very different page than that preacher. I personally think God cares a great deal more about our hearts than specific words but then I'm confronted by things like 'sound speech' and my head just begins to spin.

Am I the only one?

Drink, Mourn, Grow

Like a raging thunderstorm your word approaches.
Light drizzle grows into a sheet of glass stretching from heaven to earth.
And the thirsty land celebrates.
The storm continues.
We drink.

Lightning illuminates ominous clouds like a camera’s flash.
A large field ignites into dance.
Yellow, orange and blue melt into white.
The fire is raging.
We mourn.

Scorched earth lives among the quenched.
Destruction mingles with restoration.
The rain’s punches subside and the lightning ceases.
The storm is ending.
We grow.

Paradox...Bad Theology

It has been a very long time since I scribbled more than just a few words here, so I thought I would share a few sections from two books I recently finished. The Reason for God and The Shack. I loved both of them, and would definatley recommend each. Here are a few excerpts, followed by some thoughts:

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
- by Timothy Keller
from Chapter 11 Religion and the Gospel

Sin and evil are self-centeredness and pride that lead to oppression against others, but there are two forms of this. One form is being very bad and breaking all the rules, and the other form is being very good and keeping all the rules and becoming self-righteous. There are two ways to be your own Savior and Lord. The first is by saying, "I am going to live my life the way I want." The second is described by Flannery O'Connor, who wrote about one of her characters, Hazel Motes, that "he knew that the best way to avoid Jesus was to avoid sin." If you are avoiding sin and living morally so that God will have to bless and save you, then ironically, you may be looking to Jesus as a teacher, model, and helper but you are avoiding him as a Savior. You are trusting in your own goodness rather than in Jesus for your standing with God. You are trying to save yourself by following Jesus.

from Chapter 14 The Dance of God

...At the end of Matthew 11, Jesus calls us to "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.... Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.... For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." A man once said to a pastor that he would be happy to believe in Christianity if the cleric could only give him a watertight argument for its truth. The pastor replied, "What if God hasn't given us a watertight argument, but rather a watertight person?" Jesus is saying "I am that person. Come to me. Look at who I am. Look at my Cross. Look at my resurrection. No one could have made this up! Come to me, and you will find rest for your souls."

The Shack
- by William P. Young
from Chapter 14 Verbs and Other Freedoms

If you put God at the top, what does that really mean and how much is enough? How much time do you give me before you can go on about the rest of your day, the part that interests you so much more?"....I don't just want a piece of you and a piece of your life. Even if you were able, which you are not, to give me the biggest piece, that is not what I want. I want all of you and all of every part of you and your day."....I don't want to be first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than a pyramid, I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life-your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities--is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible dance of being."

I think I have been struggling with my own personal paradox for a while now, in fact I am pretty sure I am still struggling with it. Theology vs. relationship. The chicken and the egg. For several years now I have held relationship above all else. Specifically relationship with Jesus. But here is the rub, how can you have relationship without some 'theological foundation'? But Jesus is our foundation:

Acts 4:11

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

But then how do I understand this verse without theology?

1 John 5:20

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

I still have not let go of theology, I enjoy it at times, but do I find Jesus in it? Does that even make sense? Is it nothing more than a question of motivation? And if it is, then what is 'bad theology'? This is my current paradox. Have I created something out of nothing?

brotherly love

pull out
avoid

lower head
cower

each of us right
each of us wrong
each of us unmovable

hell to pay
when my way
means more than yours

no wonder
so many turn away