I hope folks are well. peace.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
sunflowers and social justice
I had a pretty busy day yesterday, up early to finish a paper and do some reading, upon which I was late to my Theology of the Psalms class with Dr. Smith that morning because of bad traffic, and then read The Life of St. Antony by Athanasius, and a chapter from Fred Craddock's book on preaching, then went to classes that night. It was a busy day, but it had a reflective start. In front of me yesterday morning was some sunflowers from the garden that reminded me of the need to slow down and live simply, and I was drinking out of a mug urging me to find a prophetic voice to cry out for injustice. Thanks to Andrea for the mug which she gave me after harvesting her garden while she was on vacation...
I hope folks are well. peace.
I hope folks are well. peace.
Monday, September 10, 2007
the goings on
So I preached on Labor Day weekend, and this past weekend I led a seminar for our association on youth ministry titled "Breaking Out of the Entertainment Model of Youth Ministry." If you'd like to download my latest sermon, you can right click here, select "save as" and download the sermon. If you'd like to simply listen to the sermon (I think in Real Player) click here. The sermon was called "Becoming Part of the Story of God" and I preached on the text of Mark 5:21-43.
School is in full swing, and for the most part I am really enjoying my classes. I sort of have these crises events after some nights, where sometimes I am like: "I am doing the right thing training to become a pastor. I love this." Other nights: "What am I thinking. I'm going to drag everyone down to hell right with me..."
I have come to realize that most of the doubts stem from my inability to disconnect what some professors or students believe that the "church" or "preaching" or "the Bible" must be understood as, in relation to new expressions and thoughts of about said subjects, doctrines, or theologies where I might be leaning into. I'm not really sure what I think about in terms of having a "calling" or a specific vocation. Who knows...
The garden is doing well. We have tons of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, pumpkins, and sunflowers. I ate my first watermelon from the garden and it was delicious. Big thanks to the McCarty's for their sharing of seeds, and help getting started. I have already learned so much this year, it makes me excited to try some new methods and grow some different plants next year...how's everybody else?
Oh yeah, I can't forget that we had our first soccer game this weekend. Tim and I are playing on a new team this year, and we won our first game. Seth, you'd like these dudes and our one female teammate as well, she is really good, because they pass, and they work hard. Tim said he'd score a goal and dedicate it to you. He also said that he'd paint your face on his chest and after he scores, he'll pull the front of his shirt up onto his head and run around acting like he's flying, in his dedication-of-the-goal-to-Seth celebration.
School is in full swing, and for the most part I am really enjoying my classes. I sort of have these crises events after some nights, where sometimes I am like: "I am doing the right thing training to become a pastor. I love this." Other nights: "What am I thinking. I'm going to drag everyone down to hell right with me..."
I have come to realize that most of the doubts stem from my inability to disconnect what some professors or students believe that the "church" or "preaching" or "the Bible" must be understood as, in relation to new expressions and thoughts of about said subjects, doctrines, or theologies where I might be leaning into. I'm not really sure what I think about in terms of having a "calling" or a specific vocation. Who knows...
The garden is doing well. We have tons of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, pumpkins, and sunflowers. I ate my first watermelon from the garden and it was delicious. Big thanks to the McCarty's for their sharing of seeds, and help getting started. I have already learned so much this year, it makes me excited to try some new methods and grow some different plants next year...how's everybody else?
Oh yeah, I can't forget that we had our first soccer game this weekend. Tim and I are playing on a new team this year, and we won our first game. Seth, you'd like these dudes and our one female teammate as well, she is really good, because they pass, and they work hard. Tim said he'd score a goal and dedicate it to you. He also said that he'd paint your face on his chest and after he scores, he'll pull the front of his shirt up onto his head and run around acting like he's flying, in his dedication-of-the-goal-to-Seth celebration.
hyper-present
Remember Peter Rollins? Well, let's see if we can't work through a bit more of How (Not) to Speak of God. If you remember, I was working through some of this fantastic book. Let's see if we can't work through the rest of it in the next couple of weeks. If you want to read from the beginning, go here, here, here, and here.
Continuing in Chapter 2, Rollins proposes this notion of God as hyper-present, super-present. "It means that God not only overflows and overwhelms our understanding but also overflows and overwhelms our experience (pg. 23)." So often, people talk about this notion of God being close, yet distant. This has to do with the realization that while we try to talk about God and know God, we come to realize that we can't capture God, and that even our best attempts to talk about God are limited. So in one sense there seems to be distance. Yet, in this distance, followers of Jesus also try to talk about God's immanence, the notion that God is not far away, and that God is intimately involved in the events of today. Yet it is hard to reconcile these notions of God being both distant and yet close at the same time.
So as Rollins describes God as hyper-present, the distance we feel or sense in our understanding of God is not because God is actually far away, but in reality, it is because our understanding of God is saturate with "a blinding presence (24.)." God is super-present, or "hypernonymous" in that God is so close, the presence of God in our midst overwhelms our senses and reality and we can only take in so much (24). This acknowledgment of God as hyper-present rests in the belief that God is the "absolute subject before whom we are the object (23)." In this sense, we are the object before God to be known, and rather than the other way around.
Rollins again clarifies saying that, "In this reading, Christ, as the image of the invisible God, both reveals and conceals God: rendering God known while simultaneously maintaining divine mystery. Here the God testified to in Christianity is affirmed as an un/known God (25)." If you sense a tinge of Eastern Orthodox and apophatic theology coming through...it is beautifully mysterious isn't it? I had written a paper on Pseudo-Dionysius in the spring about the notion of knowing God in our unknowing, and Rollins articulates both the point of view of PD and the aftermath of theology in writing: " Pseudo-Dionysius argues that this knowing unknowing acknowledges its profound finitude and inability to grasp that to which the religious individual intends. This divine darkness represents a type of supra-darkness that stands in sharp contradistinction to the sub-darkness of desolate nihilism. While one is brought about by an absolute excess of light, the other results from a total absence; while one represents a higher form of unknowing that subverts reasoning, the other signals mere ignorance (28)." An absolute excess of light...that is a beautiful vision.
So to wrap up this monster post, and Chapter 2, we have talked before about our need to both speak about God, yet realize the limitations in out talk about God, and the need to realize that when we speak about God we are not capturing God with our thoughts, as though God is the object of whom we can capture. Instead, we recognize our need for an "epistemological silence" and as Rollins writes, "We must speak and yet we must maintain our silence, we maintain distance amidst the proximity of God, and we must worship while being careful not to make God into the object of our worship: for God is the subject before whom we worship (30)." Amen.
Continuing in Chapter 2, Rollins proposes this notion of God as hyper-present, super-present. "It means that God not only overflows and overwhelms our understanding but also overflows and overwhelms our experience (pg. 23)." So often, people talk about this notion of God being close, yet distant. This has to do with the realization that while we try to talk about God and know God, we come to realize that we can't capture God, and that even our best attempts to talk about God are limited. So in one sense there seems to be distance. Yet, in this distance, followers of Jesus also try to talk about God's immanence, the notion that God is not far away, and that God is intimately involved in the events of today. Yet it is hard to reconcile these notions of God being both distant and yet close at the same time.
So as Rollins describes God as hyper-present, the distance we feel or sense in our understanding of God is not because God is actually far away, but in reality, it is because our understanding of God is saturate with "a blinding presence (24.)." God is super-present, or "hypernonymous" in that God is so close, the presence of God in our midst overwhelms our senses and reality and we can only take in so much (24). This acknowledgment of God as hyper-present rests in the belief that God is the "absolute subject before whom we are the object (23)." In this sense, we are the object before God to be known, and rather than the other way around.
Rollins again clarifies saying that, "In this reading, Christ, as the image of the invisible God, both reveals and conceals God: rendering God known while simultaneously maintaining divine mystery. Here the God testified to in Christianity is affirmed as an un/known God (25)." If you sense a tinge of Eastern Orthodox and apophatic theology coming through...it is beautifully mysterious isn't it? I had written a paper on Pseudo-Dionysius in the spring about the notion of knowing God in our unknowing, and Rollins articulates both the point of view of PD and the aftermath of theology in writing: " Pseudo-Dionysius argues that this knowing unknowing acknowledges its profound finitude and inability to grasp that to which the religious individual intends. This divine darkness represents a type of supra-darkness that stands in sharp contradistinction to the sub-darkness of desolate nihilism. While one is brought about by an absolute excess of light, the other results from a total absence; while one represents a higher form of unknowing that subverts reasoning, the other signals mere ignorance (28)." An absolute excess of light...that is a beautiful vision.
So to wrap up this monster post, and Chapter 2, we have talked before about our need to both speak about God, yet realize the limitations in out talk about God, and the need to realize that when we speak about God we are not capturing God with our thoughts, as though God is the object of whom we can capture. Instead, we recognize our need for an "epistemological silence" and as Rollins writes, "We must speak and yet we must maintain our silence, we maintain distance amidst the proximity of God, and we must worship while being careful not to make God into the object of our worship: for God is the subject before whom we worship (30)." Amen.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
first sunflowers, what a morning
We picked some of our first sunflowers yesterday. They brighten up the house, and because they are sunflowers with autumn-like colors, they remind me of the coming cool air and fall beauty ready to come. This will be our first full fall at the Owsley's house, and I'm really excited to be out here this fall, to have the leaves change, and the air become crisp. I put up a few pictures above of some of the sunflowers opened up this morning. Along with the sunflowers, I found a cool grasshopper resting on an unopened sunflower, and I caught a moment of the morning sun coming through the trees onto the garden. There is also a picture of one of the bigger pumpkins growing down at the garden. It's nothing compared to a lot of the bohemoths growing in the pumpkin patch that the Owsleys are growing for their "pick-your-own-pumpkin patch," but I'm happy that I got anything to grow this year.
Yesterday morning I had breakfast with Ben and Pedro, two of the high school dudes who live upstairs. Ben is the Owsley's youngest, and only son, (you may remember him from such other posts involving midnight gardening, or our zombie pictures) who has become a great friend. Pedro is the Brazilian foreign exchange student living with the Owsleys this year, and he seems like a great kid; I'm really enjoying getting to know him. We made some kickin' omlets yesterday filled with fresh veggies from the garden. It was sweet.
Lastly, I had a powerful moment this morning after reading a lot about some the Egyptian monastics, especially Antony, one of the desert fathers, and as I went to the garden, took some of the above pictures, and then went for a run in the morning sun and cool breeze...Sufjan Steven's "The Predatory Wasp of The Palisades Is Out to Get Us" came on, and the morning sun was shining bright. There were a couple tractors in the field, who had begun to make bales of hay yesterday. And in the beauty of the quiet morning, and in spirit of the mystics, and the great music, I was stirred in my soul for the first time in such a long time. What a morning.
Friday, August 24, 2007
starting again
Well another semester is getting rolling. I'm taking a couple of classes I am really excited about, and a couple that could go either way. The ones that could go either way are "Preaching" and "Baptist Identity and History." Preaching can go either way because I've never had this professor, and am not sure how the class is going to work, so it could be great, or could be a major pain. Baptist Identity and History is going to help distinguish what some of the Baptist distinctives have been over time and history for Baptists. I am excited to learn some of it, but I think that some of the reading will be dry, and I may come out of the class shedding even more of my Baptist skin (which if you know me, you may wonder if I even have any Baptist flesh hanging on).
I am really excited about Historical Theology III which is the third of my historical theology classes, where we will study the European Reformations up through the Enlightenment. It is with one of the best professors I have ever had, Dr. Tarmo Toom. I am also taking another class with Dr. Toom called Mystical Theology: Spiritual Formation in the Early Church. It should be awesome. I'm also taking Theology of the Psalms with Dr. Bill Smith, pastor of a local church near my seminary who did his Ph.D. work on the Psalms, so this should be another great class.
It should be a great semester, but it is always intimidating to look at a fresh batch of syllabuses and wonder how all the work will ever get done. Here's to hoping for the best.
I am really excited about Historical Theology III which is the third of my historical theology classes, where we will study the European Reformations up through the Enlightenment. It is with one of the best professors I have ever had, Dr. Tarmo Toom. I am also taking another class with Dr. Toom called Mystical Theology: Spiritual Formation in the Early Church. It should be awesome. I'm also taking Theology of the Psalms with Dr. Bill Smith, pastor of a local church near my seminary who did his Ph.D. work on the Psalms, so this should be another great class.
It should be a great semester, but it is always intimidating to look at a fresh batch of syllabuses and wonder how all the work will ever get done. Here's to hoping for the best.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
so I think I'm going to start hunting
Because deer suck.
They ate most of my corn.
And I think that the time has come for me to learn how to shoot a gun, and take care of my antler-induced problem.
They ate most of my corn.
And I think that the time has come for me to learn how to shoot a gun, and take care of my antler-induced problem.
Friday, August 17, 2007
gardening, pickles, and the latest harvest
So I've sucked at posting lately, partially b/c the lovely civics-teaching wife and i traveled to see my youngest brother and family before he heads off to college, and partially b/c i have felt like i have too much to say, yet can't say anything. sometimes that's how things are you know?...the garden is doing well, though i'm having some big japanese beetle problems. they are making me want to leave my organic ways behind, and go on a high-speed, all-encompassing insecticide mission with all the pesticides and little tiny tweezers that i can find to spray and squeeze them to death.
below are some pictures of our first attempt at canning, we made pickles with a great friend Joel Lindsey, and there are some pics of this mornings harvest, along with some pictures of the garden before i left for MN to visit family. to be honest, what really makes me want to blog the most though is reading Wendell Berry. I'm currently working through Fidelity, a collection of five (short) stories, and i feel like the world is right again when i read Berry. i hope folks are well, and if anyone has any organic solutions to killing japanese beetles, please let me know!
below are some pictures of our first attempt at canning, we made pickles with a great friend Joel Lindsey, and there are some pics of this mornings harvest, along with some pictures of the garden before i left for MN to visit family. to be honest, what really makes me want to blog the most though is reading Wendell Berry. I'm currently working through Fidelity, a collection of five (short) stories, and i feel like the world is right again when i read Berry. i hope folks are well, and if anyone has any organic solutions to killing japanese beetles, please let me know!
Friday, July 20, 2007
some things i'm thinking about
so is anyone else excited about David Beckham? L.A. Galaxy is playing D.C. United in DC on August 9th...and I'd like to go if anyone else is interested...let's make it happen. I think our little Fauquier County Soccer Club has tickets that we can buy. i hope this helps soccer to take off a little more in the US.
i've got a paper to write due tomorrow and i leave for a trip with the students from my church where i youth pastor on Sunday. anybody want to write my paper for me? i have to write a paper discussing how the humanity of Christ relates to the situation where a husband has made it difficult for his wife to go to church has committed suicide, and then i have to allow my theology about that situation to inform my creation of a funeral service....
lastly, here is a pic from the garden of late. we had some beautiful thunderstorms yesterday and last night. which brought some great and needed rains, however, the wind blew so hard that it knocked over some of my corn, so i spent part of this morning standing them back up properly. we have some bell peppers starting to grow as well as some jalapeños. i've gotten to eat some banana peppers, and the rest of the stuff is flowering and growing well. hopefully the corn will rebound a bit after a rough go of it in the wind yesterday.
i've got a paper to write due tomorrow and i leave for a trip with the students from my church where i youth pastor on Sunday. anybody want to write my paper for me? i have to write a paper discussing how the humanity of Christ relates to the situation where a husband has made it difficult for his wife to go to church has committed suicide, and then i have to allow my theology about that situation to inform my creation of a funeral service....
lastly, here is a pic from the garden of late. we had some beautiful thunderstorms yesterday and last night. which brought some great and needed rains, however, the wind blew so hard that it knocked over some of my corn, so i spent part of this morning standing them back up properly. we have some bell peppers starting to grow as well as some jalapeños. i've gotten to eat some banana peppers, and the rest of the stuff is flowering and growing well. hopefully the corn will rebound a bit after a rough go of it in the wind yesterday.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
summer life
being about halfway through summer, i can't believe how fast the time is flying by, and how much there seems left to do. i have finally gotten into a good routine of reading. i finished The Kite Runner a couple of days ago and started on another novel called Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale that has been a quick read so far.
Shey had Lasik today, so i'm trying to get some stuff done while she sleeps after the surgery this afternoon. things went well...and over the next few days she should be healing up before we head out on a missions trip to my old hometown of Appomattox, VA on Sunday.
this summer has had a much different feel than summers past. there has been a lot of nagging pressure to "get things done" or to just "succeed" in some manner, whether work or school. i know a big part of it is that the summer just started off rough, with some hard things happening with friends, with my grandfather's death, and some busy-ness with school and family. the summer just hasn't been as settling as i hoped for...maybe after the trip next week things will feel better?
well, enough complaining. i've really been enjoying Wilco's new album Sky Blue Sky (even though some reviews have been kind of hard on the chillness of the album, it is up there in the top three for me of all Wilco albums). Ryan Adam's new album Easy Tiger is great too. And lest you think that I'm not still watching birds, here is a picture from a farm up the street with a bird that I'd venture to say is not quite native to VA:
Shey had Lasik today, so i'm trying to get some stuff done while she sleeps after the surgery this afternoon. things went well...and over the next few days she should be healing up before we head out on a missions trip to my old hometown of Appomattox, VA on Sunday.
this summer has had a much different feel than summers past. there has been a lot of nagging pressure to "get things done" or to just "succeed" in some manner, whether work or school. i know a big part of it is that the summer just started off rough, with some hard things happening with friends, with my grandfather's death, and some busy-ness with school and family. the summer just hasn't been as settling as i hoped for...maybe after the trip next week things will feel better?
well, enough complaining. i've really been enjoying Wilco's new album Sky Blue Sky (even though some reviews have been kind of hard on the chillness of the album, it is up there in the top three for me of all Wilco albums). Ryan Adam's new album Easy Tiger is great too. And lest you think that I'm not still watching birds, here is a picture from a farm up the street with a bird that I'd venture to say is not quite native to VA:
Monday, July 02, 2007
Theology
Well, I'd like to come back to Rollins finally, in an exploration of his second chapter of How (Not) to Speak of God. As I write I'm listening to Ryan Adam's Easy Tiger and on the advice of Jonny Baker I've also picked up Sinead O'Connor's newest titled Theology. Both are tremendous albums and I highly recommend them! I've never owned or really listened to Sinead O'Connor much, but I'm really blown away by the content of this double album.
So Rollins' second chapter is titled "The Aftermath of Theology" and in this chapter he seems to be describing the role and view of theology in light of previous chapter's critique of ideology and the notion that we can somehow capture or colonize God through our ideas of God. He proposes that we see ourselves as the object of theology where theology is created through our lives as God speaks into them. Theology is less a human discourse about God where we debate ideas and notions of God; instead, theology is the place where God speaks into human life and discourse. Rollins goes on to write of theology:
"It is no longer thought of as a human discourse that speaks of God but rather as the place where God speaks into human discourse. In other words, theology is understood as the site in which revelation makes its appearance in the world, the place in which theos (God) impacts, and overwhelms, the human realm of logos (reason). Consequently we do not do theology but are rather overcome and transformed by it: we do not master it but are mastered by it (pg. 21)."
So in this view of theology, the traditional modes of the relationship are subverted and redefined. God is now the subject unto which all of creation and humanity are object to. This helps us immensely to be free from the temptation and task from trying to reduce God into an object for our consideration. "God is not a theoretical problem to somehow resolve but rather a mystery to be participated in." (pg. 22) This is such a freeing notion to me that I need not worry or think that it is somehow of my ability to comprehend God as God really is...as though if i just read the Bible enough or studied enough, or could just "get it right" then I would be able to reach a new level or plane in knowing God. Instead, in this journey of faith, theology becomes the mystical union and exploration of the revelation of God in my own life and the life of my community as God works among us.
I'm going to stop here in Chapter 2 and start next where Rollins talks about God as "hyper-present" because I think that this is one of the most important concepts in the book that discusses how God is present with us in revelation.
So Rollins' second chapter is titled "The Aftermath of Theology" and in this chapter he seems to be describing the role and view of theology in light of previous chapter's critique of ideology and the notion that we can somehow capture or colonize God through our ideas of God. He proposes that we see ourselves as the object of theology where theology is created through our lives as God speaks into them. Theology is less a human discourse about God where we debate ideas and notions of God; instead, theology is the place where God speaks into human life and discourse. Rollins goes on to write of theology:
"It is no longer thought of as a human discourse that speaks of God but rather as the place where God speaks into human discourse. In other words, theology is understood as the site in which revelation makes its appearance in the world, the place in which theos (God) impacts, and overwhelms, the human realm of logos (reason). Consequently we do not do theology but are rather overcome and transformed by it: we do not master it but are mastered by it (pg. 21)."
So in this view of theology, the traditional modes of the relationship are subverted and redefined. God is now the subject unto which all of creation and humanity are object to. This helps us immensely to be free from the temptation and task from trying to reduce God into an object for our consideration. "God is not a theoretical problem to somehow resolve but rather a mystery to be participated in." (pg. 22) This is such a freeing notion to me that I need not worry or think that it is somehow of my ability to comprehend God as God really is...as though if i just read the Bible enough or studied enough, or could just "get it right" then I would be able to reach a new level or plane in knowing God. Instead, in this journey of faith, theology becomes the mystical union and exploration of the revelation of God in my own life and the life of my community as God works among us.
I'm going to stop here in Chapter 2 and start next where Rollins talks about God as "hyper-present" because I think that this is one of the most important concepts in the book that discusses how God is present with us in revelation.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
so i preached...
I don't preach too often at the church where I'm youth pastor at (probably for a number of very good reasons!), but this past Sunday I got to throw all my cards on the table and share a message from the pulpit, that is the music stand in the elementary school gym where we have our worship gatherings. I preached a sermon titled "The Kingdom of God: God With Us." I explored and visited the text of Lamentations 3:15-26 as a meditative reading and responsive reading during different parts of the service, and preached on Luke 4:14-30.
If you'd like to download the sermon right click here and "save as" to download the sermon. If you'd like to stream the sermon, simply click here and you you'll be redirected to stream and listen now to the sermon.
Some of you may know that the last six weeks or so have been some difficult ones...my grandfather passed away just as finals were beginning for seminary, I got poison ivy so that I couldn't walk, my mother-in-law broke her ankle, and since Shey's only sister who requires full-time care as a result of a car accident a number of years ago was devoid of a care giver who could get around...Shey and I moved in to the in-laws house for a few days each week for a few weeks to help out. My youngest brother C-$$ graduated high school, and I had crazy papers to write to finish up school which all hit in a short amount of time. And as I was preaching and sharing about God being those who are down-and-out, the vulnerable, the blind, the poor and the downcast...I was moved deeply as I was realizing the depth to which God is with us in the midst of an embodied community.
I'm no great preacher, but I am thankful for the chances to share a little bit of where I am going in my journey with Christ in the midst of a larger community that I am a part of.
Hopefully the summer will slow down a bit from here. I'm trying to read some literature and novels along with some theology this summer and play a little Wii if I get a chance. Anybody read The Kite Runner? That's one of the highest on my list for the summer, it kind of skipped up the list after listening to a recent podcast with Greg Horton over at The Parish and with Wired Parish.com. Otherwise, just trying to chill out a bit for the first time in a while it seems...
If you'd like to download the sermon right click here and "save as" to download the sermon. If you'd like to stream the sermon, simply click here and you you'll be redirected to stream and listen now to the sermon.
Some of you may know that the last six weeks or so have been some difficult ones...my grandfather passed away just as finals were beginning for seminary, I got poison ivy so that I couldn't walk, my mother-in-law broke her ankle, and since Shey's only sister who requires full-time care as a result of a car accident a number of years ago was devoid of a care giver who could get around...Shey and I moved in to the in-laws house for a few days each week for a few weeks to help out. My youngest brother C-$$ graduated high school, and I had crazy papers to write to finish up school which all hit in a short amount of time. And as I was preaching and sharing about God being those who are down-and-out, the vulnerable, the blind, the poor and the downcast...I was moved deeply as I was realizing the depth to which God is with us in the midst of an embodied community.
I'm no great preacher, but I am thankful for the chances to share a little bit of where I am going in my journey with Christ in the midst of a larger community that I am a part of.
Hopefully the summer will slow down a bit from here. I'm trying to read some literature and novels along with some theology this summer and play a little Wii if I get a chance. Anybody read The Kite Runner? That's one of the highest on my list for the summer, it kind of skipped up the list after listening to a recent podcast with Greg Horton over at The Parish and with Wired Parish.com. Otherwise, just trying to chill out a bit for the first time in a while it seems...
Thursday, June 21, 2007
midnight gardening
okay, so it wasn't quite midnight...but it was easily11:30 before all was done. i didn't have a chance to water the garden yesterday, and it was quite warm the last couple of days, so i asked the lovely wife and great friend Ben Owsley (who is the son of the Owsley family whose apartment we are renting) to join me in a special activity of which i like to call "midnight gardening." we gathered up some headlamps, pointed the truck lights onto the garden and watered away. we laughed a lot and got some sweet pictures. here's a picture of the three of us doing what we do best:
and in this picture Ben and I are doing our best zombie killer impression:
and lastly a nice picture of Shey and Ben as we gathered our watering buckets in the back of the truck and headed back home:
i'm taking a class this weekend on the theology of the pastor, and then preaching on sunday. the sermon title is "The Kingdom of God: God with Us" and the text will be Luke 4:14-30. i'll be sharing some of the things going on with Shey and I as we've had some hard stuff happening with family, and preaching on the importance of both being in community and including and welcoming people into the community that Jesus talks about from Luke 4.
i've got some rollins stuff i'd like to share, but will probably have to wait until next week. we'll see.
and in this picture Ben and I are doing our best zombie killer impression:
and lastly a nice picture of Shey and Ben as we gathered our watering buckets in the back of the truck and headed back home:
i'm taking a class this weekend on the theology of the pastor, and then preaching on sunday. the sermon title is "The Kingdom of God: God with Us" and the text will be Luke 4:14-30. i'll be sharing some of the things going on with Shey and I as we've had some hard stuff happening with family, and preaching on the importance of both being in community and including and welcoming people into the community that Jesus talks about from Luke 4.
i've got some rollins stuff i'd like to share, but will probably have to wait until next week. we'll see.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
where it all started
Hey friends...here is where the garden started...with a rototiller given to me by a good friend's family (it's 18 years old) when they moved to Colorado (thanks to the Walls) and the lawnmower is borrowed from the family we are renting from. So starting from these pictures the evolution and creation of the garden begins. You can see the latest pictures from the garden in an earlier post below this one. This has been such a great time to be outside in beauty and putting my hands in the dirt. It has been wonderful, beautiful...and so much more than my words can convey. When you are out there, with the birds singing, your hands in the dirt, pulling weeds, seeing the new life of green plants shooting through the dark dirt after a cool rain, and seeing new life emerge from dust...it is a glorious thing to be a part of.
While I don't have a cherry tree, this poem by Wendell Berry in Given from his Sabbath poems of 2002, poem V, describes the beauty of walking in the garden amidst the life and light of nature, with birds and gardening together, what else could I hope for?:
The cherries turn ripe, ripe,
and the birds come: red-headed
and red-bellied woodpeckers,
blue jays, cedar waxwings,
robins--beautiful, hungry, wild
in our domestic tree. I pick
with the birds, gathering the red
cherries alight among the dark
leaves, my hands so sticky
with juice from the fruit will hardly
drop from them into the pail.
The birds pick as I pick, all
of us delighted in the weighty heights
-the fruit red ripe, the green leaves,
the blue sky and white clouds,
all tending to flight--making
the most of this sweetness against
the time when there will be none.
While I don't have a cherry tree, this poem by Wendell Berry in Given from his Sabbath poems of 2002, poem V, describes the beauty of walking in the garden amidst the life and light of nature, with birds and gardening together, what else could I hope for?:
The cherries turn ripe, ripe,
and the birds come: red-headed
and red-bellied woodpeckers,
blue jays, cedar waxwings,
robins--beautiful, hungry, wild
in our domestic tree. I pick
with the birds, gathering the red
cherries alight among the dark
leaves, my hands so sticky
with juice from the fruit will hardly
drop from them into the pail.
The birds pick as I pick, all
of us delighted in the weighty heights
-the fruit red ripe, the green leaves,
the blue sky and white clouds,
all tending to flight--making
the most of this sweetness against
the time when there will be none.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Monday, June 04, 2007
not since third grade...
Well, not since third grade have i gotten poison ivy. And even then i didn't get it bad...well, after my visit to the doctor today, i learned that as you get older, your body becomes less capable of fighting off attacks compared to the younger years. And thus, I have for the first time become a walking, swollen-legged, puss-ing, poison-ivy getter. Below, you can see the fun...it's kind of gross, just for a heads up!
Sorry for the lack of blogging. These past six weeks have been some of the craziest since Shey and I have been together...and that is saying a lot considering some of the hardships we've been through with family and friends in the last couple of years of marriage, and dating. There has been some hardships with some friends, finals and final papers for seminary, my grandfather passed away, and my mother-in-law broke her ankle on Memorial Day. Which normally wouldn't be a big deal, but Shey's only sister was in a car accident almost seven years ago now, and she requires full-time care. So Shey and I have been trying to wrap up school, recover from the busy-ness of the end of the semester and my grandfather's passing (which there will be some posts to discuss in the future) and now caring for Shey's great family, which means her sister Emily and mom who now is the proud owner of seven screws and a metal plate in her ankle. It's been bananas. But you know, things have a way of working out. It's not easy, and a lot of times it isn't fun, and i certainly don't think "God brings us through this to teach us a lesson" or to "understand the hope of the future in heaven when things will be OK" but rather that when walking with God, we find strength to keep our heads up when they only seem to want to fall, and we find friends and community who will walk through the hardships with us when all we feel is alone. And most of all, we see that God has never left us.
Don't get me wrong, I hope things calm down soon. I hope that I can get my 25-page paper done on time. I hope that Shey or I don't have some sort of grand mental break-down. I hope that Shey's mom heals quickly. I hope my brother's graduation goes well this weekend. I hope this disgusting poison ivy goes away soon. I hope for many things, many things unseen...it's funny, that in getting this poison ivy again for the first time in years (and I grew up in the country where we used to play in poison ivy and not care one bit and I never got it) sometimes I feel like I have come back to some of the same mysterious wonder in my understanding and view of God that enraptured me as a child. I don't always understand how or why this stuff happens, and sometimes I'm pissed about it, but this mystery wraps me up and brings me in even when I want to run away.
On a lighter note, and McCarty's if you're still out there reading...the garden is blooming and alive! (So far of course!) Thanks again for the seeds! I'll post some pics soon of the garden that has been a safe haven of joy for me, and a blessing to share with Shey as we endeavor to live more simply and sustainably. mmmmmm...squash, corn, zuccini, tomatoes, watermelons, cantelopes, and more!
Sorry for the lack of blogging. These past six weeks have been some of the craziest since Shey and I have been together...and that is saying a lot considering some of the hardships we've been through with family and friends in the last couple of years of marriage, and dating. There has been some hardships with some friends, finals and final papers for seminary, my grandfather passed away, and my mother-in-law broke her ankle on Memorial Day. Which normally wouldn't be a big deal, but Shey's only sister was in a car accident almost seven years ago now, and she requires full-time care. So Shey and I have been trying to wrap up school, recover from the busy-ness of the end of the semester and my grandfather's passing (which there will be some posts to discuss in the future) and now caring for Shey's great family, which means her sister Emily and mom who now is the proud owner of seven screws and a metal plate in her ankle. It's been bananas. But you know, things have a way of working out. It's not easy, and a lot of times it isn't fun, and i certainly don't think "God brings us through this to teach us a lesson" or to "understand the hope of the future in heaven when things will be OK" but rather that when walking with God, we find strength to keep our heads up when they only seem to want to fall, and we find friends and community who will walk through the hardships with us when all we feel is alone. And most of all, we see that God has never left us.
Don't get me wrong, I hope things calm down soon. I hope that I can get my 25-page paper done on time. I hope that Shey or I don't have some sort of grand mental break-down. I hope that Shey's mom heals quickly. I hope my brother's graduation goes well this weekend. I hope this disgusting poison ivy goes away soon. I hope for many things, many things unseen...it's funny, that in getting this poison ivy again for the first time in years (and I grew up in the country where we used to play in poison ivy and not care one bit and I never got it) sometimes I feel like I have come back to some of the same mysterious wonder in my understanding and view of God that enraptured me as a child. I don't always understand how or why this stuff happens, and sometimes I'm pissed about it, but this mystery wraps me up and brings me in even when I want to run away.
On a lighter note, and McCarty's if you're still out there reading...the garden is blooming and alive! (So far of course!) Thanks again for the seeds! I'll post some pics soon of the garden that has been a safe haven of joy for me, and a blessing to share with Shey as we endeavor to live more simply and sustainably. mmmmmm...squash, corn, zuccini, tomatoes, watermelons, cantelopes, and more!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
early Wednesday morning
it's early in the morning, and i've not quite made it to bed after a long day of writing papers and figuring out life. i had a great night with a good friend after classes tonight, we talked, laughed and shared life together.
it's been kind of a crazy week, writing papers to wrap up classes, studying, and spending some time with family. of a sad note, and more importantly, my grandfather passed away Monday evening after a long bout with some chronic back issues and congestive heart failure. it's always kind of crazy to go from hospital situations and spaces of hurt and grieving into "normal" spaces of laughing, papers, work, busy-ness over the last few days. yet sometimes i realize that becoming immersed in kind of so-called normal life helps to remind us that life and loss are normal parts of the grand narrative. it hits close to home with Pa-Pa being the last grandfather on my side of the family to be alive. and it also makes me think a lot about being a pastor and the emotional weight in being in community with people and walking through painful situations together.
i'm sure all of this is a jumbled mess, not really making any sense, partly because it is so late, partly because the majority of my brain is wrapped around unknowing in Pseudo-Dionysius' apophaticism, and partly because i have a million things running through my mind while i just want to spit out a couple of sentences. (most of which the things running around in my head are how i totally blew the final in my medieval theology class because things got crazy with my family this weekend and i didn't really get to study as i hoped...)
anyway. i've got two more papers to write in the next three weeks, but classes are over for now. i'll be getting back to more blogging and hopefully sharing some pics from the Hayden Farm. i hope all are well...
it's been kind of a crazy week, writing papers to wrap up classes, studying, and spending some time with family. of a sad note, and more importantly, my grandfather passed away Monday evening after a long bout with some chronic back issues and congestive heart failure. it's always kind of crazy to go from hospital situations and spaces of hurt and grieving into "normal" spaces of laughing, papers, work, busy-ness over the last few days. yet sometimes i realize that becoming immersed in kind of so-called normal life helps to remind us that life and loss are normal parts of the grand narrative. it hits close to home with Pa-Pa being the last grandfather on my side of the family to be alive. and it also makes me think a lot about being a pastor and the emotional weight in being in community with people and walking through painful situations together.
i'm sure all of this is a jumbled mess, not really making any sense, partly because it is so late, partly because the majority of my brain is wrapped around unknowing in Pseudo-Dionysius' apophaticism, and partly because i have a million things running through my mind while i just want to spit out a couple of sentences. (most of which the things running around in my head are how i totally blew the final in my medieval theology class because things got crazy with my family this weekend and i didn't really get to study as i hoped...)
anyway. i've got two more papers to write in the next three weeks, but classes are over for now. i'll be getting back to more blogging and hopefully sharing some pics from the Hayden Farm. i hope all are well...
Monday, May 14, 2007
hot diggity dang
It's 11 a.m. on Monday morning, and I've gotten some stuff done, and not enough all at the same time. I've got about 60-65 pages of papers to write in the next five weeks. I've really enjoyed my classes this semester, but there just doesn't seem to be enough time for everything! My grandfather is back in the hospital, and with my parents 20 hours away by car, there is some implicit responsibility and worry that I have in trying to keep some things together for them in looking out for their folks. Church is in the crazy spin that goes into the summer (which I have thankfully gotten to slow down!). And I've got classes tonight and tomorrow, and the next week are finals and a lot of papers being due! And let's not forget that the wonderful, teacher wife's exhaust pipe fell off of her car...
With all that on the plate right now, I have to say, last night, working to get the garden going with my great wife couldn't have been any more amazing. I was rototilling more of the soil (pictures to come soon) and Shey raked out a lot of the grass from my previous adventures of rototilling and then started shoveling compost in for the final batch of tilling before planting this week. The weather was absolutely perfect and the sun was setting with a guy on his tractor in the other field, the stream was rushing nearby, and a beautiful barn and silo in the next field over set the backdrop...it honestly couldn't have calmed my heart more. The great family we are living with has had some tractor trouble, they were going to help speed the garden making process up for me by plowing a small section for the garden...so I waited a bit for that to happen, which then couldn't b/c the plow got stuck on the tractor, so getting the garden started took a bit more work...but I love being out there. It is so amazing to enjoy the outside again...and the time with Shey was perfect.
I hope all is well folks. I'm going to get back to Rollins' soon. But I've got Pseudo-Dionysius, Christian Ethics, Eschatology & Spiritual Formation, and Who is God to be finishing up in the next couple of weeks. I will try to get to Rollins again post-finals. Otherwise its papers, gardening, and hanging out with the Mrs. and church stuff right now....peace.
With all that on the plate right now, I have to say, last night, working to get the garden going with my great wife couldn't have been any more amazing. I was rototilling more of the soil (pictures to come soon) and Shey raked out a lot of the grass from my previous adventures of rototilling and then started shoveling compost in for the final batch of tilling before planting this week. The weather was absolutely perfect and the sun was setting with a guy on his tractor in the other field, the stream was rushing nearby, and a beautiful barn and silo in the next field over set the backdrop...it honestly couldn't have calmed my heart more. The great family we are living with has had some tractor trouble, they were going to help speed the garden making process up for me by plowing a small section for the garden...so I waited a bit for that to happen, which then couldn't b/c the plow got stuck on the tractor, so getting the garden started took a bit more work...but I love being out there. It is so amazing to enjoy the outside again...and the time with Shey was perfect.
I hope all is well folks. I'm going to get back to Rollins' soon. But I've got Pseudo-Dionysius, Christian Ethics, Eschatology & Spiritual Formation, and Who is God to be finishing up in the next couple of weeks. I will try to get to Rollins again post-finals. Otherwise its papers, gardening, and hanging out with the Mrs. and church stuff right now....peace.
Friday, April 27, 2007
post-Christendom, black theology & black power, and Jesus Camp
Well, it seems like the schoolwork never ends, and honestly, the overwhelming number of powerful books with rich perspectives and deep theologies of hope and prophetic voices keep finding their way into the house. I just finished Rethinking Christ and Culture: A Post-Christendom Perspective by Craig Carter this morning en route to Black Theology & Black Power by James Cone for my Theology and Culture class. We've been reading some great stuff in this class, and we are finishing up by choosing a theologian of our choice and finding out how their culture informs and invites their theology and perspective. I have chosen James Cone, author of the above mentioned Black Theology & Black Power as well as a number of other books, including A Black Theology of Liberation which I will also be reading for class. Race, racism, race relations, history, and liberation theologies have been forever knocking around in my mind, and so I thought that it would be good to start close to home before striking out into a more global perspective (thus I'm starting with Cone).
Last night, Shey and I watched Jesus Camp, a documentary that focused on a fundamentalist and pentecostal prayer and evangelical camp for children (with some young pre-teens, e.g. 12 years old). It was a hard movie to watch, not because I don't think that such radicalism is capable of happening, but because I have finally realized the primary location of my frustration with the majority of the political endeavor as typically understood by evangelical Christians: Christendom is assumed to be both necessary and the primary means of the kingdom come on earth as in heaven.
In Rethinking Christ and Culture, Carter points out, that the downfall of H. Richard Niebuhr's work Christ and Culture is the assumption that Christendom, i.e. the alignment of the nation-state and the church, is the primary (and necessary) means of God's will being done on earth in coordination with the church. Jesus Camp highlighted this thinking clearly, when the leaders of the children's camp highlighted that these young ones would become part of God's army to bring America back to its Judeo-Christian roots and lead this nation in the fight against abortion and radical Islam. My question isn't whether necessary changes should be made to highlight the significance of human life in all places and the dangers of radical fundamentalism in any religion, but rather this: have Christians, of either the liberal (who hope that by co-opting the state for its own tasks, e.g. taking care of the poor) or conservative (who use the state to legislate its own moral views, e.g. abortion and homosexuality) stripe, placed their hope and power in the hands of a fundamentally distorted power which wields and controls its power by the sword, and is at its roots incompatible with the radical call of Jesus to nonviolence and discipleship?
I think that Carter's book offers a prophetic critique of the notion that Christendom was a profitable experiment for the church, and I think that Jesus Camp highlights the seriousness of the loss of perspective in the church and uncovers the uniqueness in the message of Jesus that finds hope in the Lordship of Christ, rather than the powers of this world. Just in case you haven't heard about this movie, which is very fairly done and has been well received by those in the documentary itself, below is a trailer. I highly recommend you watch this movie at some time. The filmmakers (Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady) also directed Boys of Baraka, which I have posted on before, and which is an extremely powerful look at the state of the school system in Baltimore City and the long-lasting effect of racism. Below is a trailer for Jesus Camp.
Last night, Shey and I watched Jesus Camp, a documentary that focused on a fundamentalist and pentecostal prayer and evangelical camp for children (with some young pre-teens, e.g. 12 years old). It was a hard movie to watch, not because I don't think that such radicalism is capable of happening, but because I have finally realized the primary location of my frustration with the majority of the political endeavor as typically understood by evangelical Christians: Christendom is assumed to be both necessary and the primary means of the kingdom come on earth as in heaven.
In Rethinking Christ and Culture, Carter points out, that the downfall of H. Richard Niebuhr's work Christ and Culture is the assumption that Christendom, i.e. the alignment of the nation-state and the church, is the primary (and necessary) means of God's will being done on earth in coordination with the church. Jesus Camp highlighted this thinking clearly, when the leaders of the children's camp highlighted that these young ones would become part of God's army to bring America back to its Judeo-Christian roots and lead this nation in the fight against abortion and radical Islam. My question isn't whether necessary changes should be made to highlight the significance of human life in all places and the dangers of radical fundamentalism in any religion, but rather this: have Christians, of either the liberal (who hope that by co-opting the state for its own tasks, e.g. taking care of the poor) or conservative (who use the state to legislate its own moral views, e.g. abortion and homosexuality) stripe, placed their hope and power in the hands of a fundamentally distorted power which wields and controls its power by the sword, and is at its roots incompatible with the radical call of Jesus to nonviolence and discipleship?
I think that Carter's book offers a prophetic critique of the notion that Christendom was a profitable experiment for the church, and I think that Jesus Camp highlights the seriousness of the loss of perspective in the church and uncovers the uniqueness in the message of Jesus that finds hope in the Lordship of Christ, rather than the powers of this world. Just in case you haven't heard about this movie, which is very fairly done and has been well received by those in the documentary itself, below is a trailer. I highly recommend you watch this movie at some time. The filmmakers (Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady) also directed Boys of Baraka, which I have posted on before, and which is an extremely powerful look at the state of the school system in Baltimore City and the long-lasting effect of racism. Below is a trailer for Jesus Camp.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
God rid me of God
Chapter One of Rollins' work How (Not) to Speak of God is titled "God rid me of God" and is a rumination and exploration of idolatry. What is idolatry in light of postmodernism? How can our concepts of God become idolatrous?
As I start to write, I'm listening to The Arcade Fire's newest album Neon Bible, specifically the song "Intervention." If churches had organists who could blow up the organ like this in church, then by all means, bring back traditional instruments into the service as fast as possible! Sorry for the aside, but this album is awesome.
Back to Rollins. There is a lot to think about in this chapter, with a lot of the content dealing with epistemology (the study of how we know things). What do we mean when we say we know God? Do we believe that we know God as God really is? Is that even possible? One of the great insights that postmodernism has helped to develop, and Rollins clearly calls for this, is a high level of epistemological humility. What we know about God must be girded by a deep-rooted humility that acknowledges our limits in understanding God as God really is. This does not mean that we don't need to try to know God, but rather come to the place where we can realize that our understanding and knowledge of God is good, but always limited and wrapped in mystery. Rollins writes at the end of the chapter:
"In short, the emerging conversation is in a unique place to acknowledge the long-forgotten insight that God hides in God's visibility, realizing that revelation embraces concealment at one and the same time as it embraces manifestation and that our various interpretations of revelation will always be provisional, fragile, and fragmentary. While all of the Church has maintained that there is a revealed and hidden side of God, the difference here is that we are rediscovering the Barthian insight that even the revealed side of God is mysterious (pg. 18)."
Rollins points out that it is necessary for us as Christians to realize that "God hides in God's visibility," that is, that even the parts of God God shows us, we see in part, never in full. This should raise some questions about whether God is far away, or able to be known at all, and this will be discussed in further chapters, but I'll end with an illuminating comment by Rollins:
"Hence revelation ought not to be thought of either as that which makes God known or as that which leaves God unknown, but rather as the overpowering light that renders God known as unknown (pg. 17)."
As I start to write, I'm listening to The Arcade Fire's newest album Neon Bible, specifically the song "Intervention." If churches had organists who could blow up the organ like this in church, then by all means, bring back traditional instruments into the service as fast as possible! Sorry for the aside, but this album is awesome.
Back to Rollins. There is a lot to think about in this chapter, with a lot of the content dealing with epistemology (the study of how we know things). What do we mean when we say we know God? Do we believe that we know God as God really is? Is that even possible? One of the great insights that postmodernism has helped to develop, and Rollins clearly calls for this, is a high level of epistemological humility. What we know about God must be girded by a deep-rooted humility that acknowledges our limits in understanding God as God really is. This does not mean that we don't need to try to know God, but rather come to the place where we can realize that our understanding and knowledge of God is good, but always limited and wrapped in mystery. Rollins writes at the end of the chapter:
"In short, the emerging conversation is in a unique place to acknowledge the long-forgotten insight that God hides in God's visibility, realizing that revelation embraces concealment at one and the same time as it embraces manifestation and that our various interpretations of revelation will always be provisional, fragile, and fragmentary. While all of the Church has maintained that there is a revealed and hidden side of God, the difference here is that we are rediscovering the Barthian insight that even the revealed side of God is mysterious (pg. 18)."
Rollins points out that it is necessary for us as Christians to realize that "God hides in God's visibility," that is, that even the parts of God God shows us, we see in part, never in full. This should raise some questions about whether God is far away, or able to be known at all, and this will be discussed in further chapters, but I'll end with an illuminating comment by Rollins:
"Hence revelation ought not to be thought of either as that which makes God known or as that which leaves God unknown, but rather as the overpowering light that renders God known as unknown (pg. 17)."
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
where to go from here?
Shey and I finished, on Easter of all wonderful days, the series Six Feet Under we have been watching for quite awhile now. There really aren't words to express just how amazing this show was. If you haven't watched it, give it a try. Creative and executive producer of the show is Alan Ball, the writer of American Beauty (which was the Oscar-winning precursor to this show). I don't want to build it up to much, b/c you might hate it. But it really is the best show I have ever watched. It is heavy at times, but never without hope. It is complex, without trying to make things too hard. A beautiful show, definitely for mature audiences.
I can't believe it is over. I don't know where you can go from here in terms of quality TV shows? Any suggestions?
I can't believe it is over. I don't know where you can go from here in terms of quality TV shows? Any suggestions?
Friday, April 06, 2007
last day at the beach
Well, this isn't the way you typically like to end your bout at the beach, with a bit of cold weather, but we had a good day and tried to make the most of it! We've had a good week, and if you haven't checked out the pics from yesterday, there are some cool ones with alligators, besides all the birds that may be boring to you! Below are a couple of others I snapped today, a sweet brown pelican (one with a friend) and an osprey. Hope things are well with all as we prepare for Easter...peace.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
a glimpse of our day
hey folks,
here are some pics from our recent trip to Pinckney Island, a wildlife refuge near Hilton Head Island, SC where Shey and I are taking a little vacation and enjoying our spring breaks from school. As you can expect there are more bird shots than most anything else, but there are a few gators too. sorry for the break from Rollins, i had too many books to bring for school to read at the beach, not to mention books to learn how to garden. but i'll start back up after i get home next weekend. i hope everyone is well, i feel like there is a lot to talk about--a lot of hopes i have for how gardening will bring some whole-life transformation...i love birds more than ever, and i am really enjoying marriage with Shey (vacation with her is just so much fun, and so relaxing).
enjoy the pics...peace.
here are some pics from our recent trip to Pinckney Island, a wildlife refuge near Hilton Head Island, SC where Shey and I are taking a little vacation and enjoying our spring breaks from school. As you can expect there are more bird shots than most anything else, but there are a few gators too. sorry for the break from Rollins, i had too many books to bring for school to read at the beach, not to mention books to learn how to garden. but i'll start back up after i get home next weekend. i hope everyone is well, i feel like there is a lot to talk about--a lot of hopes i have for how gardening will bring some whole-life transformation...i love birds more than ever, and i am really enjoying marriage with Shey (vacation with her is just so much fun, and so relaxing).
enjoy the pics...peace.
 | ||
| Pinckney Island |
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Introduction to Part 1 of How (Not) to Speak of God
The introduction's title helps introduce us to the deep thread that ties the book together:
Heretical Orthodoxy: From Right Belief to Believing in the Right Way
This book is written in two parts. Part One is a collection of theological and philosophical reflections, riddled with parables, stories, quotes from other authors, mystics, philosophers, theologians, and Rollins' himself. Similar in how Brian McLaren makes the point that theological and philosophical ideas can be perhaps more subversive in parables and stories in The Secret Message of Jesus, Rollins employs this tactic throughout Part One of the book. The parables don't stop there however. Part Two of the book is a collection of 10 services that Rollins' has participated in and probably helped create with his community called Ikon in Ireland, that bring out the themes, theologies, and philosophies in the first part of the book, while stirring up our imagination with more stories and parables to illuminate, however darkly, the ideas from the first section of the book.
Today, I'd like to just begin conversing about the introduction to Part One...perhaps this will help others like me, I feel like I need to keep the ideas and notions in manageable chunks, both to be able to have conversation about them, and also to digest the rich thought in the book. So I thought I'd throw out another quote, that sticks out to me from the introduction to Part One (in which Rollins' is setting up his aims for this section of the book):
"Here I picture the emerging community as a significant part of a wider religious movement which rejects both absolutism and relativism as idolatrous positions which hide their human origins in the modern myth of pure reason. Instead of following the Greek-influenced idea of orthodoxy as right belief, these chapters show that the emerging community is helping us to rediscover the more Hebraic and mystical notion of the orthodox Christian as the one who believes in the right way--that is, believing in a loving, sacrificial and Christlike manner. The reversal from 'right belief' to 'believing in the right way' is in no way a move to some binary opposite of the first (for the opposite of right belief is simply wrong belief); rather, it is a way transcending the binary altogether. Thus orthodoxy is no longer (mis) understood as the opposite of heresy but rather is understood as a term that signals a way of being in the world rather than a means of believing things about the world (Rollins, pgs. 2-3, italics and bold mine)."
I think that this notion of orthodoxy, as right way of living and believing hits at the heart of what I've thought for some time now. I have struggled a lot with Reformed theology and the whole predestination/free will thing for a long time, though it has become much easier in the last few years, largely because of this nagging suspicion that orthodoxy was never about having all the right beliefs lined up in a row to show God (or others). Rather, orthodoxy was the way in which we are called to live and love in the likeness of Christ. This helps to free us from the fear that if we don't believe all the right things, or are "led astray" on a certain doctrine, that we can find hope in that orthodoxy is rooted in the way we live and believe, rather than in what we believe, which bypasses the whole, "say the sinner's prayer" or before you can be saved you must believe 1, 2, and 3.
How does this sound to you? Orthodoxy as right living and believing rather than having a fixed or proper set of beliefs that are all "correct" (if we can even be perfect or correct in our doctrines about God)?
Heretical Orthodoxy: From Right Belief to Believing in the Right Way
This book is written in two parts. Part One is a collection of theological and philosophical reflections, riddled with parables, stories, quotes from other authors, mystics, philosophers, theologians, and Rollins' himself. Similar in how Brian McLaren makes the point that theological and philosophical ideas can be perhaps more subversive in parables and stories in The Secret Message of Jesus, Rollins employs this tactic throughout Part One of the book. The parables don't stop there however. Part Two of the book is a collection of 10 services that Rollins' has participated in and probably helped create with his community called Ikon in Ireland, that bring out the themes, theologies, and philosophies in the first part of the book, while stirring up our imagination with more stories and parables to illuminate, however darkly, the ideas from the first section of the book.
Today, I'd like to just begin conversing about the introduction to Part One...perhaps this will help others like me, I feel like I need to keep the ideas and notions in manageable chunks, both to be able to have conversation about them, and also to digest the rich thought in the book. So I thought I'd throw out another quote, that sticks out to me from the introduction to Part One (in which Rollins' is setting up his aims for this section of the book):
"Here I picture the emerging community as a significant part of a wider religious movement which rejects both absolutism and relativism as idolatrous positions which hide their human origins in the modern myth of pure reason. Instead of following the Greek-influenced idea of orthodoxy as right belief, these chapters show that the emerging community is helping us to rediscover the more Hebraic and mystical notion of the orthodox Christian as the one who believes in the right way--that is, believing in a loving, sacrificial and Christlike manner. The reversal from 'right belief' to 'believing in the right way' is in no way a move to some binary opposite of the first (for the opposite of right belief is simply wrong belief); rather, it is a way transcending the binary altogether. Thus orthodoxy is no longer (mis) understood as the opposite of heresy but rather is understood as a term that signals a way of being in the world rather than a means of believing things about the world (Rollins, pgs. 2-3, italics and bold mine)."
I think that this notion of orthodoxy, as right way of living and believing hits at the heart of what I've thought for some time now. I have struggled a lot with Reformed theology and the whole predestination/free will thing for a long time, though it has become much easier in the last few years, largely because of this nagging suspicion that orthodoxy was never about having all the right beliefs lined up in a row to show God (or others). Rather, orthodoxy was the way in which we are called to live and love in the likeness of Christ. This helps to free us from the fear that if we don't believe all the right things, or are "led astray" on a certain doctrine, that we can find hope in that orthodoxy is rooted in the way we live and believe, rather than in what we believe, which bypasses the whole, "say the sinner's prayer" or before you can be saved you must believe 1, 2, and 3.
How does this sound to you? Orthodoxy as right living and believing rather than having a fixed or proper set of beliefs that are all "correct" (if we can even be perfect or correct in our doctrines about God)?
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Bright Sadness
Lent is well on its way, and thus far it has been a great experience. Soda hasn't been nearly as hard not to drink as I anticipated, although not buying any new music has been harder than I thought...I forgot that Arcade Fire's Neon Bible was coming out...anybody gotten their new album? It's gotten great reviews thus far...
As I mentioned before, Lent is traditionally called "Bright Sadness" in the Orthodox tradition, and after a few weeks of exploration into apophaticism, this notion of Bright Sadness has come to more adequately explain this time of Lent during this season of the church year for me. It has marked a period of my life rampant with dramatic change during the last few years and last few months. The Bright Sadness of this time of advent (or Lent), this time of waiting and participating in joining Christ in his sufferings, has brought great illumination, and yet sadness too. There have been moments of recognition and brightness that have reminded me of the importance of spiritual disciplines and obedience, rooted in humility, and a deep reverential silence that have shaped my life since childhood. Yet there have been periods of sadness and grief over the changes from where I've come from, and the loss of former perspectives. There has also been sadness in the changed relationships that have stemmed from deep theological shifts in the last five years, that have made it difficult to continue to perpetuate perspectives that no longer urge me along the journey of faith. And while I grieve in a way the loss and change of certain relationships in that they don't remain the same or rooted within a particular time and place, I also rejoice, for the journey of faith is also bright and illuminating. There is truly a sense of Bright Sadness right now--i.e. I am seeing life in new ways, yet there is a sense of loss, and I am changing and finding God in new ways, yet the relationships around me are also changing.
I've realized that it is important for me to wrestle with some more of these thoughts, and so I've decided to start blogging through Peter Rollins' book How (Not) to Speak of God. This book has been a breath of fresh air, and has helped put into words many of my thoughts that I had yet to find words for, and also stretched me in new ways. Combine this book with some of the best lectures and discussions of my seminary experience on Apophatic Theology from the last few weeks, especially as seen expressed in Pseudo-Dionysius, and bright sadness takes shape in powerful ways.
This should be fun and challenging, and for my friends and family reading this, if there are words that don't make sense, let me know. I know that I have yet to "define" apophatic theology (or for a Wiki definition, click here), and I will come to that, but for now, I'd like to quote a bit of the introduction of Rollins' book, that I won't even comment on tonight, but would simply like for it to ruminate and give shape to the coming discussion. This is found in Rollins' introduction, and explains his reasons for being drawn to mystical theology, which shapes a large part of the book and which illuminates much of my own perspective of how this dialogue about faith, church, the kingdom of God and so much more should take shape. This quote is in reference to Rollins trying to explain why how we (don't) talk about God is important:
As I mentioned before, Lent is traditionally called "Bright Sadness" in the Orthodox tradition, and after a few weeks of exploration into apophaticism, this notion of Bright Sadness has come to more adequately explain this time of Lent during this season of the church year for me. It has marked a period of my life rampant with dramatic change during the last few years and last few months. The Bright Sadness of this time of advent (or Lent), this time of waiting and participating in joining Christ in his sufferings, has brought great illumination, and yet sadness too. There have been moments of recognition and brightness that have reminded me of the importance of spiritual disciplines and obedience, rooted in humility, and a deep reverential silence that have shaped my life since childhood. Yet there have been periods of sadness and grief over the changes from where I've come from, and the loss of former perspectives. There has also been sadness in the changed relationships that have stemmed from deep theological shifts in the last five years, that have made it difficult to continue to perpetuate perspectives that no longer urge me along the journey of faith. And while I grieve in a way the loss and change of certain relationships in that they don't remain the same or rooted within a particular time and place, I also rejoice, for the journey of faith is also bright and illuminating. There is truly a sense of Bright Sadness right now--i.e. I am seeing life in new ways, yet there is a sense of loss, and I am changing and finding God in new ways, yet the relationships around me are also changing.
I've realized that it is important for me to wrestle with some more of these thoughts, and so I've decided to start blogging through Peter Rollins' book How (Not) to Speak of God. This book has been a breath of fresh air, and has helped put into words many of my thoughts that I had yet to find words for, and also stretched me in new ways. Combine this book with some of the best lectures and discussions of my seminary experience on Apophatic Theology from the last few weeks, especially as seen expressed in Pseudo-Dionysius, and bright sadness takes shape in powerful ways.
This should be fun and challenging, and for my friends and family reading this, if there are words that don't make sense, let me know. I know that I have yet to "define" apophatic theology (or for a Wiki definition, click here), and I will come to that, but for now, I'd like to quote a bit of the introduction of Rollins' book, that I won't even comment on tonight, but would simply like for it to ruminate and give shape to the coming discussion. This is found in Rollins' introduction, and explains his reasons for being drawn to mystical theology, which shapes a large part of the book and which illuminates much of my own perspective of how this dialogue about faith, church, the kingdom of God and so much more should take shape. This quote is in reference to Rollins trying to explain why how we (don't) talk about God is important:
"Each time I returned to the horns of this dilemma, I found myself drawn to the Christian mystics (such as Meister Eckhart), for while they did not embrace total silence, they balked at the presumption of those who would seek to colonize the name 'God' with concepts. Instead of viewing the unspeakable as that which brings all language to a halt, they realized that the unspeakable was precisely the place where the most inspiring language began. This God whose name was above every name gave birth, not to a poverty of words, but to an excess of them. And so they wrote elegantly concerning the limits of writing and spoke eloquently about the brutality of words. By speaking with wounded words of their wounded Christ, these mystics helped to develop, not a distinct religious tradition, but rather a way of engaging with and understanding already existing religious traditions: seeing them as a loving response to God rather than a way of defining God (Rollins, xii)."
amen.
amen.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
a convergence of sorts
there are always times in life when things seem to be converging in a way that help some of the often seemingly random experiences of life fit together in great ways. i've nearly finished How (not) to Speak of God by Peter Rollins, we are studying Pseudo-Dionysius (with a reading in class tonight about how mystical and apophatic theology is connected to postmodernism in my historical theology II class), and in one of my seminar classes last night called "Who is God?" my professor seemed to hint at the Derridian notion that the spirit in receiving a gift is more significant than the gift itself, a strong theme in Rollins' book...
I've also been struggling a lot with categories of late which i think has led finally to some of the above pieces fitting together, e.g.: categories with which are appropriate to talk about God, the difference between religious and scientific categories and how to talk about the difference with my friends who are not yet believers, language games, and the limited understanding of the revelation that we can understand. I've decided to write my research paper for this second of three historical theology courses on Pseudo-Dionysius and his work Mystical Theology. (my seminary doesn't have systematic theology, we instead study the content of systematic theology as the doctrines and perspectives develop over time through the course of history, philosophy, and theology. after two introductory courses which help to give a very, very broad overview of some of the theologies and doctrines that will be discussed, we are required to take Historical Theology I: Patristics, II: Medieval, and III: Reformation and Counter-Reformation to Contemporary. I have to say that I really appreciate this method of studying the plurality of perspectives deemed orthodox by the church and one of the reasons i chose The John Leland Center was for these courses, and the practice of rooting our perspectives in particular contexts and histories. It helps to show the complexity of issues rather than making things black or white.)
on a side note: i should probably not use the word "convergence" and not point people over to my good friends Todd and Lisa who are co-pastoring a church re-start called Convergence. They are doing some great stuff, and I highly recommend hanging out with their theologically imaginative community if you get a chance. better yet...create some art with them, get involved in acts of justice, and stick around for some great conversation.
lastly, i think that i'm realizing so many of the differences that arise in the conversations about the character of God, epistemology, categories, ecclesiology, and missiology arise out of differences in understanding the authority and role of scripture in church community. one of the downsides and things that i am trying to be careful not to do as i'm enjoying a brief respite of some issues and while some of my understandings and theology is coming into a time of better (yet certainly not even close to clear) focus, i want to be careful not to inflict violence on the other (especially in class) by falling into the fundamentalist trap of believing that what i perceive to be "right" thinking puts me in a better place or makes me of more value than the other who is trying their best to make sense of their theology in their particular context. it's been a great time as some of the dots have started to connect, but a humbling time as well, where the draw towards arrogant belief or "better belief" or "more correct perspective" in light of my relationship with others who do not and may never agree with me is strong. this has challenged me in class...especially in ethics and "Who is God?" to listen before disagreeing or speaking out. maybe that's why the dots are starting to connect in the first place?...
I've also been struggling a lot with categories of late which i think has led finally to some of the above pieces fitting together, e.g.: categories with which are appropriate to talk about God, the difference between religious and scientific categories and how to talk about the difference with my friends who are not yet believers, language games, and the limited understanding of the revelation that we can understand. I've decided to write my research paper for this second of three historical theology courses on Pseudo-Dionysius and his work Mystical Theology. (my seminary doesn't have systematic theology, we instead study the content of systematic theology as the doctrines and perspectives develop over time through the course of history, philosophy, and theology. after two introductory courses which help to give a very, very broad overview of some of the theologies and doctrines that will be discussed, we are required to take Historical Theology I: Patristics, II: Medieval, and III: Reformation and Counter-Reformation to Contemporary. I have to say that I really appreciate this method of studying the plurality of perspectives deemed orthodox by the church and one of the reasons i chose The John Leland Center was for these courses, and the practice of rooting our perspectives in particular contexts and histories. It helps to show the complexity of issues rather than making things black or white.)
on a side note: i should probably not use the word "convergence" and not point people over to my good friends Todd and Lisa who are co-pastoring a church re-start called Convergence. They are doing some great stuff, and I highly recommend hanging out with their theologically imaginative community if you get a chance. better yet...create some art with them, get involved in acts of justice, and stick around for some great conversation.
lastly, i think that i'm realizing so many of the differences that arise in the conversations about the character of God, epistemology, categories, ecclesiology, and missiology arise out of differences in understanding the authority and role of scripture in church community. one of the downsides and things that i am trying to be careful not to do as i'm enjoying a brief respite of some issues and while some of my understandings and theology is coming into a time of better (yet certainly not even close to clear) focus, i want to be careful not to inflict violence on the other (especially in class) by falling into the fundamentalist trap of believing that what i perceive to be "right" thinking puts me in a better place or makes me of more value than the other who is trying their best to make sense of their theology in their particular context. it's been a great time as some of the dots have started to connect, but a humbling time as well, where the draw towards arrogant belief or "better belief" or "more correct perspective" in light of my relationship with others who do not and may never agree with me is strong. this has challenged me in class...especially in ethics and "Who is God?" to listen before disagreeing or speaking out. maybe that's why the dots are starting to connect in the first place?...
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Henry (HT), my favorite barn, and Ash Wednesday
Well, i'm back in Warrenton after the trip to San Diego...upon which i returned to the week of ice, i'm finally back to writing again (though I'm sure school will take over my blog again soon). First, i wanted to introduce you to my latest friend Henry (Hermit Thrush). Shey has a funny and fun habit of naming everything, staplers, animals, cars, etc. and I beat her to the punch in naming one of the most fun birds that has come to the house yet. I first met Henry in the forest behind our place. He followed me around the forest, curious, and trying to communicate...shrugging his wings and flapping his tail at me. This was over a month ago, and yet with all the ice we got last week, the birds have been struggling to find some food and so I think Henry came all the way to the house for the first time in search of food. He's been hanging out by our front door, has followed me down the driveway, and comes pretty close...he's one of the most curious birds i've been around. so, i thought i'd share a picture of my latest favorite bird...
below is my favorite barn from the drive to our house from town. the sun came out for the first time in forever yesterday, and i just absolutely love the way the sun hits buildings and trees in the winter. and finally, the sun was hitting the barn in cool manner yesterday and i got to snap a few pictures. the farm estate is up for sale where this barn sits and Shey and i dream about living there one day. it is a wonderful piece of land.
below is my favorite barn from the drive to our house from town. the sun came out for the first time in forever yesterday, and i just absolutely love the way the sun hits buildings and trees in the winter. and finally, the sun was hitting the barn in cool manner yesterday and i got to snap a few pictures. the farm estate is up for sale where this barn sits and Shey and i dream about living there one day. it is a wonderful piece of land.
Lastly, for the first time in my life i am participating in Lent or as the Orthodox call it "Bright Sadness." something had been stirring in my spirit to participate this year and to try to understand a bit better what it means to join the church in this season. the youth talked about it last night for about an hour and they really seemed to catch on with the spirit of Lent. they were willing to fast and be disciplined with some areas of their life that i don't think that i'd have the desire to hold to. i am really proud of them. as baptists, many of them have never done anything even remotely close to this, and yet they seemed to understand the significance immediately. i had them (if they chose to participate) write down what they would like to fast and be disciplined about on a piece of paper of which we then burned and i used to mark their heads and bless them. it was pretty neat. after we had finished, one of the students asked if i would like to be marked as well...so that i too could be included. and two of the students made the mark on my head and blessed me...i can't imagine a better first time of beginning Lent.
i am fasting from all soda and upon Shey's recommendation, not purchasing any new music. i'm looking forward to this time, and hope that this practice may become a more regular one for me in the coming years...
i am fasting from all soda and upon Shey's recommendation, not purchasing any new music. i'm looking forward to this time, and hope that this practice may become a more regular one for me in the coming years...
Friday, February 09, 2007
Mr. Deity and Mr. Pagitt
Two great things happened today, both of which are related to Doug Pagitt actually. First...I went to a seminar led by Doug today called A Theology-Shaped Church : Ministry Beyond the Pragmatic that was really good. Doug raised a lot of interesting questions about the methods and hopes of many faith communities today that are simply trying to become "authorized re-tellers" of the gospel story rather than theologically imaginative communities in the way of Jesus. Central to this distinction is the missiological hope that seeks to include those who have questions by inviting and including them into the community (which implies a say in the life, direction, hopes, and aspirations of the community) through relationship rather than orthodoxy or orthopraxis as prerequisites for inclusion or a voice in the community. (Think Ortho-centric or boundary sets of community living in contrast to relational connection.) Doug pointed out that although churches and faith communities are trying to say that "spiritual" or "faith" conversations aren't happening, they are right in that those conversations aren't happening in the very place you'd expect they should be happening, that is within the church, but that they are happening very well and very intelligently outside of the church. Which brings me to Mr. Deity. Whatever you're doing, stop now and both go to the website (click on Mr. Deity.). And then using whatever podcatcher you have, subscribe to the Mr. Deity podcast and download the 5-6 video casts. Hot dang they are funny and poignant. Seriously, don't walk away from your computer until you download at least the first video-cast "Mr. Deity and The Evil."
I'd love to hear what you think of these videos, they are hilarious and really quite brilliant. Doug showed a couple in the above seminar and they stirred up a lot of laughs and great conversation about the theological task ahead of the church.
After the seminar I got to sit down with Doug and Todd and Brady (Todd's son) for about an hour and a half today to talk about church planting, new expressions of theologically imaginative communities, my paper discussing how our eschatology affects and informs the spiritual formation of our communities of faith, we shared stories, laughed, talked about Todd's (and Lisa's!) church restart Convergence, and more. Doug is a really great guy, and is awesome for taking some time to hang out and chat. If you're ever in the Minneapolis area you should visit and check out the community he is a part of called Solomon's Porch. This includes my brothers who freakin' live so close by...go check it out.
It's my last night in San Diego, and it's been a fun day. It's been a lot of fun hanging out with the Cullop's and has been cool getting to know Todd's family better. Not sure what will be going on tonight, but am hoping to check out one of the movies up for picture of the year...we'll see.
I'd love to hear what you think of these videos, they are hilarious and really quite brilliant. Doug showed a couple in the above seminar and they stirred up a lot of laughs and great conversation about the theological task ahead of the church.
After the seminar I got to sit down with Doug and Todd and Brady (Todd's son) for about an hour and a half today to talk about church planting, new expressions of theologically imaginative communities, my paper discussing how our eschatology affects and informs the spiritual formation of our communities of faith, we shared stories, laughed, talked about Todd's (and Lisa's!) church restart Convergence, and more. Doug is a really great guy, and is awesome for taking some time to hang out and chat. If you're ever in the Minneapolis area you should visit and check out the community he is a part of called Solomon's Porch. This includes my brothers who freakin' live so close by...go check it out.
It's my last night in San Diego, and it's been a fun day. It's been a lot of fun hanging out with the Cullop's and has been cool getting to know Todd's family better. Not sure what will be going on tonight, but am hoping to check out one of the movies up for picture of the year...we'll see.
Wendell Berry and Theological Turnings...
I probably also should have titled this post: UNC came back and beat Duke last night, boo-ya. Anybody else see the heels come back and beat Duke at Cameron Indoor last night...that was awesome.
Well, there is so much stirring inside of me after reading Wendell Berry's collection of essays titled Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays that I feel like I could share a little from every essay and it could provide fodder for months of conversation. As I sit out on the balcony in Sand Diego on this cool night, with the palm trees near by and the hills around me, it is still amazing to think how timely and appropriate Berry's collection of essays are for today. One of the most interesting essay's of the bunch was called "Peaceableness Toward Enemies." Let me just quote the second idea, which it is important to note that Berry wrote this in 1991 after/during the Gulf War:
II. "This latest war has been justified on a number of grounds: that it was a war to liberate Kuwait; that it was a war to defend "the civilized world" against a dangerous maniac; that it was a war to preserve peace; that it was a war to inaugurate a "new world order"; that it was a war to defend the American Way of Life; that it was a war to defend our supply of cheap oil. These justifications are not satisfactory, even when one supposes that they are sincerely believed." (pg. 69-70)
and also in part III.: What can we mean by the statement that we were "liberating" Kuwait? Kuwait was not a democratic nation. If it was imperative to "liberate" Kuwait after Saddam's invasion, why was it not equally imperative to "liberate" it before?...
The similarity in language and rhetoric used by both Bush presidents to lead the country into war is kind of scary. Or maybe it is a good thing, I guess the son listened to the father? All this to say, I think Berry raises some interesting points, first in questioning the justifications for going to war and the motivation in timing. I think both justification and motivation are questions that should continue to be asked about the current "liberation" attempts by our government.
Today I went to a seminar led by Brian McLaren called: Theological Turnings: Profound Questions that Younger Leaders are Asking About Theology (that Go Deeper than Candles and Goatees). I always enjoy hearing Brian speak and it was interesting being in a room with a lot of older pastors and church leaders and hearing the questions and comments, and often doubts with the way in which my generation, and young leaders (like me, you know I'm only 24) are beginning to express some theological turns. Which again leads me back to the ideas of what i want to explore in my paper for this conference: How does eschatology and the theological system which it is situated within influence the spiritual formation of the community which holds to that theological vantage point? Brian mentioned that he believed that there are five significant theological shifts taking place with younger leaders, one of which is a change in eschatology which will influence ecclesiology and formation of community. What kind of relationship should take place with eschatology and spiritual formation? How should it change from its current situation (if it needs to change at all)?
Well, there is so much stirring inside of me after reading Wendell Berry's collection of essays titled Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays that I feel like I could share a little from every essay and it could provide fodder for months of conversation. As I sit out on the balcony in Sand Diego on this cool night, with the palm trees near by and the hills around me, it is still amazing to think how timely and appropriate Berry's collection of essays are for today. One of the most interesting essay's of the bunch was called "Peaceableness Toward Enemies." Let me just quote the second idea, which it is important to note that Berry wrote this in 1991 after/during the Gulf War:
II. "This latest war has been justified on a number of grounds: that it was a war to liberate Kuwait; that it was a war to defend "the civilized world" against a dangerous maniac; that it was a war to preserve peace; that it was a war to inaugurate a "new world order"; that it was a war to defend the American Way of Life; that it was a war to defend our supply of cheap oil. These justifications are not satisfactory, even when one supposes that they are sincerely believed." (pg. 69-70)
and also in part III.: What can we mean by the statement that we were "liberating" Kuwait? Kuwait was not a democratic nation. If it was imperative to "liberate" Kuwait after Saddam's invasion, why was it not equally imperative to "liberate" it before?...
The similarity in language and rhetoric used by both Bush presidents to lead the country into war is kind of scary. Or maybe it is a good thing, I guess the son listened to the father? All this to say, I think Berry raises some interesting points, first in questioning the justifications for going to war and the motivation in timing. I think both justification and motivation are questions that should continue to be asked about the current "liberation" attempts by our government.
Today I went to a seminar led by Brian McLaren called: Theological Turnings: Profound Questions that Younger Leaders are Asking About Theology (that Go Deeper than Candles and Goatees). I always enjoy hearing Brian speak and it was interesting being in a room with a lot of older pastors and church leaders and hearing the questions and comments, and often doubts with the way in which my generation, and young leaders (like me, you know I'm only 24) are beginning to express some theological turns. Which again leads me back to the ideas of what i want to explore in my paper for this conference: How does eschatology and the theological system which it is situated within influence the spiritual formation of the community which holds to that theological vantage point? Brian mentioned that he believed that there are five significant theological shifts taking place with younger leaders, one of which is a change in eschatology which will influence ecclesiology and formation of community. What kind of relationship should take place with eschatology and spiritual formation? How should it change from its current situation (if it needs to change at all)?
Thursday, February 08, 2007
New Monasticism, The Bible, and Pastors
Day #2 has come and gone at the NPC. first and foremost I have to say, that the Critical Concerns Course that Todd and I went to discussing a "Return to The Bible" has been really good. More than that, Brian McLaren is such an awesome guy. His humility and generosity never cease to amaze me...he told a story today that some of you may have heard, he shared it at the annual meeting for our association, and it may be on one of the emergent podcasts. it's the story about the pastor who is excitedly talking about how Jesus and the saints are going to come in with swords and kill those who are not Christians in ushering in the kingdom of God and heaven from Revelation, without taking into account the type of literature Revelation is.
one of the most moving parts of the course this morning was in our discussion of how we might learn to read Revelation missionally:
one of the most moving parts of the course this morning was in our discussion of how we might learn to read Revelation missionally:
How to read Revelation missionally? We recall and stand up preaching the word of God, preaching the
secondly, i met Karen Ward today, the abbess of Church of The Apostles, who is a really cool woman who led a seminar called: The New Monks: “Whole-Life” Discipleship for Emerging Churches. as i mentioned before i'm at this conference partially for seminary, and one of the relationships that i have been thinking a lot about and am probably going to write my paper on is the relationship between eschatology and spiritual formation in the church. as both Karen mentioned in the conversation we had after the seminar and in the above example of how to read Revelation missionally, an eschatology that beckons us forward in hopeful redemption and co-creation in the world today, not just hope for a disembodied soul in some heavenly realm of existence, is essential in forming new practices and healthy practices in our churches. our eschatology informs so much of the way the church structures and organizes its spiritual and physical life together. i'm reading Doug Pagitt's Church Re-Imagined along with Andrew Perriman's The Coming of The Son of Man: New Testament Eschatology for The Emerging Church along with Peter Rollin's How (Not) to Speak of God in hopes to fuel this conversation of the influence of philosophy, culture, eschatology and spiritual formation upon one another. i find it to be a fascinating relationship that could influence a lot of the vision and life of churches. any thoughts on this relationship...?
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
With So Much Drama in the NPC...
Well, not really. Not much drama yet at the NPC (National Pastors Conference) which I'm currently attending for class and spiritual growth and training...etc.
I've nearly been up 24 hours as I write this, and I told a few people that I'd try to share some of the in's and out's and going-on's as I hung out in San Diego and got to be with some emergent type folks for a few days, and figured I better start today posting or the week will slip by.
honestly, with the last month off of school, and having finished a few books in the month off, I feel like i've had a lot i've wanted to share, yet haven't found the words for a lot of it. maybe part of it is that i'm still figuring out what is good for me to share on the blog. maybe part of it is that i've been taking pictures of birds? part of it is that i put a lot of pressure on myself to say something significant that will contribute to "the conversation" but sometimes i have some processing to do before i say anything out loud. and part of it is that i finished a collection of essays by Wendell Berry titled Sex, Economy, Community, and Freedom: Eight Essays that was humbling, convicting and contextually appropriate for much today's issues (war in
i'll post more on Berry maybe tomorrow, since i finished that book as the last of my "i'm not in school right now and can read whatever i want list" on the plane this morning. but tonight, i'd like to stir the pot a little with a metaphor from the critical concerns course i went to today and will finish tomorrow led by Brian McLaren and Richard Twiss called "Return to the Bible". Twiss, a Native American of the Sioux people is co-leading the seminar with Brian and the first 5 hours of the course have been great thus far. they started with taking questions and surveying the group to learn about where many of the people at the seminar were coming from and then went on to first describe the need to move out of a foundational epistemological system in a more post-modernist epistemology that constructs a web of knowledge and understanding rather than a wall or foundation.
beyond all that came what i thought was a profound missiological insight and metaphor recalled by Twiss and told by many as a Mission Legend: Bring the gospel as a seed into an indigenous culture, rather than as a potted plant, so that when the gospel which was planted as a seed begins to surface it will be expressed and understood as a manifestation of the indigenous culture. I think that this is a truly beautiful and wonderful metaphor, and offers profound insight into the necessity of preserving the relationship between culture, theology, and the gospel. this is especially true in light of Twiss' heritage and story riddled and tarnished with the story of "Christians" destroying much of his community and chance for redemption of Native American practices, not to mention the need for a contextually appropriate mission amongst the people first occupying the country to its own people without being oppressed. any thoughts?
Monday, February 05, 2007
rock the vote!
Hey friends,
If you haven't already, it is time to vote. Friends of mine from the band Harp 46 who helped lead worship at the last senior high retreat, have been at many of the great emergent conversations/conventions and other events...and are just freakin' cool...have let me know that Nuc's book Understanding Groove is up for some awards in a couple of places. Nuc is the percussionist along with Posido on bass and April on harp to make up Harp 46. If you have had a chance to hear the band, know them at all, or just want to help out some friends of mine...take a minute to vote for Nuc and his book as the best book on drum theory to come out last year.
Here's where to go:
1. DRUM! Magazine Poll: Go here, and then go to question #38- you have to click on the "submit" arrow to get to the next page of questions... but you do not have to answer ANY other of the questions to do this. On Question #38, scroll down to highlight the book titled "Understanding Groove" and then click submit and you're done.
2. Modern Drummer Poll: Go here, and after filling out your information for registering for the poll, be sure to UNCHECK the box if you would not like to be put on their mailing list. Scroll down to "Method Book" and the book title is "Understanding Groove" and the author is "Nucleo Vega."
The deadline to vote is April 15th, but take the time and vote today!
Here's a pic of the band from the fall retreat last year:
If you haven't already, it is time to vote. Friends of mine from the band Harp 46 who helped lead worship at the last senior high retreat, have been at many of the great emergent conversations/conventions and other events...and are just freakin' cool...have let me know that Nuc's book Understanding Groove is up for some awards in a couple of places. Nuc is the percussionist along with Posido on bass and April on harp to make up Harp 46. If you have had a chance to hear the band, know them at all, or just want to help out some friends of mine...take a minute to vote for Nuc and his book as the best book on drum theory to come out last year.
Here's where to go:
1. DRUM! Magazine Poll: Go here, and then go to question #38- you have to click on the "submit" arrow to get to the next page of questions... but you do not have to answer ANY other of the questions to do this. On Question #38, scroll down to highlight the book titled "Understanding Groove" and then click submit and you're done.
2. Modern Drummer Poll: Go here, and after filling out your information for registering for the poll, be sure to UNCHECK the box if you would not like to be put on their mailing list. Scroll down to "Method Book" and the book title is "Understanding Groove" and the author is "Nucleo Vega."
The deadline to vote is April 15th, but take the time and vote today!
Here's a pic of the band from the fall retreat last year:
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