Migrating

Migration has occurred:

http://sacredsideways.wordpress.com/

Church |RE|framed

It's Saturday and church is around the corner. I'm already battling with my false self, the one that says, "you don't need that!", or "it's a waste of time". I honestly believe these things at times,usually every Saturday and Sunday morning. I think part of it comes from being a washout as a pastor. Too young, too ignorant, too self absorbed. I'm coming to believe that I'm supposed to go through these battles in my cranial conversation. I'm beginning to come to terms that I will ALWAYS be dissatisfied with church. I will ALWAYS be able to pick out something wrong, ignored, incongruent, or blatantly hypocritical. That will always be the case if I go without checking myself. I will see several hundred people tomorrow, some familiar, most unfamiliar, but each is one of my ABBA's beloved. I wonder how the ABBA of Jesus will view church tomorrow? I wonder what He will think of all the noise and distractions? Maybe, those things aren't even on His radar. Maybe He's more in tune with comforting the widow crying out in her loneliness, or the young couple struggling with infertility, or the family celebrating the safe return of their son from a tour of duty in Iraq. I'm sure he's gonna be paying attention to the high school girl who was just rejected by her best friend's. I think He has bigger things on His plate than my petty petitions and complaints. I pray that this Sunday I can go to church with the desire to worship my ABBA, by sharing in His concerns for His beloved. Will you join me?

The Greater Problem

Throwing this one out there... The bigger problem we have is not how we "DO" church, but the fact that we have no concept of "WHO" we actually are in Christ. Until we answer this question, how we "DO" church is a prolific distraction keeping us from discovering and growing in our "true" identity. Thoughts, questions, hymnals being thrown at me???

A Gem of a Christmas Reminder... Who Penned this Observation???

"Man is so preoccupied with himself, he has such urgent need of all the space and all the time for his own things, that nothing remains for others, for his neighbor, for the poor, for God,"

Emergent Theologians

A friend of mine, Jonathan Brink, wrote an entry on his blog about the need for emergent elders. Great points were made and a biblical scan supports the call for emergent elders in efforts to more fully express who we are as a community. This also has me thinking about the need for emergent theologians. These would be brothers and sisters fascinated by the deep narratives of God's word, His language, His themes. They would also need the skills of a master story teller to gather the community and share of their travels and invite all to travel with them. Their theology won't be found in treatise and volumes, but in blog entries and fictional works. Their efforts directed at revelation of the magnetic force of the divine Narrative and how deep the Narrative runs in time and eternity. These are theologians without a title or position, they are theologians because they are theologians. Their ponderings happen in the trenches of life's warfare. They spare nothing to engage pain and suffering when it is presented, and work endlessly to understand how God is expressing Himself in our grief, suffering and inconvenience. Their thoughts and considerations are not blatant stabs at one's sources of guilt and shame, but a gentle and directed calling for those wanting to see Christ more fully exposed in their personal orthodoxy and ultimately in their personal orthopraxis. Do you know some of these theologians? Where can they be found?

Blogging Buddies

Not much time to blog here these days as I have been reading & writing on other blogs as they offer inspiring dialog.

Lonliness

Loneliness, one of the most profound experiences a human can have. The experience of isolation, distance, and disconnect from others. It's Sunday morning, I have showered and readied for church, and this is what I am experiencing. In a few short hours I will be siting with 600 other people... I wonder how many of them experience loneliness? I guess the overcast sky might have something to do with it, or the fact that a busy holiday week is wrapping up. But maybe, just maybe, loneliness is visiting to remind me of something, to teach me about something more powerful than imagined, to guide me in a way of greater love. I don't like the feeling of loneliness, it's uncomfortable, never dangerous when kept in check, but always serves as a great encourager to be the one to reach out and connect meaningfully with others.

The church & Jesus

Ernst Kasemann, a German theologian, made the following insights:

"What causes most trouble for Christians of all ages is not legalism or lack of faith or theological controversies; it is Jesus Himself, who bestows freedom so openhandedly and dangerously on those who do not know what to do with it. The church always gets panic-stricken for the fear of the turmoil Christ creates when He comes on the scene; and so it takes His freedom under its own management for the protection of souls entrusted to it, in order to dispense it in homeopathic doses when it seems necessary. The church claims to represent Jesus on earth, but in fact often supplants Him. It must tremble in all its joints when confronted with His portrait. Ecclesiastical traditions and laws have domesticated Jesus, and today all of the churches are living off the success of the attempt."

A Broad Smile

Brennan Manning relates this story:

"Several years ago, Ed Farrell, a priest from Detroit, went on a two-week summer vacation to Ireland to visit relatives. His one living uncle was about to celebrate his eightieth birthday. On the great day, Ed and his uncle got up early. It was before dawn. They took a walk along the shores of Lake Killarney and stopped to watch the sunrise. They stood side by side for a full twenty minutes and then resumed walking. Ed glanced at his uncle and saw that his face had broken into a broad smile. Ed said, 'Uncle Seamus, you look very happy.' 'I am.' Ed asked, 'How come?' And his uncle replied, 'The Father of Jesus is very fond of me.' "

Numbers 6:24ff

God bless you and keep you,

God smile on you and gift you,

God look you full in the face
and make you prosper.

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Remember, today the Father of Jesus has a radiant smile pointing in your direction because you are one of His beloved.