A Cup Of Grace

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Shifting Moral Culture...

The knowledge of good and evil seems to be the aim of all ethical reflection. The first task of Christian ethics is to invalidate this knowledge.

Jesus calls men, not to a new religion, but to life.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In his book Moral Freedom, Alan Wolfe writes about a shift that he believes is occurring in the cultural landscape of America, most notably in the sphere of morality. What are the reasons for this shift in the moral culture and is its influence being manifested in the rest of the world? Answering those two questions and commenting on the how this shift challenges the Christian worldview will be the intent of this paper.

Alan Wolfe puts forth the idea that, “…the three main formative institutions –family, school, and church – are as important as they ever were if people are to learn what it means to be a moral person” (Wolfe, 2001, p. 186). However, “…Americans look with suspicion on all of them” (2001, p.186) which is one of the reasons that Wolfe gives for the moral shift, because as he writes, “Our respondents seem to be rejecting old fashioned ideas of character formation without having well-articulated new ones to put in their place (2001, p.186). In his estimation, Wolfe see’s a jettison of the “old ideas” and as a consequence a vacuum being created which is the abyss of moral freedom. The apparent lifting of the strictures of an established moral system and the corresponding existential choices afforded the autonomous individual are part of the moral situation that America finds itself in. As individual believe or feel that it is now up to them to decide good and evil and often for practical personal reasons, or put another way – what works best for them is the best thing.

All that to say, “Americans have become comfortable with the idea of moral freedom because its optimistic theory of human nature makes more sense to them than the one it replaced. Earlier worldviews in America, from the Puritans’ to the Victorians’, argued that a strong God, like a strong state, was required by the failings of weak people. Many of our respondents do not view themselves as weak (2001, p. 197). Consequently, Wolfe argues that the moral freedom now known in America is, “…so radical an idea, so disturbing in its implications, that it has never had much currency among any but a few of the West’s great moral theorists. Even those who made passionate arguments in defense of freedom in general did not extend their arguments to moral freedom (2001, p.200).

Does America’s moral freedom or moral code migrate to the rest of the world? And if it does, what is the significance if any? Julia Galeota wrote, “…it would be nearly impossible to create one bland culture in a world of over six billion people. And nor should we want to. Contrary to Rothkopf’s (and George W. Bush’s) belief that, ‘Good and evil, better and worse coexist in this world,’ there are no such absolutes in this world. The United States should not be able to relentlessly force other nations to accept its definition of what is ‘good’ and ‘just’ or even ‘modern’ (Galeota, 2004, p. 276). Beyond the issues of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ and who decides and enforces these moral codes, “…the issue of cultural imperialism remains. Larger and more intrusive networks of communication, trade, and economic exchange bring values. In this world of value collision comes choices and change. Unfortunately, millions will find themselves drawn toward a lifestyle of materialism that carries with it a host of value choices” (Harf, 2009, p.283). The suggested cultural imperialism of America or more generally the West may have some part to play in the migration of moral freedom as technology continues to develop that makes communication quicker and easier.

As easily as currency can be exchanged through the global financial system and as integrated as the global economic and political systems are so too are the spectrum of ideas and thought. It would not be possible to contain a thought or an idea such as moral freedom which is defined as an idea that means, “…that individuals should determine for themselves what it means to lead a good and virtuous life” (Wolfe, 2001, p. 195). Moral freedom opens the possibility to Americans and anyone to, “…find answers to the perennial questions asked by theologians and moral philosophers, not by confronting to strictures handed down by God or nature, but by considering who they are, what others require, and what consequences follow from acting one way rather than another” (2001, p. 195). As the utility and practicality of moral freedom becomes more ubiquitous in America it is hard to imagine that it would not find receptive adherents in other parts of the global system.

When thinking about what challenges the idea of moral freedom brings to the Christian worldview one could think dismally and agree with some that there would be a need to get back to some sort of right moral code to make good people. However, the Christian goal is not to make “good” people, but rather to create people like Jesus and this isn’t accomplished by rules or a moral code but by faith and transformation. So, the idea of moral freedom and whatever that may mean or look like for various individuals may indeed not be a challenge but an opportunity for discipleship as out of moral freedom can come crisis and decision which can lead to a faith which is authentic and rooted in love rather than fear based behavior modification.

To understand how this concept of moral freedom can be an opportunity it is first necessary, “…to understand and internalize the biblical teaching that our fundamental sin is not our evil – as though the solution for sin was to become good – but our getting life from what we believe is our knowledge of good and evil. Our fundamental sin is that we place ourselves in the position of God and divide the world between what we judge to be good and what we judge to be evil. And this judgment is the primary thing that keeps us from doing the central thing God created and saved us to do, namely, love like he loves (Boyd, 2004, p.17). This central Christian theme about love and not judgment is paramount to a Christian worldview and is not determinate upon a moral code; in fact it is antithetical to it. Boyd wrote, “Because we do not usually understand and internalize the nature of our fundamental sin, we usually think our job as Christians is to embrace a moral system, live by it, and thus to be good people in contrast to all those who are evil….God’s goal for us is much more profound and much more beautiful than merely being good: it is to do the will of God by being loving, just as God is loving” (2004, p.17). By letting go of the idea that a moral code is what is needed for Christianity so that its adherents can become “good” then there can be a corresponding collapsing of our judgments of others and even the judgment of the concept of moral freedom itself can occur.

Jesus becomes the compulsion to loving action in the world so then moral freedom is not a challenge but really a necessity for discipleship. For if all an individual is doing is following a moral code, perhaps out of fear or some other sort of compulsion and this moral code is altering behavior but not essential being, then what good is the moral code to that person? It is not real and in many ways would in fact perpetuate a deception as to who that person really is.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer indeed was correct when he wrote, “The knowledge of good and evil seems to be the aim of all ethical reflection. The first task of Christian ethics is to invalidate this knowledge” (quoted in Boyd, 2004, p. 13). Moral freedom in a sense can be seen as a part of the invalidation of the knowledge that Bonhoeffer was thinking about and the liberating opportunity that comes from the possibilities of being free in Christ and not bound or caught in a religion or religious or secular system that attempts to curb or tweak behavior but fails at transforming an individual into a truly free human being and not a human doing. Jesus, “… calls men, not to a new religion, but to life.”

Bibliography

Galeota, Julia (2004) Cultural Imperialism: An American Tradition. In J. E. Harf, & M. O. Lombardi, (Eds.), Taking sides: clashing views on controversial issues (5th ed.), (p. 276). Dubuque: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin.

Boyd, Gregory A. (2004) Repenting of Religion: Turning from Judgment to the Love of God . Baker Books.

Harf, J.E. & Lombardi, M.O. (Eds.), (2009). Taking sides: clashing views on controversial issues (5rded.), Dubuque: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin.

Wolfe, Alan. (2001)

Moral Freedom: The Search for Virtue in a World of Choice.W.N. Norton & Company.

Religious Pornography: Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven!

Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven!

Religious Pornography: Christianism Watch - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

See: http://acograce.blogspot.com/2011/01/religious-pornography.html

And then read this:

Christianism Watch - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Religious Pornography...

Religious Pornography: the creative activity (writing or pictures or films, etc.) which has no artistic, theological, hermeneutical or philosophical value other than to stimulate religious desire and lust - usually depicting religious behavior, actions, words, ceremonies for the intent to cause religious excitement and exuberance as well as judgment of the “other”.

What does religion mean? In what sense am I using the word?

Here is a one of the best descriptions of what I mean given by Gregory A. Boyd, “…religious people feed the hunger of their heart by striving to impress whatever picture of God or gods they embrace with the rightness of their beliefs and behaviors – in contrast to the wrongness of others’ beliefs and behaviors” (Boyd, The Myth of A Christian Religion: Losing Your Religion for the Beauty of a Revolution p. 59).

Boyd also writes, “…religious idolatry is particularly resistant to the Kingdom of God. It’s no coincidence that the main opposition Jesus faced in establishing the Kingdom came from the guardians of the religious status quo – the Pharisees, religious scribes, and the like. So it should not surprise us that the main opposition to advancing the Kingdom in our day comes from contemporary guardians of the religious status quo” (Boyd, p. 50).

Who did Jesus hang out with? How did those he spent time with delineate between his life giving presence and the life taking presence of “the guardians of the religious status quo”?

Well, “One of the most shocking aspects of Jesus’ ministry is that he befriended tax collectors, prostitutes, and other ‘sinners.’ He even went to parties with them! They seemed to want to hang out with Jesus. This tells us something important about the Kingdom of God….Prostitutes were viewed as undermining the moral fabric of society, while tax collectors were seen as traitors because they worked for the oppressive Roman government, which most Jews despised. No wonder Jesus’ association with these groups ruined his reputation among religious leaders…” (Boyd, p.62).

Sadly, there is much religious pornography extant and propagated by the modern Church. Religious pornography is analogous to the golden calf the Israelites built while Moses was on the mountain:

"When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him." Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD." So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry" (Exodus 32:1-6 TNIV).

All religious pornography is an attempt to get life from something other than God - and all varieties of idolatry exist to make “us” feel better than “them.” Something Jesus never did! As a consequence of this, “…on the whole today’s prostitutes and tax collectors steer as far away from Christians as they did the Pharisees in the first century. Nothing could be a greater indictment of the modern Church than this” (Boyd, p.64).

Unfortunately, purveyors of religious pornography resist the liberating revolution that Jesus inaugurated as addiction to religion is far more fulfilling in its immediate gratification of the self and therefore there is the constant need to continually have that need met rather than turning to the true lasting source of Life. For to do that would require a complete relinquishing of the addiction to religious pornography and the intense fervor of being right and being the maintainers of the arbitrary religious status quo that stands in stark contrast to the example of Jesus.

For Jesus, “…was known for the scandalous way he loved. The religious people viewed him as an anarchist eroding the moral fabric of society because of his refusal to recognize their all-important distinction between their ‘holiness’ and all they judged to be ‘unholy.’ Tragically, Christians today often see themselves as the primary defenders and promoters of this very distinction. Rather than viewing themselves as ‘the worst of sinners,’ as Jesus and Paul command, many view themselves as the morally superior guardians of society who will protect it from those they judge to be the ‘worst of sinner.’ So, instead of being known as outrageous lovers, Christians are largely viewed as self righteous judgers. No wonder the prostitutes and tax collectors of our day are repelled by us” (Boyd, pp.64-65).

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Jesus calls not to a new religion but to life” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison, p. 482) and this life is the way to the freedom of the abundant life, as Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

Starting with this post as an explanation and defining of both religious pornography and religion, I will be periodically posting examples of what I have hopefully defined here as both. The examples will be under the title “Religious Pornography” – and it is my hope that, “…we cease getting Life from the rightness of our beliefs and behaviors and return to getting it from the one true source of Life” (Boyd, p. 65).

Cathleen Falsani gets it right - Brian McLaren

Exhaustive Definitive Foreknowledge...

The foreknowledge debate is essentially about how God exercises his sovereignty, not at all about whether or not he is sovereign. The issue surrounds exhaustive definitive foreknowledge (EDF), what it is and how God as the sovereign Lord of all, chose to create the world and the reality in which we as humans exist in, and he as God relates to us in. This discussion is framed within the constructs of three principle positions: the Arminian view – God foreknows future free actions, the Calvinist view – God foreknows by sovereignly ordaining the future, and the Open view – God foreknows all that shall be and all that may be (Boyd, Eddy, 2009, p. 47). All three of these positions will be examined within this paper and the one that I find most compelling and why will be explained along with how the position influences a disciple’s life in a positive passionate way.

This debate starts with the premise that, “Most Christians throughout history have believed that God knows everything that is to come. This is often referred to as the ‘classical’ view of divine foreknowledge, and it is still what the majority of evangelicals believe” (2009, p.48). From this premise however, “…a number of variations within the classical view” (2009, p. 48) emerge and the first “variation” that will be looked at is the Arminian view. The view held by Arminians is, “…that, while God predetermines certain aspects of the future, he leaves other aspects for free agents to determine….Arminians believe God still possesses that ability to foreknow with certainty how these free agents will choose. God thus foreknows all that will come to pass without predetermining all that will come to pass” (2009, p.50). An important aspect to the Arminian position is that, “Arminians deny that foreknowledge implies meticulous divine control...” and “While God certainly foreknows all that he foreordains, there’s no reason to conclude that God foreordains all that he foreknows…”(2009, p.53). In relation to EDF Arminians would believe that, “…God knows all that shall occur in the same way he knows as that is now occurring and all that has occurred. He simply sees it, but doesn’t necessarily bring it about. Much of what is brought about is the result of decisions made by free agents. Yet God knows it – past, present, and future – in exhaustive, definite detail” (2009, p. 52).

Another view of God’s foreknowledge and the degree to which God has EDF and what that means is the Calvinists view. The, “Calvinists agree with the Arminians in affirming that God possesses exhaustively, definite and eternal foreknowledge of all that shall come to pass….Calvinists hold that God’s foreknowledge is based on how God wills the future to unfold” (2009, p. 55). For Calvinists everything that occurs is within the scope of God’s will, nothing in reality is outside the control and will of God and this is the main way in which they differ from Armininians and Open Theists as Calvinists believe, “…that every detail of history is just such a state of affairs, for nothing takes place outside the will of God….God leaves nothing to chance…” (2009, p. 57).

With Open Theists and their view on EDF, the largest departure in position from Arminians and Calvinists occurs over what it is that God knows in the future. For, “…both Arminians and Calvinists agree that an omniscient God must know the future exclusively in terms of what will certainly come to pass….Open Theists depart from this view of foreknowledge and hold instead that the future is not just about what will come to pass but also about what may or may not come to pass” and “…while Arminians and Calvinists both hold that the future is exhaustively known by God in an eternal and definite manner, Open Theists hold that the future, since it is partly unsettled or ‘open,’ is known to God as such” (2009, p. 62). Open Theists posit their believe as the result of biblical and philosophical reasons, for, “Open Theists hold that the future is partly settled and partly unsettled primarily because they find this view reflected in Scripture…They affirm that God is the sovereign Lord of history who can predestine, and therefore, as much of the future as he chooses. Open Theists part with the classical tradition, however, in their denial that these settled passages tell the whole story. For there are also many other passages that depict the future as unsettled, and Open Theists believe that these passages must be taken just as seriously as the settled passages” (2009, p. 63).

For me the most compelling of the three views on EDF is the Open Theists position primarily because it affords the possibility of an infinitely wiser, intelligent God that does not need coercion or control to bring about good or a purpose to every evil. He can do this as his, “… wisdom is magnificent” (Isa 28:29b TNIV). The God who is infinitively intelligent can know every possibility and manage all of them as though they will or will not or may or may not occur and have a contingency for every possibility so that he can bring a purpose to every possibility that is chosen so that every negative may become a positive. Therefore, God not needing to have a specific divine purpose for everything that occurs prior to it occurring is in my estimation a more praise worthy, loving God. He willing risked and created reality in such a way as to relinquish some control and give his creation, both angelic and human libertarian free will that actually affects reality so that the possibility of love exists. Without a reality that involves risk and libertarian free will it is hard to imagine the real existence of love as love must be chosen to be genuine and not merely controlled or coerced.

As I have contemplated EDF the most compelling aspects of it are that it postulates a significantly more compelling intellectual argument for grappling with the problem of evil. The Calvinist, “Failing to distinguish between the sovereign use God makes of evil decisions on the basis of his foreknowledge, on the one hand, and foreknown occurrence of evil as part of God’s sovereign purpose, on the other, lands Calvinism in the deepest ditch of the notorious problem of evil” (2009, p53). And it is in the getting out of this “deepest ditch” that the Open Theist position is the most advantageous as it not only provides a philosophical and scriptural way out of the ditch, but more importantly it gives value to our prayers and how they can actually change reality by affecting God. This I believe for me is what allowed my heart to follow my mind and open up new vistas of how I think and worship such a great God because, “The open view thus infuses the Christian life with a sense of passion, significance, and urgency” and “…is the most plausible view because it squares with our everyday life….we all live as though the open view were true” (2009, p. 65). In my experience especially over the past couple of years I have found this to be increasingly true.

The EDF discussion is intriguing and there are obviously many facets to it and also a degree of mystery that I do not think anyone would deny as we are attempting to wrap our finite minds around the infinite - grasping to get an “eff of the ineffable.” Nevertheless, to the degree that we desire to know the mind of God, the more praiseworthy and glorious I believe he becomes and all the more my passion to worship him becomes enflamed within me.

Bibliography

Bible, TNIV.

Boyd, Gregory, A and Eddy, Paul, R. (2009) Across the Spectrum. Baker Academic.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

How I Feel Again...

"Inside I felt like I was carryin' the broken spirits,

Of all the other ones who lost,

When the promise is broken you go on living,

But it steals something from down in your soul,

Like when the truth is spoken and it don't make no difference,

Something in your heart goes cold.."

~ Bruce Springsteen

My Place Today...

A Long Island Ice Tea, thinking and writing at Dunnigans Pub...

A Cup of Grace: My Anniversay...A Post Script...

A Cup of Grace: My Anniversay...A Post Script...: "Thinking back to what I posted last week on this blog about my anniversary and all my feelings and all the emotions that were swirling withi..."

My Anniversay...A Post Script...

Thinking back to what I posted last week on this blog about my anniversary and all my feelings and all the emotions that were swirling within me and about some of the responses that I received about those posts.

To begin with my, anniversary posts were the most popular that I have ever written, there were even more readers of them than any of the Bar Church AP posts. That tells me that people are most interested in how we as humans deal with hurt and loss than anything else. What we can call our collective, shared human experience.

Striking to me are those who presume to know.

Know what another human being is going through…none of us can possibly know what it is like to experience another’s life. Not only did God not know what it was to be human until Jesus came and God lived as a human being as the writer of Hebrews expressed, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered...” (Hebrews 5:8 TNIV).

The most comforting thing is simply to be with one that is hurting or suffering, it is not the words or the advice that is given that matters – those two things are actually quickly forgotten. What comforts are not words but presence…both human and divine. To be with another is to participate, to be in solitary with an aching friend. To be present and listen...

Look to the book of Job…where his friends, “… sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was” (Job 2:13).

Expressing hurt is to be human; being transparent and authentic is the reality of what we are, how we were created by God. The evil one wants to divide and conquer, to bind us up in our own selves and it is only through brutal transparency that we are free to be in the words of Irenaeus, “…man (woman) fully alive…” - as one of my favorite authors Anne Lamott has written, “God is more into honesty than anything else…” her argument being that God then has someplace to start with us - in our honesty.

As examples of that - look to the man who had the heart of God, David - if there had been anti-depressants in his time we would not have the Psalms.

David wrote,

“My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, ‘Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm’” (Psalm 55:4-8).

And…

“I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal. You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you. Lord, the LORD Almighty, may those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me; God of Israel, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me. For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face. I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my own mother's children….” (Psalm 69:2-8).

In the New Testament Paul glaringly writes of his present condition and struggles in his letter to the Romans,

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death” (Rom 7:15-24)?

And then in a letter to Timothy, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst” (1Ti 1:15).

If Paul and David make such statements - how much more can we also speak of our struggles, difficulties, pain, anguish and moments of despair?

I say speak our hearts in all the brutal and raw honesty we can muster regardless of what anyone may say - as Paul wrote,

“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” (Galatians 1:10).

My prayer is to agree with Paul,

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

Faith Gets Star Treatment At Sundance

Silent & Alone with God...

The Compelling Spiritual Discipline Of Asceticism: http://huffingtonpost.com/norris-j-chumley-phd/the-value-of-asceticism-t_b_806700.html

Grace - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

A moment of grace...

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2011/01/grace.html

Monday, January 17, 2011

Bon Jovi - Abraham, Martin & John...

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction ... The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

Martin Luther King Jr. Strength To Love, 1963.

MLK..."Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

I Have a Dream, 1963.

Robert F. Kennedy..."The Mindless Menace of Violence"

Here is the speech given by Robert F. Kennedy the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. Robert F. Kennedy spoke at the City Club of Cleveland, April 5, 1968

Martin Luther King, Jr. - "I Have A Dream Speech"...

RELEVANT Magazine - The Spiritual Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King’s Famous Letter | Jesus Creed

Martin Luther King’s Famous Letter Jesus Creed

MLK...

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

10 Martin Luther King, Jr., Quotations

Remembering MLK...

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation.

The foundation of such a method is love."

Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, Sweden, December 11, 1964.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Jay Bakker...Fall to Grace: A Revolution of God, Self and Society....

Jay’s Today Show Appearance

Saturday, January 15, 2011

My Week...

When your day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,

When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on

Don't let yourself go, 'cause everybody cries n everybody hurts sometimes

Sometimes everything is wrong.

Now it's time to sing along

When your day is night alone, (hold on, hold on)If you feel like letting go, (hold on)

If you think you've had too much of this life, well hang on...

If you're on your own in this life, the days and nights are long,

When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on...

Divine Milieu...The Dixie Chicks - Easy Silence...

When the calls and conversations

Accidents and accusations

Messages and misperceptions

Paralyze my mind

Busses, cars, and airplanes leaving

Burnin' fuel and gasoline and

And everyone is running and I come to find a refuge in the easy silence that you make for me

It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me

And the peaceful quiet you create for me

And the way you keep the world at bay for me

The way you keep the world at bay...

Son Of Jim And Tammy Faye Finds His Own 'Grace' : NPR

Postmodern Wells: Creating A Third Place : Mark Batterson

Divine Milieu....The Travelling Wilburys - Handle With Care...

"Reputations changeable

Situations tolerable

Baby, you're adorable

Handle me with care

I'm so tired of being lonely

I still have some love to give

Won't you show me that you really care..."

Friday, January 14, 2011

My Place Today...

At the end of quite a week - sitting and thinking with Jack Daniels...

Addicted To Our Buildings

Are Evangelicals Getting Dumber? | Donald Miller's Blog

Are Evangelicals Getting Dumber? Donald Miller's Blog

Cathleen Falsani: Is Evangelical Christianity Having a Great Gay Awakening?

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Gays and God=?UTF-8?B?4oCZcyBCZWViZSBC?=ird Massacre » Blog » Greg Boyd (Christus Victor Ministries)

Great blog post by Greg Boyd...

http://www.gregboyd.org/blog/gays-and-gods-beebe-bird-massacre/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gregboyd+%28Greg+Boyd+and+Christus+Victor+Ministries%29

Grace...

“In a world where the first are first and the only way to be the most intelligent or best – looking or the most successful, it is hard to get reconditioned to the conditioning of grace. A flower doesn’t bloom in one hour of sunlight, and a believer’s soul needs constant exposure to the rays of grace day after day, year after year, before it moves from an intellectual assent to a truth that our lives bask in and live by.”

~ Steve Stockman, from Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2

Smoking, Drinking, Swearing and The Kingdom of God....

“Evangelicals believe they are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), but then add a man-made waiver that you have to work as hard as you can to meet middle-class behavioral patterns to hang onto it. It seems to be contrary to the Gospel, where among the many teachings of Jesus regarding servanthood, the last become first. It is an upside-down kingdom contradicting what the natural order of the first and the best winning. The Church therefore should be radically opposed to such a success syndrome. It seems this affected Bono.

Another strange quirk about the Church is it has specific qualities that indicate whether you are an ‘acrobat.’Usually, they have to do with swearing, smoking, and drinking.

For some reason, there are biblical teachings that do not – but perhaps should – hold so much importance. Among them: materialistic greed, bigoted prejudice, the oppression of women, or the neglect of social justice. Somehow you can ignore many of the rallying calls of Christ and the prophets, and because you are teetotal and less flowery with your language and attend church twice a week, you are declared spiritually strong….Jesus told a parable about the kingdom of God where the sheep enter the kingdom, and the goats are left outside (Matt. 25:31-46).

Jesus didn’t say the goats smoked, drank, or swore too much. He said they didn’t get involved in changing the circumstances of the marginalized by feeding them when they were hungry, and visiting them in prison. These were the issues of His kingdom.”

~ Steve Stockman, from Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2

Bono on Religion…

“I have this hunger in me…everywhere I look, I see the evidence of a Creator. But I don’t see it as religion, which has cut my people in two. I don’t see Jesus Christ as being any part of a religion. Religion to me is almost like when God leaves – and people devise rules to fill the space.”

~ Bono

~ Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2 by Steve Stockman

Making The Devil Smile...

“In the early eighties, Os Guinness, one of the most intellectual Christian writers of our time, wrote a book titled The Gravedigger File. Based on C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, a book that would sneak it’s way the U2 story, it was written from the viewpoint of a senior devil outlining the strategy for subverting the Church from within.

One of the most powerful schemes for doing this would be to make Christianity ‘privately engaging but socially irrelevant.’ Christians can have all the energy and resources that the Church can muster, which can be enormous, but if they spend all their time looking at themselves rather than looking out, the devil will be pleased.

It’s why Christian singer Rich Mullins signed all his autographs ‘Be God’s.’ He was aware that people could ‘be good’ and still make the devil smile with their ineffectualness.”

~ Steve Stockman, from Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2

Culture, Art and Being a Christian....

Some excerpts from Relevant Magazine's article, Can Offensive Art Be Christian? by Jars of Clay's Dan Haseltine.

"If ever there was an arrogance perpetuated in the Church, our art is to blame. Our art describes the world where we live. We don’t spend enough time with prostitutes and outlaws, drunks and addicts. We don’t write about lust and fear and greed and obesity and broken things. We relegate our art to the way we wish the world should be and not how the world actually is.

We are only offended because we forget the kinds of depravity we could reach if not for God’s grace.

Perhaps we should rethink the boundaries we have established for artistic expressions of Gospel truth. We need to recognize the majority of artists do not create simply to offend. Whether we like it or not, Jesus has made room for Insane Clown Posse. If an artist illuminates truth, it is God’s truth whether the conduit artist is a born-again Christian or not. Jesus has made room for art containing sexuality to reflect God’s glory. He has made room for artistic expressions containing abrasive language to reflect God’s glory.

The Gospel I know was not written wholly for children and I cannot, for a second, think it is not God’s truth because some expressions of it are not appropriate for my 7-year-old. Are we willing to step beyond fear and engage culture where it exists, recognizing art is born out of stories happening around us?

They are stories that will end in redemption because God said they would. They may show up in our view at the very beginning of the redemptive process, and they may be messy and unrefined, but they are honest. The only thing that should offend us is art that lies."

Read the whole article here: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/current-events/op-ed-blog/24084-can-offensive-art-be-christian

RELEVANT Magazine - Can Offensive Art Be Christian?

RELEVANT Magazine - Can Offensive Art Be Christian?

This is a great article with much needed insights into what Jeus would be involved in and how he loves and if we are to take the biblical teachings seriously, that we to are to be like Jesus, to mimic, imitate, be Jesus to the world around us...well then an article like this is much needed!

Tentmaking 6 (Jeff Cook) | Jesus Creed

Tentmaking 6 (Jeff Cook) Jesus Creed

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

My Anniversary...19 Years...

“Your hand, my wonder, is now icy cold.
The purest light of the celestial dome
has burned me through. And now we are
as two still plains lying in darkness,
as two black banks of a frozen stream
in the chasm of the world…”
~ Czeslaw Milosz, from Statue of A Couple

My Anniversary...

"Oh, no I never got over those blues eyes,
I see them every where,
I miss those arms that held me,
When all the love was there..."

"I wonder if she's sorry,

For leavin' what we'd begun,

There's someone for me somewhere,

And I still miss someone..."

“…you may in the privacy of the heart take out the album of your own life and search it for the people and places you have loved and learned from yourself, and for those moments in the past – many of them half forgotten – through which you glimpsed, however dimly and fleetingly, the sacredness of your own journey.”
~ Frederick Buechner

?

What I want to know is if it is possible, likely or whatever to find someone that after knowing all my darkness and all my light, and all my secrets would still say – I know, I know…it’s ok and I still love you.

Why...

Why?

Why can never adequately be answered and is usually not a very helpful question to ask. Hmmm…I don’t know…

Catherine...

Late tonight I received this e-mail from Catherine in Madrid, Spain:

Dearest friend,

I have been so saddened by your recent blog posts concerning your upcoming anniversary. I feel the weight of your loss and the shattering of your heart.

I too cried with you and for you as I read the words you have written so many many miles from where I am. Madrid has been dreary and your words only compound my anguish and listlessness.

I so wish I could be next to you during these moments of hurt and remembrance. To hold your hand and wipe the tears from your cheeks – you do know how much I love you. I hope you do…

I saw on your Facebook that you now finally have your passport. When, not if you travel to Europe this spring I will meet you in Paris. We will watch the sun set over Paris while drinking in a café. You can read Hemingway to me; it will be wonderful, beautiful!

Maybe, we will drink all night and then wait for the same sun to rise in the morning. Can you make it till spring - through the long dark cold Minnesota winter? Spring will warm your heart my friend. It will. I promise.

I must tell you that when I read your 2010 reflections I was curious as to who told you that you are such a good kisser? I thought we had no secrets. Remember?

Take your time with your heart, let life happen, enjoy the journey and know I really love you.

You are a dear friend.

Please be ok. I am going to bed now – it is late here in Spain. I hope your start to sleep well, I will hold you while you sleep someday and protect you from all your fears. You will be ok till spring – I know you will.

Think of me when the darkness comes…I love you…

Please don’t stay stuck Chris, unsettled, you don’t have to – you are free. Know this, if you know anything…my love has freed you. You are more than all your hurt and you will know love again…

Love you,

Catherine

My Anniversary… Reflections…I Need Some Grace - My Cup Is Empty Again... Part V...

It is now the eve of my anniversary.

Tomorrow is the day nineteen years ago that Patti and I were married on a cold January day.

So…tonight I am drinking and letting the memories flood my mind…

“I am honest to a fault,
It’s just who I am,
I’m better as a memory than as your friend…”
~ Kenny Chesney

Monday, January 10, 2011

Just Because...Trinity..."She's Got The Look" - Redux....

The Arena...

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

~ Theodore Roosevelt

"Citizenship in a Republic,"Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Ems, Fire Fighter, Dispatcher, Law Enforcement Tribute...Grace and Comfort to All Those That Serve...

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,

who comforts us in all our troubles,

so that we can comfort those in any trouble

with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."

~ II Corinthians 1:3-4

I have been thinking about EMS in Lake County a lot lately and about the past year that we have all been through together. We have had some good times together this past year. For example when a call has gone out and everything has gone well and worked the way it was suppose to and no one lost their life or was hurt too badly. Then we all went home to our families – safely and yes, this is what we pray happens all the time but unfortunately it doesn’t always.

Or the good times when we are together as EMS family members (fire/rescue/ambulance/law enforcement) sharing a meal and a drink (or several drinks) and realize that we are all in this together and are for each other.

As you all know this has also been a year of transition and struggles and loss and frustration – all the things common to life but perhaps a bit more intense when we are confronted with suffering and death in an acute way because of our choice to volunteer or to do as a profession. There have been many distractions in the past year from what our vision and mission should be – bringing the best care and service to the residents and visitors (our customers) of Lake County.

Some of the struggles and frustrations are necessary so that we can continue to fulfill our mission. Because some of the issues are at the core of what we do and that we will be able to continue to do in an effective and positive way. We must expend energy and time to make certain that the EMS system works well - not only for us but for all that will come behind us and do what we do now.

I know that it easy to be brought down by things going on around us and that it can cause us to react negatively to each other and those that we serve.

But when I think of those times that we really shine, when the pagers go off and we have a call (the big one) and all the rigs (fire/rescue/ambulance/law enforcement) are going down the road code 3 risking our lives doing one of the most dangerous things we do (driving) because someone has made a call that someone’s life is in danger and we go because that is what we do.

When we arrive and all do what we have been trained to do and we save a life because we love what we do and are dedicated to it and are good at it – that is what we should dwell on when things may appear to be difficult or wonder why we are doing what we do.

Or the times when a child or elderly person needs an ambulance ride or just needs help getting up off the floor at their house and we go and help them because that is what we do.

We do a lot of weird things – run out in the middle of the night, during snow storms, leave our families at birthdays, at Christmas or Thanksgiving meals when the pager goes off.

Go to training meetings and extra training on weekends, go into burning buildings, and stand on highways with little protection other than a reflective vest, jump through ice, go out on Lake Superior or go into the woods behind ATV’s and snowmobiles, dangle on the edge of cliffs, make traffic stops in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, walk into the middle of a domestic disturbance call.

Why?

Because we are the only ones in our town that can do those things... not only do those things but do them because we want to - so that someone else can go home to their families and be there safe with them for another Christmas, Thanksgiving or birthday.

We are really good at what we do and I enjoy working with all of you and would trust any of you with watching my back and I look forward to the challenges that the future will no doubt bring, both good and bad.

Just remember that we are all in this together and we are here for each other – think back to Mary Schlangen’s[i] funeral over three years and the benefit for Mark that same year (for all of you that were a part of that – if you were not there ask someone who was to tell you about it) and all the love and support that we as a Fire/ EMS family demonstrated.

That is what we do for one of our own and would also do for the stranger that calls in the middle of the night for help. Thanks to all of you and your families for what you do and the sacrifices that you make.

Note:

This is a reworking of something I wrote three years ago and thought that I would revisit it now. Although, it may seem rather specific to those serving in lake County, I believe that all that do similiar service anywhere will understand and resonate with what I wrote.

I work as an EMT for the Lake County Ambulance Service and am the retired Captain of the Lake County Sheriff’s Rescue Squad.

[i] Mary Schlangen was killed when the car she was a passenger in was struck by a drunk driver on August 10th. 2007. Her husband Mark who is the Two Harbors Fire Department Chief and Lake County Sheriff’s Rescue Squad member was air lifted to North Memorial Hospital in the Twin Cities and their two children were taken by ambulance to a local hospital. Mark and the children survived the accident

The Atheist Gives Us Nothing | First Things

The Atheist Gives Us Nothing First Things

My Anniversary… Reflections…I Need Some Grace - My Cup Is Empty Again... Part IV...

Nineteen years...

"Gave you my heart,
Gave you my soul,
You left me alone here,
With nothing to hold,
Yesterday's gone,
Now all I want is a smile..."

"You need what you need,

You can say what you want,

Not much you can do,

When the feeling is gone,

Maybe blue skies above,

But it's cool when your love's on the rocks..."

"Love on the rocks,

Ain’t no surprise,

Just pour me a drink,

And I'll tell you some lies,

Got nothing to lose,

So you just sing the blues all the time..."

Nineteen years...

My Anniversary… Reflections…I Need Some Grace - My Cup Is Empty Again... Part III...

"It's your life - you say you need a change

Don't all the dreams we've seen come true mean anything

You say it's different now and you keep staring at the door

How can you walk away don't I matter anymore..."

Well, tonight I am sitting alone in a hotel room in Winona, MN – strange all the places you end up at.

Thinking about nineteen years ago again tonight and

I came across this song by Blake Shelton and the lyrics as well as the images describe well how I am feeling.

Interestingly, the video has a landmark with Texas written on it and it was in Texas nineteen years ago that Patti and I met. We were married in Minnesota, just north of Duluth at a place called the Lakeview Castle. Neither of us knew all that was going on around us, it was such an overwhelming whirlwind and before we knew it we were living in northern Ontario during a bleak cold winter.

Hmmm…that was us – two kids facing the world and all that it had in store for us. I don’t really know where things went wrong; there probably isn’t a particular point. I do know how hard it was those first several months for Patti.

I know all the mistakes that I made, all the many many things that I would do different now.

"If we had known our love would come to this

We could have saved our hearts the hurt of wasted years

Well it's been fun - what else can I say

If the feeling's gone words won't stop you anyway..."

As I type these words, tears roll down my face. I am so sorry for so much, and yes, I have many regrets.

But how does a person go back?

I doubt so much now. Nineteen years is a long time, so many memories, moments – the births of our three children, tears of joy and pain…drinking coffee together, trips, all for what? How does life take such turns?

Nineteen years…

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Bar Church Associated Press Video...

Saturday, January 8, 2011

My Anniversary…A Preliminary Reflection…I Need Some Grace - My Cup Is Empty Again... Part II...

Cause goodbyes are like a roulette wheel
You never know where they're gonna land
First you're spinning, then you're standing still
Left holding a losing hand
But one day you're gonna find someone
And right away you'll know it's true
That all of your seeking's done
It was just a part of the passing through
Right there in that moment you'll finally understand
That I was better as a memory than as your man
Better as a memory than as your man...

As I wrote in my last anniversary reflection post, "Well, on the 12th of this month I will have been married for nineteen years and it is very odd to think about as my wife and I have been separated for a year now."

As I reflect tonight as the 12th. draws closer this song by Kenny Chesney has been heavy on my heart...much truth in the lyrics - especially for me right now, in this particular moment of time...

I move on like a sinners prayer
And letting go like a levee breaks
Walk away as if I don't care
Learn to shoulder my mistakes
Or built to fade like your favorite song
Get reckless when there's no need
Laugh as your stories ramble on
Break my heart, but it won't bleed
My only friends are pirates
That's just who I am
But I'm better as a memory than as your man

Never sure when the truth won't do
And pretty good on a lonely night
Or move on the way a storm blows through
And never stay, but then again, I might.
I struggle sometimes to find the words
Always sure until I doubt
Walk a line until it blurs
Build walls too high to climb out
But I'm honest to a fault
That's just who I am
I'm better as a memory than as your man

I see you leaning, you're bound to fall
I don't want to be that mistake
I'm just a dreamer and nothing more
You should know it before it gets too late

Cause goodbyes are like a roulette wheel
You never know where they're gonna land
First you're spinning, then you're standing still
Left holding a losing hand
But one day you're gonna find someone
And right away you'll know it's true
That all of your seeking's done
It was just a part of the passing through
Right there in that moment you'll finally understand
That I was better as a memory than as your man
Better as a memory than as your man

A man walks into bar ... and starts a church: Minn. seminarian holds unconventional services - latimes.com

The Los Angeles Times....

A man walks into bar ... and starts a church: Minn. seminarian holds unconventional services - latimes.com

Friday, January 7, 2011

A Man Walks Into a Bar in Minnesota ... to Preach - ABC News

The News-Herald : Breaking news coverage for Northern Ohio

A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach | AP | 01/07/2011

A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach - Faith and Values - TheState.com

A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach - TwinCities.com

A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach - SignOnSanDiego.com

A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach - York Dispatch

A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach

TODAYonline | Breaking News | A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach

Converting our Imagination 8 | Jesus Creed

A Man Walks into a Bar… to Preach! | Two Handed Warriors

A Man Walks Into a Bar in Minnesota ... to Preach - ABC News

ABC News...

A Man Walks Into a Bar in Minnesota ... to Preach - ABC News

A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach - Bloomberg

A Man Walks Into A Bar In Minnesota ... To Preach : NPR

NPR...

A Man Walks Into A Bar In Minnesota ... To Preach : NPR

Ledger-Enquirer.com | 01/07/2011 | A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach

A Guy Walks Into A Bar In Two Harbors…To Preach - AM 1240 WJON

Here is the video version of the AP story...

A Guy Walks Into A Bar In Two Harbors…To Preach - AM 1240 WJON

dallasnews.com

A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach - GreenwichTime

A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach - macombdaily.com

A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach - Beaumont Enterprise

TWO HARBORS, Minn.: A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach | Faith & Values | Kentucky.com

TWO HARBORS, Minn. | A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach | The Herald - Rock Hill, SC

A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach - KansasCity.com

A man walks into a bar in Minnesota ... to preach

A Man Walks Into A Bar In Minnesota ... To Preach - CBS News

A man walks into bar ... and starts a church: Minn. seminarian holds unconventional services | StarTribune.com

My Anniversary…A Preliminary Reflection…I Need Some Grace - My Cup Is Empty Again...

Well, on the 12th of this month I will have been married for nineteen years and it is very odd to think about as my wife and I have been separated for a year now.

Tonight, well…late tonight, as I really don’t sleep anymore unless I take a couple hundred milligrams of Trazadone I accidently (if anything is really an accident) came across this video clip with scenes from the Matrix.

What so obviously stood out to me is the song that accompanied the scenes from the movie – the song by Bryan Adams, “Everything I Do, I Do It For You.” Why did this stand out to me? Well…it was my wife’s and my song for our first dance at our wedding; our theme, our song - the words that were to go along with our love, our day.

Now I doubt our love. I doubt the words that were to be our words. I doubt that I was ever loved the way Trinity loved Neo, the way in which Trinity believed in Neo.

Is love and belief and trust like that even a possibility? Or, is it merely a myth? A fantasy, a pie in the sky dream of a fool hearted phony, a sappy, emotional creeps like me?

Perhaps? I really don’t know - at least not yet.

As I wrote in my 2010 Reflections:

http://acograce.blogspot.com/2010/12/2010reflections-listeningto-my-life.html - I am still in search of Trinity’s kiss…and the journey goes on…

And still, I am haunted by memories, by a face; by a person that yes I still love…

Earlier tonight I wrote this and maybe these words are what spurned me onto these thought, this direction with my heart?

This is what I wrote:

Is it wrong, unnatural, or whatever…that I still really miss Patti? Does she or how can she not miss me? Why do I feel this? Why?

I know that these are mere words, and I suppose sappy words at that, that mean nothing. Still, they are how I feel, and represent what is going on inside of me as the day of our anniversary approaches, the anniversary of the day I married the woman that I believed that I would grow old with…

Thought...

No one is her type and yet everyone is her type...

How I Felt Tonight...

As I was sitting in Dunnigan’s Pub tonight this scene from “Raiders of The Lost Ark “came to mind.

I felt like Marion in this scene from the movie…while she is actively participating in the drinking contest she is, in reality, not suffering from any affects of the alcohol while her rival. as well as those around her are becoming more and more intoxicated.

I experienced a similar thing tonight…strange and yet very representative of reality…at least the reality propagated within the Matrix…

Divine Milieu...Dreams - Fleetwood Mac..."Players only love you while their playing..."

Now there you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well who am I to keep you down
It's only right that you should play it the way that you feel it
But listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness
Like a heartbeat, drives you mad In the stillness of remembering
What you had, and what you lost what you had, and what you lost
Thunder only happens when it's raining

Players only love you when they're playing
They say, women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean you'll know
You'll know

Now here I go again,
I see the crystal vision I keep my visions to myself
It's only me who wants to wrap around your dreams and
Have you any dreams you'd like to sell,
Dreams of Loneliness, like a heartbeat drives you mad In the stillness of remembering What you had,

And what you lost
What you had, oh what you lost

Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
They say, women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean you'll know

"There you stood, everybody watched you play I just turned and walked away I had nothing left to say..."

~ Bob Seger

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Bewilderment....

I am still at most moments in a state of bewilderment.

Perhaps that is a good thing? I don’t know?

Not sure?

Time will be the revealer of whether that is true or not.

I do at some level believe that bewilderment is a good thing…

Interruption....

When life starts to feel normal (whatever that is) or routine, or becomes routine.

Stop! Halt!

Then proceed to do something radical, unpredictable, and what will appear to most people as not making any sense.

This is how it is to follow God.

The interruptions in life - whether self imposed or unexpected are what create who we already are, but what the mundane silences and buries.

The New Face of American Evangelicalism - ABC News

Tom Krattenmaker: Q Gathering 2010: Heralding the Arrival of a Post-Christian America

The Epiphany | Jesus Creed

Two Handed Warrior Books of the Decade, by Gary & Sue Stratton | Two Handed Warriors

Monday, January 3, 2011

Epiphany: It's Coming - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Ten Most Significant Cultural Trends of the Last Decade : Andy Crouch

Converting our Imagination 7 | Jesus Creed

Sunday, January 2, 2011

My Place Today...

Jack Daniels on the rocks and notes on napkins...too many truths written on napkins at bars...

Saturday, January 1, 2011

A Commune For The End Times - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

For all those that read Revelation literally...I am glad I became a bartender in 2010! Wonder if the implied author and audience had any of these things in their imaginations? Too bad an indoctrination of litearlism and dispentionalim has polluted the truth of the book of Revelation...regardless, its good to be a bartender!

A Commune For The End Times -

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan: "Homepage of the Atlantic Magazine Online Service"

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Monday, January 17, 2011

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Friday, January 14, 2011

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Monday, January 10, 2011

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Friday, January 7, 2011

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Monday, January 3, 2011

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Saturday, January 1, 2011