My Place Today...

Thinking...

Spiritual Warfare...The Matrix - Fight Song...

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Eph 6:12)

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." (2Co 4:7-10)

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your fellow believers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast." (1Pe 5:8-10)



Sometimes it starts with a silent curse
Sometimes it doesn't waste time
You still think I look upon this with hatred in my mind
I won't lie It took some time
But I know one thing It took me away from!

All the things love gave me
So I had to let things go!
I can go another round despite you.
I'm still healing
No I'm not reeling
Yes I'm feeling
This is my fight song

Now I'm left with a scar to reverse.
Yes another burden to fight I guess
I made it this far so I know things will be alright
I won't lie I will survive I'm still healing

No I'm not reeling
Yes I'm feeling
This is my fight song

But I know one thing
It takes me away from
All the things love gave me
So I had to let things go!
It's so hard to forget
But I must let go...and begin
To live again and not give in

I figured out I will land on solid ground
I will land on solid ground
I will go another round
I can go another round despite you.
I'm still healing

No I'm not reeling
Yes I'm feeling
This is my fight song!
~ Scott Strapp

A Celebration of Life...Rodney Crowell - Earthbound...

Spiritual Warfare...The Matrix..."Wake Up"

The Matrix fight scenes as a metaphor for our spiritual warfare against "the powers and principalities" – as the Apostle Paul wrote, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12 TNIV).

Just as Neo stops the bullets of the Agents we to, “….can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Eph 6:16).

It is our mind and our imagination that makes reality and it is what we use to fight the spiritual realm… In the book of Romans, Paul wrote this, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom 12:2). Greg Boyd in his book Seeing Is Believing wrote, “We become what we imaginatively see. If we all imaginatively see are the vivid re-presentations that have been instilled in us by the pattern of the world, we will be conformed to the patterns of this world. But if we learn to imaginatively see ‘the glory of God in the face of Jesus’ (2 Cor. 4:6), we will be transformed ‘from one degree of glory to another’ (2 Cor. 3:18)….. “We are continually interpreting our world, and the way we interpret it is mostly determined by the way aspects of our world trigger imaginative re-presentations that encode messages, create feelings, and thus motivate behavior. The re-presentations that are most vivid, most concrete and most like our physical experience exercise the strongest influence on our lives.”
We must awake; “This is why it is said: ‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you’” (Eph 5:14).

Awake out of the Matrix of the “…deceptive state of being…” to the reality that is in Jesus and fight the fight against an Enemy that cannot conceive that he has already lost, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature (the deceptive state of being), God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col 2:13-15).

So the Enemy lashes out against any advancement of the Kingdom of God, to any liberation, any awaking to the really real – God and his Kingdom.

Facebook Status forwarded by Chris Fletcher

Gary David Stratton: "(P)eriods of great social stress have tended to be times when (Christian) apocalyptic thinking goes into overdrive."  Sound like anyone you know?

Original Facebook Status: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=173800431&v=wall&story_fbid=169581129739619

Sent via TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com)

Sent via DROID on Verizon Wireless

"A Heroic Act of Love..."

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
~ The Apostle Paul

"A Heroic Act of Love..."

"The Poverty of Uniqueness" & Identity...Part I...The Matrix...

“Am I now trying to win human approval, or God's approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” ~ The Apostle Paul

Anyone who has ever stood up for the truth of human dignity, no matter how disfigured, only to find previously supportive friends holding back, even remonstrating with you for your boldness, feels the loneliness of the poverty of uniqueness. This happens every day to those who choose to suffer for the absolute voice of conscious, even in what seem small matters. They find themselves standing alone. I have yet to meet the man or woman who enjoys such responsibility.

The poverty of uniqueness is the call of Jesus to stand utterly alone when the only alternative is to cut a deal at the price of one’s integrity. It is a lonely yes to the whispers of our true self, a clinging to our core identity when companionship and community support is withheld, It is a courageous determination to make unpopular decisions that are expressive of the truth of who we are – not of who we think we should be or whom someone else wants us to be. It is trusting enough in Jesus to make mistakes and believing enough that his life will still pulse within us. It is the unarticulated, gut-wrenching yielding of our true self to the poverty of our own unique, mysterious personality.

In a word, standing on our own two feet is often a heroic act of love.
~ Brennan Manning

"The Poverty of Uniqueness" & Identity...Part II...Les Miserables...Who Am I?

"The Poverty of Uniqueness" & Identity...Part III...Rodger Hodgson (Super Tramp)...The Logical Song...

But at night,
When all the world's asleep,
The questions run so deep for such a simple man.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
but please tell me who I am,
Who I am...

My Place Today...

Common Roots Cafe in Minneapolis...relaxing a bit.

America In One Photo? - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

America In One Photo? - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

My Place Today...

At Dunnigans Pub...The Bible, A Journal & A Stella...hmmm...

Jesus is in the midst of everything and anything...love wins!

Betrayal Redux...The Matrix and Esau...Exchanging Reality for a Deception...

‘Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright." "Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?" But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.’
~ Genesis 25:29-34 TNIV

Divine Milieu...Bright Eyes - Lua...

“…what was normal in the evening by the morning seems insane….
what is simple in the moonlight by the morning never is….

It was so simple in the moonlight now it's so complicated…”

~ Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Lua

Darkness...Redux...

“Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
~ Psalms 139:12 TNIV

Now...

Years seem like months now,
Months seem like weeks now,
Weeks seem like days now,
Days seem like hours now,
Hours seem like minutes now.




Minutes are nothing but fleeting moments now,
Moments are all we have now,
All that is real, is now,
“Now” in each moment, that is all.

My Place Today...

My apartment in Two Harbors...wine and creating...

My Place Today...

Caribou Coffee on Lexington in Arden Hills, MN - thinking, writing, and drinking coffee.

The War Zone, The Crossfire...Some Thoughts on Evil...

"And in the world, a heart of darkness, a fire-zone,
Where poets speak their heart then bleed for it..." ~ U2, One Tree Hill



**A thanks to Gary Stratton, PhD. for introducing me to this song**

“And we're caught up in the crossfire,

Of heaven and hell,

And we're searchin’ for shelter….

Tell the devil that he can go back from where he came,

His fiery arrows drew their bead in vain,

And when the hardest part is over we'll be here,

And our dreams will break the boundaries of our fear,

The boundaries of our fear…” ~ David Fowler, Crossfire

"I wanted movement and not a calm form of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life."
~ Leo Tolstoy

“…I freely admit that real Christianity goes much nearer to Dualism than people think. One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe-a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death and disease, and sin. The difference is that Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong. Christianity agrees with Dualism that this universe is at war. But it does not think this is a war between independent powers. It thinks it is a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel….Enemy occupied territory – that is what the world is.” - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

“Scripture says we suffer under the tyranny of a ‘ruler’ or ‘god’ or ‘power’ of this world (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 2:2; 1 Jn 5:19). - Greg Boyd, Is God To Blame

“The explanation for why God’s creation looks like a war zone is because, according to the Bible, it is a war zone! Far from following a meticulous divine blueprint, creation is now governed by a powerful being who resists God’s purposes at every turn.” - Greg Boyd, Is God To Blame

“Cast all your anxiety on him (God) because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your fellow believers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1Peter 5:7-10 TNIV).

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13 TNIV).

Jesus And A Towel...And The Cross...

"It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him" (John 13:1-5 TNIV).

The following comments are from Greg Boyd and the original can be found on his website: http://www.gregboyd.org/

Brad Cole is a friend of mine who runs a ministry called Heavenly Sanctuary.

This ministry puts on Conferences around the country on the Character of God — and they get it right. This year they hired an artist named Lars Justinen from the Justinen Creative Group to paint the above picture to use on posters advertising their conference. Under this picture they had captions like “Follow the Leader,” “God IS Great,” and most accurately, “Jesus - Still Too Radical?”

Heavenly Sanctuary had contracts with several malls in the Seattle area to hang these posters advertising their conference, but no sooner had the posters gone up than angry calls began flooding the malls. Many people — but, it seems, mostly Christians — were offended at the image of Jesus washing Osama Bin Laden’s feet. There was such an outcry that each of the malls decided to go back on their contract and take the posters down. The Christian College that Heavenly Sanctuary was renting space from to host the Conference also canceled their contract. Brad had to scramble to find a secular venue (which, ironically, had no problems with the poster).

What does this say about how many American Christians envision Jesus? Obviously, the protesters believe that Jesus would not wash Osama Bin Laden’s feet. But Jesus died “not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world” (I Jn 2:2) — and this obviously includes Osama. So if Jesus died for Osama, how are we to imagine him being unwilling to wash his feet?

What the protest reveals is that many Christians have tragically allowed their patriotism to co-opt their faith. They have allowed their American citizenship to take priority over their Kingdom citizenship — despite the New Testament’s instruction for disciples to consider themselves “foreigners” and “exiles” wherever they happen to live (Heb. 11:13; I Pet 1:17, 2:11) and to consider their real citizenship “in heaven” (Phil 3:20).

Many American Christians seem to want a Jesus who will defend their country and hate their national enemies as much as they do. Many want the Jesus of the Middle Ages whom Crusaders called on to help them slaughter — not serve — their Islamic enemies. Many seem to want to reduce Jesus to just another version of the tribal gods that have been called on for centuries to bless tribal battles. Most wars throughout history have been fought under the banner of some god or another.

Fortunately, the real Jesus isn’t anything like this. Knowing all power had been given to him, John says, he wrapped a towel around his waist and washed the dirty, smelly feet of people he knew would deny and betray him in a couple hours (Jn 13:3-5). Knowing he could call legions of angels to vanquish his foes, the real Jesus rather chose to let them crucify him, because this is what they needed him to do (though they of course didn’t know it). Then, with his last breath, the real Jesus prays to his Father to forgive his barbaric torturers — and all of us (Lk 23:34).

This is the kind of power the omnipotent God of the universe uses against his enemies. And this is the kind of power we’re to use against our “enemies.” It’s the power of Calvary-like love.

We’re called to imitate the Jesus who washes the feet of enemies, dies for them, and prays for their forgiveness. We are to “live in love, as Christ loved us and gave his life for us…” (Eph. 5:1-2). When we were enemies, Jesus nevertheless ascribed unsurpassable worth to us by paying an unsurpassable price for us. We who claim we are his disciples are called to do the same. We’re to sacrificially ascribe unsurpassable worth to all people, including our enemies — even Osama Bin Laden.

In light of God’s servant love toward us, we must be willing to wash Osama’s feet — and pray for his forgiveness.

Jesus says to us:

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt…” (Lk 6:27-29)

And in case we missed the point, he comes back five verses later and says:
“…love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. (How important is this? Read this next sentence carefully).

Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Lk 6: 27-29; 35-36).

When we act like our kind Father, we reflect the fact that we are his children.

In Christ, God’s been kind to Osama. May we who are his children do the same. May we be encouraged by the above picture rather than offended by it. May we pray, “Father, forgive Osama. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

I'd like you to consider something.

The New Testament defines agape love by pointing us to Jesus Christ (I Jn 3:16). To love someone is treat them like Jesus has treated you -- dying for you while you were yet a sinner.The New Testament tells us that the command to love (= looking like Jesus Christ) is the greatest command, encompassing all others ( Lk 10:27; Rom. 13:8, 10; Ja 2:8). It tells us everything else in the law hangs on our fulfilling this law (Mt 22:27-40).

It tells us that love is to be placed above all else (Col 3:14; I Pet 4:8). It tells us that everything we do is to be done in love (I Cor. 16:14). It tells us that nothing has any Kingdom value apart from love, however impressive things may be in and of themselves (I Cor. 13:1-3). It tells us that the only thing that ultimately matters is faith energized by love (Gal. 5:6). And it tells us that this love is to be given to all people at all times, including our enemies (Lk 6:27-35) .

Indeed, Jesus makes loving our enemies the pre-condition for being considered "children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked" (Lk 6:35). We're to "be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful" (Lk 6:36).This is simply what it means to look like Jesus Christ.

Now follow me:

If love is to be placed above all else, if everything else is to be considered worthless apart from love and if everything hangs on fulfilling this one law, how can we avoid the conclusion that refusing to love even our enemies is the worst heresy imaginable? To miss this all important point renders whatever other truth we may possess worthless.In this light, we have to ask, who is the worse heretic: Michael Servetus who was burned alive for denying that the Son of God was eternal, or Calvin who had him burned alive? Burning someone alive is not loving them, doing good to them or blessing them (Lk 6:27-28, 35).

And without love, whatever other truth Calvin may have been defending becomes worthless. If we're thinking biblically, how can we avoid concluding that Calvin was not only a worse heretic than Servetus, but that he committed the greatest heresy imaginable?

But I don't mean to pick on Calvin. Throughout church history from the time of Augustine (who first justified persecution in Jesus' name), millions of people were tortured and murdered for their alleged heresy. Yet, if we're thinking biblically, how can we avoid the conclusion that the Church that carried out this barbarism in Jesus' name was far more heretical than all the heretics it persecuted?Ironically, while millions were tortured and murdered for having "heretical" views on things like baptism and communion, there's not one episode I know of throughout church history of anyone so much as having their hand slapped because they lacked love.

Yet, everything hangs on this.Finally, while we have an obligation to distinguish between what is and is not the Kingdom of God, we have to carefully guard against self-righteousness. Rather than feeling righteous by contrasting ourselves with Calvin or any other Christian persecutors from the past, we have to ask ourselves:

Are we guilty of the worst heresy imaginable? Do we do everything in love? Do we place love above all other considerations?Do we love Osama Bin Laden?

Think about it. Live in love, as Christ loved you and gave his life for you (Eph 5:1-2).

Greg

P.S. In case some of the faces on the poster are unfamiliar to you, they are (left to right) German Chancellor Angela Merkel; Tony Blair, England; Kofi A. Annan, UN; Osama bin Laden; George Bush; Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh; and Jiang Zemin, former president of China.

Before The Fall...

Before the Fall
There was a man
And his God
Relationship

Before the Fall
There was a garden
And two trees
Peace

Before the Fall
There was communion
Between God and the man
Harmony

Before the Fall
The man was alone
Even while with his God
And his God said,
“It is not good for the man to be alone…”

Before the Fall
Feeling alone and with God
Was ok, we’re human
We ache for another
As did Adam
Before the Fall

Divine Milieu...Ani DiFranco - 32 Flavors...

I'm not trying to give my life meaning
By demeaning you
And I would like to state for the record
I did everything that I could do
I'm not saying that I'm a saint
I just don't want to live that way
No, I will never be a saint
But I will always say

Squint your eyes and look closer
I'm not between you and your ambition
I am a poster girl with no poster
I am thirty-two flavors and then some
And I'm beyond your peripheral vision
So you might want to turn your head
Cause someday you might find you're starving
And eating all of the words you said

My Place Today...

Common Roots Cafe in Minneapolis...

Divine Milieu...Sandra McCraken - In Feast or Fallow...

When the fields are dry, and the winter is long
Blessed are the meek, the hungry, the poor
When my soul is downcast, and my voice has no song
For mercy, for comfort, I wait on the Lord

When the earth beneath me crumbles and quakes
Not a sparrow falls, nor a hair from my head
Without His hand to guide me, my shield and my strength
In joy or in sorrow, in life or in death

In the harvest feast or the fallow ground,
My certain hope is in Jesus found
My lot, my cup, my portion sure
Whatever comes, we shall endure.
Whatever comes, we shall endure

The Beatles and Buechner....

There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

~ The Beatles, In My Life


“…but places are full of mystery as times are, and almost from the start I knew that, of all places, it was the one that was right for me.” ~Frederick Buechner

Divine Milieu...Billy Joel - My Life...

They will tell you, you can't sleep alone in a strange place
Then they'll tell you, you can't sleep with somebody else
Ah, but sooner or later you sleep in your own space
Either way it's okay to wake up with yourself

I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright
I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home
I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life
Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone

Divine Milieu...Bright Eyes - We Are Nowhere And It's Now...

Seasons and Grace...

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heaven…”
~ Ecclesiastes 3:1 TNIV

“A season for every activity…” – these words really struck me about a week ago. The whole notion of seasons of life, seasons of our stories, that we all must experience and encounter along our life journeys if we are to be fully alive and human.

Last Sunday night I was at the “Love Tells the Story” tour listening to Donald Miller, Sandra McCracken, Derek Webb and the Robbie Sealy Band. Derek Webb made a comment while introducing one of his songs that sparked this line of thinking about seasons in my mind. He talked about how we have seasons in our lives and in them all God’s love, faithfulness, and grace is still complete and full for each of us, even if we find ourselves in a “season of sin.” This phrase was interesting to me because I at first wondered when any of us are not in a season of sin. Or put another way, really free from the “deceptive state of being” – regardless of how we choose to think about the sin question it does not suspend God’s love through a sin season nor any other season.

Perhaps, “a season of sin” could be described as an intense season of sin (what the prodigal son experienced) – like the monsoon season? Intense rain for a brief time and then a break, a reprieve, a change and spark of transformation that moves us from a one season to another with new possibilities and a rainbow of hope (again what the prodigal son experienced). Brennan Manning speaks of how there is nothing we can do or not do that will make God love us more or less. God is not fickle in his relationship with us as we are in our relationships with others or him.

Seasons, times, moments of our lives, our stories, in the many scenes of it all, “… hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us…” (Romans 5:5 NIV) and Paul continues, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly….But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6, 8). This is true for everyone, everywhere, all of us, all of us; his love is full of compassion. We all have the imprint of God – the Imago Dei.

Can we, could we ever know the depths of grace other than being in the depths of sin? I am reminded of something Anne Lamott wrote about this very question, “I realized just then that sin and grace are not opposites, but partners…” or as Paul wrote, “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more…” (Romans 5:20). Sin can never out run grace – a season of sin cannot outrun grace for we are always in a season of grace. Grace is what looms large over all our stories – is the expression of the heart of God. The umbrella over all of our lives – it is not possible to love more than God, hence Calvary.

Divine Milieu...Bright Eyes - Poison Oak...

Betrayal...

“One man betrayed with a kiss…In the name of love…” ~ Bono

Betrayal

A word
A turning away
A cold and slow withdrawal of life
A wound that leaves a scar
A recalcitrance to love what once was loved
A leaving behind
A lie

Betrayal

Alone

Lost
Empty

Doubt
Suspicion

Pain

Horror

Betrayal

A deception
A cloaking of reality

A game
A shedding of tears

A breaking of a heart
A death of something inside
A lamenting grieving for what once was

Betrayal

How Jesus Kicked Ass On The Cross, Ctd - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

How Jesus Kicked Ass On The Cross, Ctd -

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

My Place Today...

My apartment in Two Harbors. Getting ready for Bar Church on a snowy Sunday morning.

Staying Present...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/science/16tier.html

Expectations and "Poetic Memories"

Maybe the expectations people have are a form of judgment…?

We place or impose our projections or pre-suppositions on others and in doing so we judge either overtly or latently by expecting something whether it is even ever known or spoken. In this way we, without doubt are invariably disappointed because no one can ever live up to our projections and it is also selfish and hurtful because the one who is being projected upon cannot, nor does not know all of the expectations that are being heaped on them. Thinking about myself and my life, I believe that I do this a lot and am becoming more aware of it.

When living by the expectations we place on others or that others have placed on us we become trapped in the past by failed or unrealized expectations or in the future by expected expectations that are usually very rarely expressed.

These expectations are constructed in our mind to create someone else in our image. All this precludes letting someone be who they are and loving them for who they are. Not only does it constrain someone from being themselves, it also steals the “now” from them; the real, concrete moments of our existence that make life beautiful. When we refuse to be in the present moments of time which are all that are really real we allow the poignancy and profoundness of each mystical moment to slip away.

We abandon or ruin something by not attending to the “now” and the possibilities of what are “poetic memories” which are what “records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful” – to be created and then later cherished. It is these “poetic memories” that are authentic and that imprint so powerfully on our hearts as they embellish and confirm the relevance and significance of our individual stories and shared life stories as human beings.

Our relationships manifest our need for love and meaning and our very real desire or craving for each other and honest human touch. Touch not only of skin on skin, but mind on mind and heart on heart…being on being.

So…can we live a life without expectations? Be with each other without expectations? Be who we are and accept each other as simply who we are? I have to think and believe that this is possible and desirable but yet may not be the easiest thing.Yet, if attempted or risked, it is what will make for real life and real friendship?

To live a life in the present moments of each day is to live without expectations or judgments. It is how life is made beautiful and authentic friendship is possible and "poetic memories" created.

Eyes...

Eyes

Tell a million varied stories
We look to them for signs
For answers
To unspoken questions

They pierce
They avoid
They desire
They deceive
They speak

When there are no words
Expressing the truth of life and living
Vibrant and vacant
In the space between breaths
Where secrets are hidden
Yearning to be known by another
To be naked, bathed in the light of knowing

Eyes

Love...

Words...

Words...

Fall like tears,
Drenching the ground,
And the page,

Bleed...

Eyes turn red,
The earth swells,
The heart collapses,

Exhausted...

Dryness,
Eyes and dirt,
Emptiness,
Lonliness,

Lost...

Crimson stained,

Words...

Darkness...

Darkness,

That which we all have,

Inside.

Some bury it deep,
Some wear it like a smile,
Some pretend it is light.
Some disguise it,
Some dispise it.

But others...

Transform it,
Turn it,
Redemn it,
Flaunt it,
In the light.

Those whom illuminate it,
Die to it,
And are free, from the,

Darkness

My Place Today...

Ed's No Name Bar in Winona, MN - writing, thinking...soaking in life...

My Place Today...

Shane Claiborne speaking at Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, MN

What Would Jesus Brew?

What Would Jesus Brew?

Hops & Salvation

Hops & Salvation

The Conversation...Derek Webb - What Matters More?

You say you always treat people like you like to be
I guess you love being hated for your sexuality
You love when people put words in your mouth
'Bout what you believe, make you sound like a freak

'Cause if you really believe what you say you believe
You wouldn't be so damn reckless with the words you speak
Wouldn't silently conceal when the liars speak
Denyin' all the dyin' of the remedy

Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?

If I can tell what's in your heart by what comes out of your mouth
Then it sure looks to me like being straight is all it's about
It looks like being hated for all the wrong things
Like chasin' the wind while the pendulum swings

'Cause we can talk and debate until we're blue in the face
About the language and tradition that he's comin' to save
Meanwhile we sit just like we don't give a shit
About 50,000 people who are dyin' today

Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?

The Converstion...Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure...

"...It's the terror of knowing what this world is about
Watching some good friends screaming, "Let me out"
Pray tomorrow, gets me higher and higher and high
Pressure on people, people on streets

Turned away from it all like a blind man
Sat on a fence but it don't work
Keep coming up with love but it's so slashed and torn
Why, why, why?
Love

Insanity laughs under pressure, we're cracking
Can't we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can't we give love that one more chance?
Why can't we give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love?
'Cos love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves
This is our last dance..."

The Converstion...Lou Reed - Take A Walk On The Wild Side...

The Coversation...The Kinks - Lola

My Place Today...

Tyler and Nate at the Infinitea Teahouse in Minneapolis, Mn

RELEVANT Magazine - The Drunk and the Hypocrite

RELEVANT Magazine - The Drunk and the Hypocrite

Divine Milieu...Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris - The Maker...

Oh, oh deep water, black and cold like the night
I stand with arms wide open
I've run a twisted line
I'm a stranger in the eyes of the Maker
I could not see for the fog in my eyes
I could not feel for the fear in my life

From across the great divide, In the distance I saw a light
Of Jean Baptiste's he's walking to me with the Maker
My body my body is bent and broken by long and dangerous sleep
I can't work the fields of Abraham and turn my head away
I'm not a stranger in the hands of the Maker

Brother John, have you seen the homeless daughters
Standing there with broken wings
I have seen the flaming swords
There over east of eden
Burning in the eyes of the Maker
Burning in the eyes of the Maker
Burning in the eyes of the Maker

Oh, river rise from your sleep
Oh, river rise from your sleep
Oh, river rise from your sleep
~ Daniel Lanois

Divine Milieu...Derek Webb - A New Law...

Don’t teach me about politics and government,
Just tell me who to vote for.

Don’t teach me about truth and beauty,
Just label my music.

Don’t teach me how to live like a free man,
Just give me a new law.

I don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy,
So just bring it down from the mountain to me.

I want a new law...
I want a new law...
Gimme that new law...

Don’t teach me about moderation and liberty,
I prefer a shot of grape juice.

Don’t teach me about loving my enemies

Don’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit,
Just give me a new law.

What’s the use in trading a law you can never keep,
For one you can that cannot get you anything,
Do not be afraid…
Do not be afraid…
Do not be afraid…

My Place Today...

Bethel University...

How Beer Made Us Civilized - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

How Beer Made Us Civilized - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Being And Time - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Being And Time - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Common Prayer

My Place Today...

Spent the evening at The Church of The Open Door in Maple Grove, MN listening to Donald Miller, Derek Webb, Sandra McCraken & The Ronnie Sealy Band on their "Love Tells The Story" tour. A great, inspirational evening about the love of God for all of us- his sons and daughters.

Love and Hurt...Joan Jett, Philip Yancey and The Book of Hebrews...

On Twitter I follow Gram Parsons, I really enjoy his music and the depth that is in his lyrics is very profound. No doubt the depth comes from the pain he had experienced in his life, a life that ended with a heroin overdose. The Tweet made reference to a version of the song “Love Hurts” that Gram had sung with Emmy Lou Harris. As I listened to the lyrics I was struck by the song in a philosophical and theological way which may seem a bit strange. However, if we look deep enough nothing is really strange but the strangeness turns to a depth of being that fosters life and complexity and spirituality.

I love juxtapositions and that is why I have chosen the Joan Jett version of the song “Love Hurts” as Joan Jett, Philip Yancey and the book of Hebrews seems on first glance to have very little to do with each other. Like most things there are connections and deep relatedness to almost everything and we simply have to go and look, or become aware, or wake up to the reality that is all around us.

The song was written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant - here are some of the lyrics from the song “Love Hurts”:

Love hurts, love scars, love wounds and marks
Any heart not tough nor strong enough
To take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain
Love is like a cloud holds a lot of rain
Love hurts, love hurts…

When I hear these words sung and when I read them and think about them what comes to my mind is the Cross and Calvary, “Love Hurts, love scars, love wounds and marks…” and also the scenes from the Gospels in which Jesus weeps at the grave of Lazarus and when he cries over Jerusalem. Jesus weeps, is scared, wounded and marked for us out of love.

Later in the song there are these words:
I know it isn't true, know it isn't true
Love is just a lie, made to make you blue
Love hurts, love hurts…

These lyrics remind me of Good Friday and all that must have been going on in the hearts of the followers of Jesus. The doubt, the questioning, and the tremendous hurt that must have been in the hearts of particularly Mary, Jesus’ mother, Mary Magdalene and John – the only three to be at the Cross and had just watched Jesus die. How many of us have similar doubts and hurts and really at this point in our lives believe that love is a lie and love is hurt.

This leads me now to Philip Yancey and the book of Hebrews and the remarkable relevance and significance of the heart of God - that can and does really feel what I am going through in a most intimate way because he, in Jesus Christ has experienced life on earth as a human like me.Philip Yancey writes, “The author Hebrews reports that Jesus became a ‘sympathetic’ advocate for us. There is only one way to learn sympathy, as signified by the Greek roots of the word, syn pathos, ‘to feel or suffer with.’ Because of the Incarnation Hebrews implies, God hears our prayers in a new way, having lived here and having prayed as a weak and vulnerable human being.” The text that has had such meaning for me and that I have contemplated over many times is so linked to this conversation and it is, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8 TNIV).

I really appreciate what Yancey writes about this passage, “Indeed, the suffering endured on earth served as a kind of ‘learning experience’ for God. Such words sound faintly heretical, but I am merely following Hebrews: ‘Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.’ Elsewhere, that book tells us that the author of our salvation was ‘made perfect’ through suffering.

Commentaries often avoid these phrases, for they are difficult to reconcile with traditional notions of an unchanging God. To me they demonstrate certain ‘changes’ that had to take place within the Godhead before we could be reconciled.” I am sympathetic to looking at the text in this way because I do believe that something dramatic and significant happened to Jesus as God/Man in the hypostatic union by what he experienced on earth and that experience in some way also affected the Trinity. The bottom line in all this is that, “Only by becoming a human being could the Son of God truly say with understanding, ‘They do not know what they are doing.’ He had lived among us. Now he understood.”

Love hurts, love scars, love wounds and marks
Any heart not tough nor strong enough
To take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain
Love is like a cloud holds a lot of rain
Love hurts, love hurts…

Worldview, Film & Story...

http://www.garydavidstratton.com/2010/hollywood/casablanca-and-the-four-levels-of-worldview-why-everyone-meets-at-rick%e2%80%99s/

Iraq's Christians at Risk From Targeted Violence | The Atlantic Wire

Iraq's Christians at Risk From Targeted Violence | The Atlantic Wire: "Can Iraqi Christianity survive?"

AddThis Social Bookmarking Sharing Button Widget

AddThis Social Bookmarking Sharing Button Widget: "AddThis is a free way to boost traffic back to your site by making it easier for visitors to share your content"

My Place Today...

Pizza Luce in Duluth after a long three days...

Greg Boyd on the "Post Christendom Model of the Faith..."

“I see all over the place, all around the globe – people, Jesus followers really starting to get what the Kingdom is all about. It’s at a grassroots level right now, it’s not found in any one institution, it doesn’t have a name or anything yet. But, all over place there’s rising up a tribe of people that really see that the Kingdom is about putting your trust in Jesus, but then also living trust worthy for Jesus and out of that loving people and serving people. It’s the post Christendom model of the faith.”

~ Greg Boyd from the Alter Video Magazine interview: http://www.altervideomagazine.com/2010/09/28/httpvimeo-com15350393/

Today...In History...The Berlin Wall...

In 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, signaling an end to the Cold War and a victory for the long nonviolent resistance to communism in Eastern Europe.

3

Thank-you for reminding me of what is possible in this life… and for being my eyes again…hmmm…

Divine Milieu...Bruce Springsteen - She's The One...

With her killer graces and her secret places
That no boy can fill with her hands on her hips
Oh and that smile on her lips
Because she knows that it kills me
With her soft french cream
Standing in that doorway like a dream
I wish she'd just leave me alone
Because french cream won't soften them boots
And french kisses will not break that heart of stone
With her long hair falling
And her eyes that shine like a midnight sun
Oh-o she's the one, she's the one

That Thunder in your heart
At night when you're kneeling in the dark
It says you're never gonna leave her
But there's this angel in her eyes
That tells such desperate lies
And all you want to do is believe her
And tonight you'll try just one more time
To leave it all behind and to break on through
Oh she can take you, but if she wants to break you
She's gonna find out that ain't so easy to do
And no matter where you sleep tonight or how far you run
Oh-o she's the one, she's the one

Oh-o and just one kiss
She'd fill them long summer nights
With her tenderness that secret pact you made
Back when her love could save you from the bitterness
Oh she's the one, oh she's the one
Oh she's the one, oh she's the one
Oh she's the one, oh she's the one

Places...Infinitea Tea House, Minneapolis...

“…but places are full of mystery as times are, and almost from the start I knew that, of all places, it was the one that was right for me.” ~Frederick Buechner

My Place Today...

Infintea Teahouse in Minneapolis...listening to Tyler Blanski...

Common Prayer Release Party...

Common Prayer Release Party During Bar Church at Dunningan's Pub on December 5 at 11:00 a.m. Check out the Common Prayer Book Website at:
http://commonprayer.net/parties

Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals By Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro

Greg Boyd On God’s Sovereignty

Greg Boyd On God’s Sovereignty

My Place Today...

The Acoustic Cafe in Winona, MN

The Conversation...Some "Words From The Teacher..."

“I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.
~ Ecclesiastes 3:10-12 TNIV

Thoughts From Donald Miller...The Converstion Continues...

"I do not believe a person can take two issues from Scripture, those being abortion and gay marriage, and adhere to them as sins, then neglect much of the rest and call himself a fundamentalist or even a conservative. The person who believes the sum of his morality involves gay marriage and abortion alone, and neglects health care and world trade and the environment and loving his neighbor and feeding the poor is, by definition, a theological liberal, because he takes what he wants from Scripture and ignores the rest."
~ Donald Miller, Searching for God Knows What

The Continuing Converstion...Determinism and Free Will - How Much and How Little?

I always remembered this particular scene from the movie “The Crying Game” and I believe it was the imagery from the story of the scorpion and the frog that left a lasting impression upon my imagination.

It has been some time since I first saw this movie and much has happened with my thinking on free will and determinism. I have much more reading to do in the areas of the biological and neurological sciences - not so much in the biblical or theological spheres of my thinking. Theologically I am firmly on the libertarian free will /open theism side of things.

However, how the deterministic neurological activity presents itself coupled with our biology is something quite different.
The neuro-net determinism of the brain is not a theological concept, even though there may be theological implications to the realty of this truth. The aspect of the neurology of the brain that I am most interested in is the possibility (the libertarian free will part of me) of the neurology to be altered – to use biblical language – transformed.

I need to do more reading and thinking about all of this and by no means am I in a position to speak authoritatively on these subjects. As the title to this series of posts makes clear – this is the beginning of and a continuing conversation…

Thoughts From Rob Bell...Part Of The Conversation - Love and Jesus...

If the gospel isn't good news for everybody, then it isn't good news for anybody.

And this is because the most powerful things happen when the church surrenders its desire to convert people and convince them to join. It is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display. To do this, the church must stop thinking about everybody primarily in categories of in or out, saved or not, believer or nonbeliever. Besides the fact that these terms are offensive to those who are the "un" and "non", they work against Jesus' teachings about how we are to treat each other. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor, and our neighbor can be anybody. We are all created in the image of God, and we are all sacred, valuable creations of God. Everybody matters. To treat people differently based on who believes what is to fail to respect the image of God in everyone. As the book of James says, "God shows no favoritism." So we don't either.

Oftentimes the Christian community has sent the message that we love people and build relationships in order to convert them to the Christian faith. So there is an agenda. And when there is an agenda, it isn’t really love, is it? It’s something else. We have to rediscover love, period. Love that loves because it is what Jesus teaches us to do. We have to surrender our agendas. Because some people aren’t going to become Christians like us no matter how hard we push. They just aren’t. And at some point we have to commit them to God, trusting that God loves them more than we ever could. I obviously love to talk to people about Jesus and my faith. I’ll take every opportunity I can get. But I have learned that when I toss out my agenda and simply love as Jesus teaches me to, I often end up learning more about God than I could of imagined.
~ Rob Bell

The Converstion Continues..."When Did You Decide To Be Straight?"

My Place Today...

Amber at Mugby Junction in Winona, MN - morning, coffee, writing, reading, talking and "peaceful silence"

My Place Today...

In Winona with Amber and Lauren at the Acoustic Cafe...

Time To Start A Conversation...

"I heard you found some pretty words to say,
You found your little game to play and there's no one allowed in
Then just when we believe we could be great, reality it permeates
And conquers from within again..."

Lyrics...Rich Mullins...

"I've gone so far from my home,
I've seen the world and I have known so many secrets,
I wish now I did not know.
'Cause they have crept into my heart,
They have left it cold and dark and bleeding,
Bleeding and falling apart..."

Lyrics...Brandi Carlile...

"I don't know if I can give anymore,
I think I'm all tapped out.
I don't know how you live,
Because I'm not allowed..."