Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Post of the year!
I read a ton of blog posts every day. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 to 50. It goes without saying that I don't read every word of every post but I do skim all of them to find the ones that I am interested in. As you may or may not know, there is a synchroblog of some 50 people today posting on the word "missional" (the rest of the folks are listed at the bottom of David's post). I guess it is the nature of my interests but about a dozen of the people taking part are in my google reader. This link will take you to what is, right now, the best post I've read this year. I guess it is because I'm a recovering mega-church member. My family and I have been a part of 3 different mega-churches over the past 10 years in 3 different cities and two different states. There are many positive things about mega-churches but in the end, we decided that for us, the negatives (probably not the right word) outweighed the positives. I've struggled to put my feelings into words on why we had to leave LifeChurch but, where I have failed, David Fitch has excelled. Do you ever read something that makes you wonder if that person has been offloading brainwaves from you? That was this post for me.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
WOW!!!
The story and the art really moved me:
http://mattstone.blogs.com/photos/sacred_images/lord_jesus_of_many_faces.html
http://mattstone.blogs.com/photos/sacred_images/lord_jesus_of_many_faces.html
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
No dialogue, No theology
This is a post from Matt Stone who blogs at Glocal Christianity:
Someone having trouble? You need to study your Bible and find out what it says for your problem. We have reduced the Bible to nothing more than a book full of answers to our questions/problems. Don't believe me? Check out a guy named Hank Hanegraaff.
I'm glad that in many places the idea is shifting back to a theology of "faith seeking dialogue". Does this mean that you and I ultimately decide what is truth and what isn't? I guess my unlearned answer is that for me, theology shouldn't be determined by a text book that applies to everyone everywhere. Theology is something that is lived out in context. So, the people that live in that context are largely responsible (through the power of the Holy Spirit) for deciding how our faith gets fleshed out in our context. Are we really deciding what is truth for us and what isn't? Not really. Although that is the claim from the fear mongers who are trying to protect and preserve and outdated and broken model. For me it is a matter of trying to figure out how to apply the Biblical narrative in the context that God has me in. Nothing more nothing less.
I was reading an article on Indian theology and found an interesting morsel to chew on.
One of the problems with Christianity of late is that we've followed the modern mindset into believing that Theology is just like anything else that you might study in college. You have a text book and you discover or learn faith by studying your textbook and finding the truth.Eminent Indian theologian Felix Wilfred, who heads Chennai's Department of Christian Studies, emphasizes the indispensability of dialogue in contextual theology. Indian theology is "faith seeking dialogue"... modifying St. Anselm's classical definition of theology being "faith seeking understanding."
Someone having trouble? You need to study your Bible and find out what it says for your problem. We have reduced the Bible to nothing more than a book full of answers to our questions/problems. Don't believe me? Check out a guy named Hank Hanegraaff.
I'm glad that in many places the idea is shifting back to a theology of "faith seeking dialogue". Does this mean that you and I ultimately decide what is truth and what isn't? I guess my unlearned answer is that for me, theology shouldn't be determined by a text book that applies to everyone everywhere. Theology is something that is lived out in context. So, the people that live in that context are largely responsible (through the power of the Holy Spirit) for deciding how our faith gets fleshed out in our context. Are we really deciding what is truth for us and what isn't? Not really. Although that is the claim from the fear mongers who are trying to protect and preserve and outdated and broken model. For me it is a matter of trying to figure out how to apply the Biblical narrative in the context that God has me in. Nothing more nothing less.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Drugs are my friend...
Thank goodness for Oxycodone. I never thought I would be able to say that....see previous posts for details about what it has done to my mom (who is doing very well now). For me, it has been a blessing over the past few days. While trying to finish up some yard work on Sunday morning, I was squatted down finishing cutting down a tree in my front yard. When I got finished and tried to stand up, my back gave out and I ended up on my knees. Long story longer, I eventually had to give up on walking and decided to crawl back into the house. I have a pinched nerve that has caused a lot of pain in my back and left leg. I've been to see the Chiro twice a day and he has me almost back to normal. I've taken a few pills over the course of the last 48 hours, but only when the pain got so bad I couldn't find a position to lay in that eased the pain. That stuff is amazing and I could see where someone might get hooked....you can go from completely miserable with unbearable pain to feeling good and not giving a damn about anything in the span of less than 30 minutes.
The moral of the story is to trim your trees yearly, not decadely.
Much Love,
PB
The moral of the story is to trim your trees yearly, not decadely.
Much Love,
PB
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