12.29.2007
Whatever do you mean?
"...the true view of the Gospel will be that which explains the course of events in the first century and the second century, rather than that which seems to have spiritual and imaginative value for the twentieth century."
12.10.2007
12.09.2007
Spanking
"Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence."
Wow. Oswald Chambers says it best. How hard it is to let go of ourselves. After spending my entire life trying to lose it to Christ, I will still be caught clutching it tightly in my cold dead fingers. That is hard to swallow!
Wow. Oswald Chambers says it best. How hard it is to let go of ourselves. After spending my entire life trying to lose it to Christ, I will still be caught clutching it tightly in my cold dead fingers. That is hard to swallow!
12.05.2007
12.01.2007
Renounce your Citizenship!
The other day I watched JFK for the first time, in it is a scene with Lee Harvey Oswald in a Russian embassy renouncing his American citizenship as an act of antagonism and protest against the US. It got me thinking about the call to follow Jesus, and how Christians were first perceived in the larger Roman world of their day...
What if becoming a disciple of Jesus was no less (but rather more) a defection from citizenship in this world, and this nation. This amounts to 'traitors in the midst' to the government in Rome! This is why Rome destroyed so many Christians they were a political threat...
What do you do with people who have dedicated themselves to the overthrow of the established order? They propose an alternative way of living that is based around loving service instead of power and control. Their lives are so beautiful and attractive that they (by simply being who they are) are inviting people to ignore the status-quo and shift into their paradigm... But they aren't approaching the city with swords, nor are they attacking with diatribes, they don't wish to leave and start an alternate community but proclaim their intention to subvert this one from the inside, and they are unwilling to compromise, they won't bow to threats of death, nor cave in to promises of reward... such a people must be eradicated, or else they will be the cause of the greatest political/social upheaval in world history.
This is why for centuries Christians went into the flames, in front of the gladiators, and in the midst of the wild beast, while jeering crowds or cool aristocracy looked on...
Repent, for the Kingdom of God is here!
- Jesus of Nazareth
What if becoming a disciple of Jesus was no less (but rather more) a defection from citizenship in this world, and this nation. This amounts to 'traitors in the midst' to the government in Rome! This is why Rome destroyed so many Christians they were a political threat...
What do you do with people who have dedicated themselves to the overthrow of the established order? They propose an alternative way of living that is based around loving service instead of power and control. Their lives are so beautiful and attractive that they (by simply being who they are) are inviting people to ignore the status-quo and shift into their paradigm... But they aren't approaching the city with swords, nor are they attacking with diatribes, they don't wish to leave and start an alternate community but proclaim their intention to subvert this one from the inside, and they are unwilling to compromise, they won't bow to threats of death, nor cave in to promises of reward... such a people must be eradicated, or else they will be the cause of the greatest political/social upheaval in world history.
This is why for centuries Christians went into the flames, in front of the gladiators, and in the midst of the wild beast, while jeering crowds or cool aristocracy looked on...
Repent, for the Kingdom of God is here!
- Jesus of Nazareth
11.26.2007
11.24.2007
11.13.2007
Where does the solution lie?
The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
What problems are we talking about here? ...are we capable of solving our own problems? ...or not?
-- Mahatma Gandhi
What problems are we talking about here? ...are we capable of solving our own problems? ...or not?
10.26.2007
10.23.2007
Holiness IS
Holiness IS NOT:
Don't drink alcohol, or play cards, or dance, or wear clothes that reveal your calves. (A contemporary version of this list could include: vote Democratic, use drugs, listen to Eminem, engage in homosexual activity.) Don't associate with the types of people who do these things. Don't associate with the types of people who don't condemn these things. Don't associate with people who aren't holy like us...
Holiness IS:
'Keeping in step with the Spirit,' and producing the fruit of that. Embracing the 'abundant life,' the 'spring of living water,' and the overflow of God's goodness. Jesus tells us that God desires mercy and not sacrifice; He desires for us to overflow with goodness to show how holy we are, not to give up good things to show how holy we are.
=====================================
Holiness is a positive thing, not a negative thing; it is a quality or state of being, not the absence of something. Holiness is something true about your being, not something true of your circumstances. If we are 'Holy as God is Holy' then that holiness will send us into the midst of the community of sinners, it will not cause us to flee it in a panic, afraid the unholiness will rub off on us, but rather impell us with hope that the holiness will rub off on them.
=====================================
Holiness is something, unholiness is the absence of something; not the other way around.
Here are some applicable passages:
Romans 12:1-2 Living Sacrifices, embracing what God is doing, not what the culture is doing (not rejecting, but embracing)
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Sexual sin is wrong because it denies the reality that God wants us to embrace
Galatians 5:22-25 The Fruits of the Spirit and 'keeping in step with the spirit'
Matthew 5:20 Righteousness surpassing the Pharisees
Luke 6:43-45 Good fruit v Bad fruit, we are not simply cutting off branches, but producing good fruit
Matthew 9:9-13 Mercy not Sacrifice; have compassion on people instead of focusing on avoiding sin; overflowing v cutting off
Luke 10:25-37 Good Samaritan; the 'evildoers' are those who refuse to take responsibility, they are holy and undefiled, but the are not holy!
John 7:37-39 Streams of living water overflowing
John 10:10 Life abundant
Luke 13 healing on the sabbath v propriety
Luke 11 frauds pharisee dinner, clean the outside but the inside is dirty
Don't drink alcohol, or play cards, or dance, or wear clothes that reveal your calves. (A contemporary version of this list could include: vote Democratic, use drugs, listen to Eminem, engage in homosexual activity.) Don't associate with the types of people who do these things. Don't associate with the types of people who don't condemn these things. Don't associate with people who aren't holy like us...
Holiness IS:
'Keeping in step with the Spirit,' and producing the fruit of that. Embracing the 'abundant life,' the 'spring of living water,' and the overflow of God's goodness. Jesus tells us that God desires mercy and not sacrifice; He desires for us to overflow with goodness to show how holy we are, not to give up good things to show how holy we are.
=====================================
Holiness is a positive thing, not a negative thing; it is a quality or state of being, not the absence of something. Holiness is something true about your being, not something true of your circumstances. If we are 'Holy as God is Holy' then that holiness will send us into the midst of the community of sinners, it will not cause us to flee it in a panic, afraid the unholiness will rub off on us, but rather impell us with hope that the holiness will rub off on them.
=====================================
Holiness is something, unholiness is the absence of something; not the other way around.
Here are some applicable passages:
Romans 12:1-2 Living Sacrifices, embracing what God is doing, not what the culture is doing (not rejecting, but embracing)
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Sexual sin is wrong because it denies the reality that God wants us to embrace
Galatians 5:22-25 The Fruits of the Spirit and 'keeping in step with the spirit'
Matthew 5:20 Righteousness surpassing the Pharisees
Luke 6:43-45 Good fruit v Bad fruit, we are not simply cutting off branches, but producing good fruit
Matthew 9:9-13 Mercy not Sacrifice; have compassion on people instead of focusing on avoiding sin; overflowing v cutting off
Luke 10:25-37 Good Samaritan; the 'evildoers' are those who refuse to take responsibility, they are holy and undefiled, but the are not holy!
John 7:37-39 Streams of living water overflowing
John 10:10 Life abundant
Luke 13 healing on the sabbath v propriety
Luke 11 frauds pharisee dinner, clean the outside but the inside is dirty
10.16.2007
Jump in to the Deep End...
"All we're offering is a chance to change things, and a guarantee that something god-driven and spiritual will occur."
Author of The Breakist Manifestos
Author of The Breakist Manifestos
10.14.2007
Christian Paganism: Cinderella and Original Sin...
I had an opportunity to discuss the concept of 'original sin' with a woman who used to be a Christian, but is now an atheist. Her understanding of the doctrine is essentially that the world is evil, there is nothing good in it, especially in humanity. We are totally evil, with no redeeming features whatsoever. (Helen, if you are reading this and I mis-characterized your characterization, feel free to correct me...) This was one of the things she criticized about Christianity, its focus on evil; pointing out the problems in the world, and ignoring the beauty...
I responded that my understanding of Jesus' spirituality was quite contrary to this bleak view of the universe, and that I was compelled by my spirituality to see the world in terms of it's inherent beauty, power, and goodness. The ensuing dialogue rumbled about in my brain, sparking along the dusty synapses, and shining light into the remote regions of my intellect...
=========================================
The next morning I was deeply engaged in a wonderfully insightful film with my three year old daughter. I was suddenly struck by the relationship Cinderella had with the creatures living in and around her home. She sang with the birds, cared for the mice, chided the cat, loving them and evoking love in them in return.
The rusty four-cylinder engine between my ears turned over once or twice again...
=========================================
Pagans (loosely defined) see gods behind everything. There is a god in the elm and the maple, a god in the water and in the sky; the salmon and the osprey are manifestations of divine spirits; the moon and the stars are filled with spiritual significance and power. We can interact with these powers, calling them forth, making demands upon them and submitting to their demands; calling upon them for aid, and looking to them for guidance. The universe is alive with divinity, beauty and potency spring forth from every rock and flower; mysterious energy is present in all things.
=========================================
One of the first major intellectual challenges the disciples of Jesus faced in the early centuries of Christian thought was brought upon the spiritual community by a group who came to be called the "gnostics." They espoused a fundamentally Greek view of the Universe. A dualism between matter and energy, between the physical world and the spiritual world, was the backdrop for their understanding of Jesus. They believed matter and everything associated with it to be inherently evil. Jesus was not a man at all, but pure spirit, sent to rescue us from a material world of pure evil. They at times encouraged highly ascetic practices, giving up sex completely, eating sparse and restricted diets, avoiding pleasure.
This stands in stark contrast with the Universe of the ancient Jewish scriptures...
In the beginning God creates a world of dirt and plant, water and fish, birds, flowers, stars, clouds, and all manner of things; His spirit/breath is present within this Creation. God creates Adam and Eve, breathing His spirit into them, they bear His image and are responsible for the world arround them. Adam is in intimate relationship with the plants and animals, He 'names' them, and rules over them as a king over subjects. He is duty-bound to protect them and provide for their care; and they honor Him as the reflection of the Creator. The world is alive with divinity, beauty and potency spring forth from every rock and flower; mysterious energy is present in all things. God pronounces this caucophany of material and spiritual union, 'very good!'
...and so, when the first Christians were faced with the gnostic framework for seeing the Universe, given the spiritual and intellectual heritage they had as followers of a Jewish prophet-king, they naturally rejected such a view. Jesus came to affirm and bring 'life to the full,' not to reject it.
=========================================
The simple reality is that the western world (and western Christians within it) have unreflectively embraced the gnostic paradigm. We have not rejected an intimate Creator outright, but we have embraced a cruel mechanistic world, and so (unintentionally) God has no place in our conceptual framework. We have become deists...
Afraid of the messy comedy, raw sensuality, and blatant hedonism of the natural world, we have slayed it with our dissecting scalpels, our microscopes and telescopes. We have tamed the gods of the trees and the rocks. We have killed the sea god, 'analyzed' and 'studied' the heavens, and demystified the animals. The beasts and trees, the rocks and skies, still sing, but we have lost the ability to hear the melodious voices. The Spirit of God still 'hovers over the waters,' the Breath of God still whispers throughout the earth, but our cold eyes are closed the very medium of His goodness...
...and yet, if we are approached by the God who invented garlic and cumin, roses and peaches, nebulae and waterfalls, children and laughter, alcohol and orgasms, rhythym and melody; then perhaps He can awake in us the sense of divine play, the capacity for joy and energy required to hear the voices of the trees again.
=========================================
...and so we should not be surprised at the growing interest in pagan ideas (neopaganism, wicca, etc.) in fact, we should not even be that alarmed. Christians worship the Lord of Life, to any and all who seek to find true power and beauty, they are pursuing Jesus, the giver of new wines and new eyes, the waker of the dead, the party-goer, the True Vine, and the Spring of Living Water. The call to follow Jesus is the call to awaken our hearts to the haunting melodies, the inventive harmonies, and the heart-pounding rhythyms to be found in life; embracing wonder and awe at the awakening of the trees, the glorious skies and the monsters of the deep floor of the sea; embracing the joy and pleasure to be had simply by breathing in and out, exploring the wonderous diversity that humanity and its home has to offer.
What a terrible horror that ever did occur (were it even in but one mind, although it has unfortunately been in many) that Christianity became confused with asceticism, that the warm embrace of a loving Creator became the dark chastisement of a vengeful and distant Progenitor. How could we ever think that God doesn't enjoy that which He has made, and that we are invited to enter into His joy...
"A nightmare, long engendered in the modern mind by the mythology that follows in the wake of science, was falling off him. He had read of 'Space': at the back of his thinking for years had lurked the dismal fancy of the black, cold vacuity, the utter deadness, which was supposed to separate the worlds. He had not known how much it affected him till now - now that the very name 'Space' seemed a blasphemous libel for this empyrean ocean of radiance in which they swam. He could not call it 'dead'; he felt life pouring into him from it every moment. How indeed should it be otherwise, since out of this ocean the worlds and all their life had come? He had thought it barren: he saw now that it was the womb of words, whose blazing and innumerable offspring looked down nightly even upon the earth with so many eyes - and here, with how many more! No: Space was the wrong name. Older thinkers has been wiser when they named it simply the heavens - the heavens which declared the glory - the
'happy climes that ly
Where day never shuts his eye
Up in the broad fields of the sky.'
He quoted Milton's words to himself lovingly, at this time and often."
Out of the Silent Planet
I responded that my understanding of Jesus' spirituality was quite contrary to this bleak view of the universe, and that I was compelled by my spirituality to see the world in terms of it's inherent beauty, power, and goodness. The ensuing dialogue rumbled about in my brain, sparking along the dusty synapses, and shining light into the remote regions of my intellect...
=========================================
The next morning I was deeply engaged in a wonderfully insightful film with my three year old daughter. I was suddenly struck by the relationship Cinderella had with the creatures living in and around her home. She sang with the birds, cared for the mice, chided the cat, loving them and evoking love in them in return.
The rusty four-cylinder engine between my ears turned over once or twice again...
=========================================
Pagans (loosely defined) see gods behind everything. There is a god in the elm and the maple, a god in the water and in the sky; the salmon and the osprey are manifestations of divine spirits; the moon and the stars are filled with spiritual significance and power. We can interact with these powers, calling them forth, making demands upon them and submitting to their demands; calling upon them for aid, and looking to them for guidance. The universe is alive with divinity, beauty and potency spring forth from every rock and flower; mysterious energy is present in all things.
=========================================
One of the first major intellectual challenges the disciples of Jesus faced in the early centuries of Christian thought was brought upon the spiritual community by a group who came to be called the "gnostics." They espoused a fundamentally Greek view of the Universe. A dualism between matter and energy, between the physical world and the spiritual world, was the backdrop for their understanding of Jesus. They believed matter and everything associated with it to be inherently evil. Jesus was not a man at all, but pure spirit, sent to rescue us from a material world of pure evil. They at times encouraged highly ascetic practices, giving up sex completely, eating sparse and restricted diets, avoiding pleasure.
This stands in stark contrast with the Universe of the ancient Jewish scriptures...
In the beginning God creates a world of dirt and plant, water and fish, birds, flowers, stars, clouds, and all manner of things; His spirit/breath is present within this Creation. God creates Adam and Eve, breathing His spirit into them, they bear His image and are responsible for the world arround them. Adam is in intimate relationship with the plants and animals, He 'names' them, and rules over them as a king over subjects. He is duty-bound to protect them and provide for their care; and they honor Him as the reflection of the Creator. The world is alive with divinity, beauty and potency spring forth from every rock and flower; mysterious energy is present in all things. God pronounces this caucophany of material and spiritual union, 'very good!'
...and so, when the first Christians were faced with the gnostic framework for seeing the Universe, given the spiritual and intellectual heritage they had as followers of a Jewish prophet-king, they naturally rejected such a view. Jesus came to affirm and bring 'life to the full,' not to reject it.
=========================================
The simple reality is that the western world (and western Christians within it) have unreflectively embraced the gnostic paradigm. We have not rejected an intimate Creator outright, but we have embraced a cruel mechanistic world, and so (unintentionally) God has no place in our conceptual framework. We have become deists...
Afraid of the messy comedy, raw sensuality, and blatant hedonism of the natural world, we have slayed it with our dissecting scalpels, our microscopes and telescopes. We have tamed the gods of the trees and the rocks. We have killed the sea god, 'analyzed' and 'studied' the heavens, and demystified the animals. The beasts and trees, the rocks and skies, still sing, but we have lost the ability to hear the melodious voices. The Spirit of God still 'hovers over the waters,' the Breath of God still whispers throughout the earth, but our cold eyes are closed the very medium of His goodness...
...and yet, if we are approached by the God who invented garlic and cumin, roses and peaches, nebulae and waterfalls, children and laughter, alcohol and orgasms, rhythym and melody; then perhaps He can awake in us the sense of divine play, the capacity for joy and energy required to hear the voices of the trees again.
=========================================
...and so we should not be surprised at the growing interest in pagan ideas (neopaganism, wicca, etc.) in fact, we should not even be that alarmed. Christians worship the Lord of Life, to any and all who seek to find true power and beauty, they are pursuing Jesus, the giver of new wines and new eyes, the waker of the dead, the party-goer, the True Vine, and the Spring of Living Water. The call to follow Jesus is the call to awaken our hearts to the haunting melodies, the inventive harmonies, and the heart-pounding rhythyms to be found in life; embracing wonder and awe at the awakening of the trees, the glorious skies and the monsters of the deep floor of the sea; embracing the joy and pleasure to be had simply by breathing in and out, exploring the wonderous diversity that humanity and its home has to offer.
What a terrible horror that ever did occur (were it even in but one mind, although it has unfortunately been in many) that Christianity became confused with asceticism, that the warm embrace of a loving Creator became the dark chastisement of a vengeful and distant Progenitor. How could we ever think that God doesn't enjoy that which He has made, and that we are invited to enter into His joy...
"A nightmare, long engendered in the modern mind by the mythology that follows in the wake of science, was falling off him. He had read of 'Space': at the back of his thinking for years had lurked the dismal fancy of the black, cold vacuity, the utter deadness, which was supposed to separate the worlds. He had not known how much it affected him till now - now that the very name 'Space' seemed a blasphemous libel for this empyrean ocean of radiance in which they swam. He could not call it 'dead'; he felt life pouring into him from it every moment. How indeed should it be otherwise, since out of this ocean the worlds and all their life had come? He had thought it barren: he saw now that it was the womb of words, whose blazing and innumerable offspring looked down nightly even upon the earth with so many eyes - and here, with how many more! No: Space was the wrong name. Older thinkers has been wiser when they named it simply the heavens - the heavens which declared the glory - the
'happy climes that ly
Where day never shuts his eye
Up in the broad fields of the sky.'
He quoted Milton's words to himself lovingly, at this time and often."
Out of the Silent Planet
10.12.2007
Homosexuality
Some thoughts and questions…
Loved the distinction between scriptural uses “establish/generate,” that is a very helpful and insightful distinction that gives some flesh to the “exegesis/eisegesis” distinction.
I am intrigued by the notion that Christian homophobia has more to do with cultural roots, than with scriptural mandate (this seems clear to me in our present context, however, I am less familiar with other contexts).
I do find it very problematic, however, to use the term ‘homophobia’ to refer specifically to those who call homosexual acts immoral. I find that use of terminology to be confusing (whether this is intentional or not is a point for debate, but it does seem to me to be an intentional strategy). It seems only prudent to distinguish between those who dislike, disparage, or discriminate against, and those who engage in deep friendship and partnership while simultaneously holding to the position that homosexual activity is unethical. Would you agree that this distinction should be made? Or would you lump both groups under the heading ‘homophobe?’
I am a little confused at the statement that there are no clear condemnations of homosexual activity in Scripture. I agree that it (homosexual activity) is far from central, and in fact quite peripheral to the narrative arc of God’s activity within history, but it seems to me that to claim what Jennings claims is not counter-intuitive, but rather simply inaccurate. God’s primary concern, His most cherished hope for humanity, is hardly that all people engage in heterosexual married sex. How banal! However, it seems to my reading of Scripture, that a life submitted to God’s activity would be moved in directions other than homoeroticism. I’d love to hear your response to that…
FInally, it seems to me that the claims of an integral role for homoeroticism in the Biblical story are simply an example of the homosexual community engaging in the same eisegesis that the fundamentalists are accused of…
To read David and Jonathon as homosexual lovers is to expose oneself as having never had deep, non-erotic, friendship. I have kissed a male friend in the midst of a deeply fervent time of prayer together. I have given my heart to other men in ways perhaps as deep as to my wife and children. I have also actually tried to see another man as in any way sexually arousing, and that attempt really made me laugh! I don’t have that desire (although we could enter into the nature/nurture conversation on that point…)
Again, I would love some feedback from you. This is clearly a topic of great concern to the future of the Church. I hope and pray that the way forward preserves a true integrity of faith in Jesus, and yet leaves behind the alienation that has at times and places come with spiritual fervor in His name. Thanks…
Loved the distinction between scriptural uses “establish/generate,” that is a very helpful and insightful distinction that gives some flesh to the “exegesis/eisegesis” distinction.
I am intrigued by the notion that Christian homophobia has more to do with cultural roots, than with scriptural mandate (this seems clear to me in our present context, however, I am less familiar with other contexts).
I do find it very problematic, however, to use the term ‘homophobia’ to refer specifically to those who call homosexual acts immoral. I find that use of terminology to be confusing (whether this is intentional or not is a point for debate, but it does seem to me to be an intentional strategy). It seems only prudent to distinguish between those who dislike, disparage, or discriminate against, and those who engage in deep friendship and partnership while simultaneously holding to the position that homosexual activity is unethical. Would you agree that this distinction should be made? Or would you lump both groups under the heading ‘homophobe?’
I am a little confused at the statement that there are no clear condemnations of homosexual activity in Scripture. I agree that it (homosexual activity) is far from central, and in fact quite peripheral to the narrative arc of God’s activity within history, but it seems to me that to claim what Jennings claims is not counter-intuitive, but rather simply inaccurate. God’s primary concern, His most cherished hope for humanity, is hardly that all people engage in heterosexual married sex. How banal! However, it seems to my reading of Scripture, that a life submitted to God’s activity would be moved in directions other than homoeroticism. I’d love to hear your response to that…
FInally, it seems to me that the claims of an integral role for homoeroticism in the Biblical story are simply an example of the homosexual community engaging in the same eisegesis that the fundamentalists are accused of…
To read David and Jonathon as homosexual lovers is to expose oneself as having never had deep, non-erotic, friendship. I have kissed a male friend in the midst of a deeply fervent time of prayer together. I have given my heart to other men in ways perhaps as deep as to my wife and children. I have also actually tried to see another man as in any way sexually arousing, and that attempt really made me laugh! I don’t have that desire (although we could enter into the nature/nurture conversation on that point…)
Again, I would love some feedback from you. This is clearly a topic of great concern to the future of the Church. I hope and pray that the way forward preserves a true integrity of faith in Jesus, and yet leaves behind the alienation that has at times and places come with spiritual fervor in His name. Thanks…
10.06.2007
Aidan Michael Schenk
Well...
the first two were both a week late, this one however, was a week early. That is why he was so small, only a skimpy 7 pounds 15 ounces. Okay, that isn't really small, but the other two were 8 1/2 and 9 1/2 pounds. Everything went great, we went into the hospital at 8:00pm and delivered around 4:45am, Aidan is totally healthy, and so is Tamy.
So far (fingers crossed) Aidan has been extremely quiet. Even when he isn't sleeping he just looks around quietly observing. That is the way his big sister was, his older brother, on the other hand, still hasn't stopped wiggling, hollering, and instigating...
The first two pictures are of some freinds who stopped in to visit, they have two of their own about the same ages as Zane and Zoe...
the first two were both a week late, this one however, was a week early. That is why he was so small, only a skimpy 7 pounds 15 ounces. Okay, that isn't really small, but the other two were 8 1/2 and 9 1/2 pounds. Everything went great, we went into the hospital at 8:00pm and delivered around 4:45am, Aidan is totally healthy, and so is Tamy.
So far (fingers crossed) Aidan has been extremely quiet. Even when he isn't sleeping he just looks around quietly observing. That is the way his big sister was, his older brother, on the other hand, still hasn't stopped wiggling, hollering, and instigating...
The first two pictures are of some freinds who stopped in to visit, they have two of their own about the same ages as Zane and Zoe...
10.03.2007
The Story
Here is what was shared at our Sunday evening gathering. If you were there, I would love to hear your thoughts on any of this...
Outline:
1) God and His Creation
A) God is Beauty, Power, Creativity, Life, Goodness, Joy, Love
B) God creates a world that reflects His character, "It is good."
C) God creates humankind, He breathes (spirit/wind) into Man, Humanity is the caretaker, image-bearer, God-reflector
2) The Breaking of the World
A) Humanity rejects God and His image, steps out of fellowship with God and His place in creation
B) Humanity loses the Beauty, Power, Creativity, Life, Goodness, Joy, Love
Pain, Fear, Rage, Doubt, Despair, Alienation, Loneliness, Opression;
Confused about who we are and what our place is;
We use each other, sex objects, for money, we lie, and cheat and steal, we hurt and injure each other;
There is murder and rape, people hate each other for the color of their skin or their gender, religion, or sexual-orientation;
There are countries where whole people groups have been exterminated by the millions
There is disease, aids, cancer, ebola; there is poverty and starvation;
Even the world itself is broken, the skies and the waters are polluted and diseased, the animals and the plants are dying off
C) The Creation loses the reflection of God into it, instead humanity reflects brokenness and pain
The world is broken because humanity is broken; we have reflected our brokenness into the world...
3) God's Promised Restoration
A) From the beginning God pronounces His plan to put things right
B) He promises to bless Abraham and use his family to put the world right
4) The Call of a People
A) God choses the descendant's of Abraham, the twelve grandsons, to be His people
B) He places in their midst His Law, His Prophets, His Temple, His very Presence (Image/Spirit/Wind)
C) They are to be a light to the world, Blessed to be a blessing, the promise fulfilled through them, image-bearers, God-reflectors
D) They have a choice; their own agenda or God's, will they see God's blessing and chosing them as a reason for arrogance and pride, to keep the blessing to themselves, to hide the light they have been given; or to step into God's mission?
5) The Son of God; the Second Adam
A) Jesus comes, he is the Second Adam, taking upon himself the restoration and role of the first, God's Spirit (breath/wind) decends upon Him, He is God's image, Son, reflection into the world
B) He takes upon Himself the mission of God, to put things right, reconstituting the nation of Israel (the people of God) around Himself, to possess the indwelling of God (Jesus IS the Law, Prophets and Temple), the light and blessing of the world
A) Jesus chose 12 symbolic students (a renewed Israel, a renewed people of God), God gathered thousands to Jesus after His resurection.
C) He confronts the counterfeit people of God, people must chose between the People of God and the Mission of God as Jesus presents them, as opposed to the ethnocentric, political, nationalistic vision of the Pharisees, Zealots, Sadducees.
D) Jesus is executed as a Rebel, a false claimant to the throne, but in so doing He fulfills the promise, the Crucifixion is God taking the brokenness of the world upon Himself, putting things right through His own pain, reflecting the image of a loving-forgiving-redeeming-suffering God
E) Jesus OVERCOMES the brokenness and death; Resurrection! Jesus is vindicated! He IS God's true light, Israel's true King, He is God's Son doing God's work, redeeming the broken world, putting EVERYTHING back together
6) The Call of a People
B) A choice must be made, my vision of the world, or God's, will I allow God to remake me in His image, will I accept my own brokenness and allow Jesus crucifixion and resurrection to become my defining reality? Dying with Him in repentance and resurrecting with Him by His Spirit?
C) These are the people of God on the Mission of God, they are going to be used by God to fulfill His promise for the world, God's 'Rushing Wind' (spirit/breath) falls on the Church, they are God-reflectors, the Body of Christ, the light of the world, and the source of Blessing
7) The Mission of God
A) The Church has a Mission, "NO!" The Mission has a Church! It is not that God's people have a purpose attached to them, it is that God's purposes have a people attached to them! The Church is the only communty that exists primarily for the sake of it's non-members!
B) God is setting the world right. Restoring broken individuals, restoring broken relationships, restoring broken societies, restoring a broken environment.
C) As Jesus suffered to redeem the world, so too the Church must enter into the brokenness and suffering of the world to redeem it. We must pray with one hand in heaven and one hand on the brokenness and pain that is around us.
8) The Buffalo Vineyard Church
A) We have a choice! Will we repent and allow God to define us, to heal us, to set us right? Allowing ourselves to be connected to God by His redeeming death and resurrecting Spirit, will we submit to His Spirit (Breath/Wind)?
B) The Church is in danger of the same judgment as the nation of Israel if we do as they did, we must recognize that we are chosen to serve. We cannot create a bubble of Christians, marginalizing everyone else. We must be the church for the world, or esle we are not the Church! The Church for too long has rejected God's purposes in the world, and rejected the peopple that God loves and wants to bring in...
C) Becoming the people of God, connected to each other through community, truly and deeply knowing and loving each other.
D) Joining the mission of God, connecting to the broken places and people around us in our own lives, in the larger city, and in the larger world.
E) I say YES! We are a small group of people who meet in a home weekly to worship and learn and pray, to eat and listen and encourage and challenge, to serve the needs of the poor and the broken, to warmly invite others to participate, to include anyone who desires, to see that reproduced around the city. We are beginning to experience God's restoration, God's healing breath and spirit, (I invite you to participate and receive Him) There are people in our church who are dreaming about making an impact on the world around them; connecting the arts and spirituality, serving the broken and needy people in our city; THEY GET IT! The Church is for the world!
F) To have an expanding network of small communities of people who are commited to the Mission of God, reflecting His image, allowing the Christ-life to dwell in their midst, to invite others to participate and to see that same thing reproduced a thousand times throughout our city and our world...
So now it gets practical---
We want to see more, in more places, we don't want to hold on to this
GIVE AWAY THE BLESSING!
*MAYBE YOU NEED TO BE PUT RIGHT, HEALED, WE ALL DO!
How do we share what we are experiencing? What we are commited to?
Handout: See the end.
10) Conclusion
A) Story - You are invited to find yourself in God's Story!
B) Mission - You are invited to put the world right!
C) Repentance - It begins with the choice to allow God to put your own soul right, to take your brokenness upon Him and to create you anew, and Breathe (Spirit/Wind) in you again
Handout:
Begin your day by praying the Lord’s Prayer
Pray through the book of Psalms
Pray over the daily Buffalo News Headlines
Read the Gospel of Mark every day for a week
Ask someone to recommend a book to read
Worship God
Compose a song or poem praising God
Spend time in contemplation on who God is
Be silent for an extended period of time
Spend a week without listening to any radio/TV
Give up food for a day and buy a homeless person lunch and/or pray for starving children
Confess something to someone else
Go out of your way to encourage someone
Pray for God's insight, and then write an encouraging letter to someone
Invite someone to join you in any of the activities on this list
Invite someone here to your home for a meal
Open your home to start a second home group
Spend time with someone who has nothing to offer
Offer to perform a menial task for the Church
Spend time with someone you wouldn't normally
Get someone here's phone number and go have coffee together, ask each other deep questions
Rake leaves in your neighborhood
Visit sick people in a hospital and pray for them
Share with someone your spiritual journey
Invite a friend to be a part of our community
Sponsor a child with World Vision or Be-A-Hero
Help someone move
Offer to pray a blessing over a random stranger
Tip 100% at your next meal
Volunteer at the Homeless shelter
Listen to someone
Meet someone’s practical needs
Organize an art show exploring spirituality
Research ways our community can practically make an impact on: AIDS, Environment, Global Poverty
Pick up trash on your block
Organize a drive to replace light bulbs with energy efficient ones
Volunteer with Aids Community Service
Travel to another country to serve their needs
Pay the toll for the car behind you
Start a blanket drive
Volunteer with Big Brothers-Sisters
Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity
Start a Sunday School for children that meets at one of the housing projects in the City
Outline:
1) God and His Creation
A) God is Beauty, Power, Creativity, Life, Goodness, Joy, Love
B) God creates a world that reflects His character, "It is good."
C) God creates humankind, He breathes (spirit/wind) into Man, Humanity is the caretaker, image-bearer, God-reflector
2) The Breaking of the World
A) Humanity rejects God and His image, steps out of fellowship with God and His place in creation
B) Humanity loses the Beauty, Power, Creativity, Life, Goodness, Joy, Love
Pain, Fear, Rage, Doubt, Despair, Alienation, Loneliness, Opression;
Confused about who we are and what our place is;
We use each other, sex objects, for money, we lie, and cheat and steal, we hurt and injure each other;
There is murder and rape, people hate each other for the color of their skin or their gender, religion, or sexual-orientation;
There are countries where whole people groups have been exterminated by the millions
There is disease, aids, cancer, ebola; there is poverty and starvation;
Even the world itself is broken, the skies and the waters are polluted and diseased, the animals and the plants are dying off
C) The Creation loses the reflection of God into it, instead humanity reflects brokenness and pain
The world is broken because humanity is broken; we have reflected our brokenness into the world...
3) God's Promised Restoration
A) From the beginning God pronounces His plan to put things right
B) He promises to bless Abraham and use his family to put the world right
4) The Call of a People
A) God choses the descendant's of Abraham, the twelve grandsons, to be His people
B) He places in their midst His Law, His Prophets, His Temple, His very Presence (Image/Spirit/Wind)
C) They are to be a light to the world, Blessed to be a blessing, the promise fulfilled through them, image-bearers, God-reflectors
D) They have a choice; their own agenda or God's, will they see God's blessing and chosing them as a reason for arrogance and pride, to keep the blessing to themselves, to hide the light they have been given; or to step into God's mission?
5) The Son of God; the Second Adam
A) Jesus comes, he is the Second Adam, taking upon himself the restoration and role of the first, God's Spirit (breath/wind) decends upon Him, He is God's image, Son, reflection into the world
B) He takes upon Himself the mission of God, to put things right, reconstituting the nation of Israel (the people of God) around Himself, to possess the indwelling of God (Jesus IS the Law, Prophets and Temple), the light and blessing of the world
A) Jesus chose 12 symbolic students (a renewed Israel, a renewed people of God), God gathered thousands to Jesus after His resurection.
C) He confronts the counterfeit people of God, people must chose between the People of God and the Mission of God as Jesus presents them, as opposed to the ethnocentric, political, nationalistic vision of the Pharisees, Zealots, Sadducees.
D) Jesus is executed as a Rebel, a false claimant to the throne, but in so doing He fulfills the promise, the Crucifixion is God taking the brokenness of the world upon Himself, putting things right through His own pain, reflecting the image of a loving-forgiving-redeeming-suffering God
E) Jesus OVERCOMES the brokenness and death; Resurrection! Jesus is vindicated! He IS God's true light, Israel's true King, He is God's Son doing God's work, redeeming the broken world, putting EVERYTHING back together
6) The Call of a People
B) A choice must be made, my vision of the world, or God's, will I allow God to remake me in His image, will I accept my own brokenness and allow Jesus crucifixion and resurrection to become my defining reality? Dying with Him in repentance and resurrecting with Him by His Spirit?
C) These are the people of God on the Mission of God, they are going to be used by God to fulfill His promise for the world, God's 'Rushing Wind' (spirit/breath) falls on the Church, they are God-reflectors, the Body of Christ, the light of the world, and the source of Blessing
7) The Mission of God
A) The Church has a Mission, "NO!" The Mission has a Church! It is not that God's people have a purpose attached to them, it is that God's purposes have a people attached to them! The Church is the only communty that exists primarily for the sake of it's non-members!
B) God is setting the world right. Restoring broken individuals, restoring broken relationships, restoring broken societies, restoring a broken environment.
C) As Jesus suffered to redeem the world, so too the Church must enter into the brokenness and suffering of the world to redeem it. We must pray with one hand in heaven and one hand on the brokenness and pain that is around us.
8) The Buffalo Vineyard Church
A) We have a choice! Will we repent and allow God to define us, to heal us, to set us right? Allowing ourselves to be connected to God by His redeeming death and resurrecting Spirit, will we submit to His Spirit (Breath/Wind)?
B) The Church is in danger of the same judgment as the nation of Israel if we do as they did, we must recognize that we are chosen to serve. We cannot create a bubble of Christians, marginalizing everyone else. We must be the church for the world, or esle we are not the Church! The Church for too long has rejected God's purposes in the world, and rejected the peopple that God loves and wants to bring in...
C) Becoming the people of God, connected to each other through community, truly and deeply knowing and loving each other.
D) Joining the mission of God, connecting to the broken places and people around us in our own lives, in the larger city, and in the larger world.
E) I say YES! We are a small group of people who meet in a home weekly to worship and learn and pray, to eat and listen and encourage and challenge, to serve the needs of the poor and the broken, to warmly invite others to participate, to include anyone who desires, to see that reproduced around the city. We are beginning to experience God's restoration, God's healing breath and spirit, (I invite you to participate and receive Him) There are people in our church who are dreaming about making an impact on the world around them; connecting the arts and spirituality, serving the broken and needy people in our city; THEY GET IT! The Church is for the world!
F) To have an expanding network of small communities of people who are commited to the Mission of God, reflecting His image, allowing the Christ-life to dwell in their midst, to invite others to participate and to see that same thing reproduced a thousand times throughout our city and our world...
So now it gets practical---
We want to see more, in more places, we don't want to hold on to this
GIVE AWAY THE BLESSING!
*MAYBE YOU NEED TO BE PUT RIGHT, HEALED, WE ALL DO!
How do we share what we are experiencing? What we are commited to?
Handout: See the end.
10) Conclusion
A) Story - You are invited to find yourself in God's Story!
B) Mission - You are invited to put the world right!
C) Repentance - It begins with the choice to allow God to put your own soul right, to take your brokenness upon Him and to create you anew, and Breathe (Spirit/Wind) in you again
Handout:
Begin your day by praying the Lord’s Prayer
Pray through the book of Psalms
Pray over the daily Buffalo News Headlines
Read the Gospel of Mark every day for a week
Ask someone to recommend a book to read
Worship God
Compose a song or poem praising God
Spend time in contemplation on who God is
Be silent for an extended period of time
Spend a week without listening to any radio/TV
Give up food for a day and buy a homeless person lunch and/or pray for starving children
Confess something to someone else
Go out of your way to encourage someone
Pray for God's insight, and then write an encouraging letter to someone
Invite someone to join you in any of the activities on this list
Invite someone here to your home for a meal
Open your home to start a second home group
Spend time with someone who has nothing to offer
Offer to perform a menial task for the Church
Spend time with someone you wouldn't normally
Get someone here's phone number and go have coffee together, ask each other deep questions
Rake leaves in your neighborhood
Visit sick people in a hospital and pray for them
Share with someone your spiritual journey
Invite a friend to be a part of our community
Sponsor a child with World Vision or Be-A-Hero
Help someone move
Offer to pray a blessing over a random stranger
Tip 100% at your next meal
Volunteer at the Homeless shelter
Listen to someone
Meet someone’s practical needs
Organize an art show exploring spirituality
Research ways our community can practically make an impact on: AIDS, Environment, Global Poverty
Pick up trash on your block
Organize a drive to replace light bulbs with energy efficient ones
Volunteer with Aids Community Service
Travel to another country to serve their needs
Pay the toll for the car behind you
Start a blanket drive
Volunteer with Big Brothers-Sisters
Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity
Start a Sunday School for children that meets at one of the housing projects in the City
9.29.2007
...and then there was Jesus
Sneakily, each of the descriptions in the previous post correspond to four movements or groups that were present in the culture of 1st century Judea. I took some liberties with the descriptions with two objectives in mind; to offer them as contemporary approaches to culture (as I think we have groups of Christians in our culture who correspond to each of these options), and to trick you into picking one of the options that Jesus rejected!!! It was into the midst of the following spiritual/social/political options that Jesus entered:
=====================
1) Zealots - This was a group who was fed up with the control of foreign powers and false leaders. They were committed to ushering in the Kingdom of God by means of force if necessary (and it was often necessary!). They were constantly fomenting rebellion, and rigorously opposed the Roman occupation of the Jewish homeland. Their posture toward the world was combative and antagonistic.
=====================
2) Essenes - This was a group of people who were committed to living out the values of God's Kingdom. They felt like the best way to accomplish this was to abandon the evil and compromising culture of the day for a pure and godly community in the wilderness. The Essenes built a community in the desert where they could bring God's Kingdom in by leaving behind the people who would hinder it. Their posture towards the world was one of seclusion and retreat.
=====================
3) Pharisees - This was a group who took it upon themselves to maintain the purity of the Jewish people. They held to a rigorous understand of purity, and they wanted to impose that standard upon all other Jewish people, whom they looked down upon as defiled. They believed that God's Kingdom would come when the Jewish people would turn from their dirty lives and enter into a life of holiness. They believed that they possessed this holiness and would dispense it to those who did not. Their posture towards the world was one of arrogance and disdain.
=====================
4) Sadducees - This group had attached themselves to the political powers. They saw their only hope of maintaining their place as the cultural and economic elites as aligning themselves with authority in an attempt to gain it themselves. They were willing to let go of some of the things that God had done, and to deny some of the things that God had promised to do, in order to cement their relationship with the political authorities. Their posture towards the world was one of compromise and connivance.
=====================
Jesus fundamental difference from those above lay in His understanding that God's blessing is always to be given away. These other groups saw God's blessing as theirs by right, they saw their status as 'God's Chosen People' as a reason to exclude others (the Romans, the sinners, the poor, the culture as a whole). Jesus realized that God wanted to breathe restoration into the world through Jesus. The others arrogantly assumed that God wanted to breathe privelege into them so that they could sit atop the world.
Jesus walked out a unique understanding of God's Kingdom. He did not look down on the less fortunates of the world, berating them for their poverty and ignorance like the Pharisees, nor did He choose to abandon the world to chaos and pain as the Essenes had. He chose rather to work to change the state of the world, to heal and emancipate, to resurrect and empower. His method for doing this, however, was not the violent force of the Zealot, nor was it to court the powers of the world, trading God's power for the impotence of worldly play-Kings as the Sadducees did.
Each of these four groups sought to define for themselves the Kingdom of God, usually reserving the place of honor in that Kingdom for people who (coincidentally) looked remarkably like they did. Each of these groups was willing to marginalize some other aspect of society to maintain their own place of primacy in the soon-to-be innaugerated Kingdom of God.
Jesus saw the Kingdom of God as God's good authority coming to those who were marginalized by these groups. His way of bringing the Kingdom was a sharp contrasting rebuttle to the ways listed above. Essentially, Jesus saw Himself as fulfilling God's purposes of putting things right in the world, He took upon Himself the calling of the Nation of Israel, to be a light to the world and a blessing to the nations. Jesus entered into the broken places to bring healing, taking the brokenness and suffering upon Himself so that others could recieve from Him the life of the Spirit. He was not passive, but He was peaceful; He was not compromising, yet He was compassionate; He did not run from the world, nor did He fight it; He embraced the world, with all of its pain and alienation, despair and violence, and He simultaneously embraced heaven, with all of its beauty and purpose, power and joy.
It is to this subversive and provokative way that Jesus beckons us. He bids us, "Come and die with me, so that you might live, and others will live with us... We will bring heaven to earth, and God's Good News to those who are in desparate need."
=====================
1) Zealots - This was a group who was fed up with the control of foreign powers and false leaders. They were committed to ushering in the Kingdom of God by means of force if necessary (and it was often necessary!). They were constantly fomenting rebellion, and rigorously opposed the Roman occupation of the Jewish homeland. Their posture toward the world was combative and antagonistic.
=====================
2) Essenes - This was a group of people who were committed to living out the values of God's Kingdom. They felt like the best way to accomplish this was to abandon the evil and compromising culture of the day for a pure and godly community in the wilderness. The Essenes built a community in the desert where they could bring God's Kingdom in by leaving behind the people who would hinder it. Their posture towards the world was one of seclusion and retreat.
=====================
3) Pharisees - This was a group who took it upon themselves to maintain the purity of the Jewish people. They held to a rigorous understand of purity, and they wanted to impose that standard upon all other Jewish people, whom they looked down upon as defiled. They believed that God's Kingdom would come when the Jewish people would turn from their dirty lives and enter into a life of holiness. They believed that they possessed this holiness and would dispense it to those who did not. Their posture towards the world was one of arrogance and disdain.
=====================
4) Sadducees - This group had attached themselves to the political powers. They saw their only hope of maintaining their place as the cultural and economic elites as aligning themselves with authority in an attempt to gain it themselves. They were willing to let go of some of the things that God had done, and to deny some of the things that God had promised to do, in order to cement their relationship with the political authorities. Their posture towards the world was one of compromise and connivance.
=====================
Jesus fundamental difference from those above lay in His understanding that God's blessing is always to be given away. These other groups saw God's blessing as theirs by right, they saw their status as 'God's Chosen People' as a reason to exclude others (the Romans, the sinners, the poor, the culture as a whole). Jesus realized that God wanted to breathe restoration into the world through Jesus. The others arrogantly assumed that God wanted to breathe privelege into them so that they could sit atop the world.
Jesus walked out a unique understanding of God's Kingdom. He did not look down on the less fortunates of the world, berating them for their poverty and ignorance like the Pharisees, nor did He choose to abandon the world to chaos and pain as the Essenes had. He chose rather to work to change the state of the world, to heal and emancipate, to resurrect and empower. His method for doing this, however, was not the violent force of the Zealot, nor was it to court the powers of the world, trading God's power for the impotence of worldly play-Kings as the Sadducees did.
Each of these four groups sought to define for themselves the Kingdom of God, usually reserving the place of honor in that Kingdom for people who (coincidentally) looked remarkably like they did. Each of these groups was willing to marginalize some other aspect of society to maintain their own place of primacy in the soon-to-be innaugerated Kingdom of God.
Jesus saw the Kingdom of God as God's good authority coming to those who were marginalized by these groups. His way of bringing the Kingdom was a sharp contrasting rebuttle to the ways listed above. Essentially, Jesus saw Himself as fulfilling God's purposes of putting things right in the world, He took upon Himself the calling of the Nation of Israel, to be a light to the world and a blessing to the nations. Jesus entered into the broken places to bring healing, taking the brokenness and suffering upon Himself so that others could recieve from Him the life of the Spirit. He was not passive, but He was peaceful; He was not compromising, yet He was compassionate; He did not run from the world, nor did He fight it; He embraced the world, with all of its pain and alienation, despair and violence, and He simultaneously embraced heaven, with all of its beauty and purpose, power and joy.
It is to this subversive and provokative way that Jesus beckons us. He bids us, "Come and die with me, so that you might live, and others will live with us... We will bring heaven to earth, and God's Good News to those who are in desparate need."
9.27.2007
I am the Truth...
Why is it that we can refer to Jesus' words about truth as an excuse to have a verbal barrage of truth claims for every person we meet? The very person we are quoting asked more questions and made more cryptic remarks than He ever dispensed truth-claims. We can use the phrase 'born-again' in ways that flatly contradict the way Jesus used it. (In it's original context it was a brilliant exercise in purposefully confusing terminology, and we have made it into a badge of spiritual politically-correctness...) Instead of becoming like a baby, newly-birthed into a world of God-breathed beauty, we have become like religious grad-students, showing the world how much we know, religious thought police...
If as Christians we believe that truth is a person whom we learn from, not a statement that we believe, how should that change the way we handle people's questions? (Or our own?) How would that affect the way we determine what is and isn't an accurate statement about reality?
If as Christians we believe that truth is a person whom we learn from, not a statement that we believe, how should that change the way we handle people's questions? (Or our own?) How would that affect the way we determine what is and isn't an accurate statement about reality?
9.21.2007
From a Good Friend
Evolution of AFM
Growing up, sports were the focus of my life. I found my purpose in recess basketball games. My identity survived or came crashing down in accordance with the results of a neighborhood football game. There was no greater feeling then sitting in a baseball dugout with my best friends, spitting seeds and cheering on our teammates. There was no greater sense of accomplishment then winning a wrestling match over a childhood rival.
Sports created a simple world for me. I could understand it. I could work within its rules. I think this is why people of all ages sit in front of the television day in and day out and watch sports. There is a part of us that longs for life to make sense again. We long for purpose and an understanding of how to operate within such a purpose. Sports can offer this. But even though sporting events can mirror certain aspects of life, life asks us much bigger questions then can be found in the latest addition of Sports Illustrated, an ESPN highlight reel or through the atmosphere of a Monday night football game.
When I was younger I did not think about life’s biggest questions. I did not worry or ever cry out because of injustice. I never had regret. I was insulated.
As I grew older life became complicated. As a college wrestler athletics became a job. Life presented more questions then answers. My sense of purpose began to fade away.
After college I moved to San Diego and entered into a small theology program through Point Loma Nazarene University and tried to answer some of my questions. To pay the bills I became a certified personal trainer and a high school wrestling coach. All in all, my life revolved around training. I trained people’s bodies in my studio, I trained my wrestlers on how to win on the mat and I was getting spiritually trained in my theology program.
At first the three spheres of my life remained separate. I saw no real connection. However, I soon realized that spirituality encompasses every aspect of our lives. We live holistically. Nothing is secular. Everything is spiritual.
I then became excited about integrating spirituality into health and fitness. My sense of purpose came back. I started to feel alive again.
My excitement continued to grow as “spirituality” became a buzzword in mainstream America. Classes like Yoga and Tai Chi sprouted up everywhere as people began to realize that spirituality is integral to health and that our modern scientific culture was neglecting their spiritual needs.
I then heard about a conference in Las Vegas that dealt with the role of spirituality in health and fitness. The conference was put on by a reputable company whose goal was to inform the rest of the health and fitness community on how to integrate spirituality into their professions. So with the companionship of a good friend and fellow trainer, I packed up my bags and went to Vegas.
The conference was filled with smiling faces and charismatic speakers. Health was in the air. But a true sense of purpose and meaning was not. One speaker after another came forward and reproduced lines from watered down Hallmark cards while providing a relativistic view on life. I was about as inspired as a bachelor doing dishes alone on a Saturday night.
After one of the sessions I walked up to all the speakers who were sitting at a long table and asked them a simple question. “What do you mean when you say the word ‘spirituality?’” Silence was my first response. Which would have been better then what followed. After a long pause they all looked at each other and almost in unison said, “that is a really good question, we don’t have an answer.”
I was shocked. I had expected an answer that would move me, inspire me and potentially change the course of my life forever. But here I was at a conference on the role of spirituality in health yet not one of the keynote speakers knew what they meant when they said the word spirituality!
I left the conference extremely disappointed. Even though I liked the idea of integrating the body, mind and spirit into a holistic approach to training, I knew that spirituality encompassed much more than an avenue to looking good and having deep conversations at coffee shops. Spirituality is based on the living God’s interaction with the physical world and how we participate in that process. On the car ride home my mind raced with questions. The Absolute Fitness Mode is my answer to those questions.
Growing up, sports were the focus of my life. I found my purpose in recess basketball games. My identity survived or came crashing down in accordance with the results of a neighborhood football game. There was no greater feeling then sitting in a baseball dugout with my best friends, spitting seeds and cheering on our teammates. There was no greater sense of accomplishment then winning a wrestling match over a childhood rival.
Sports created a simple world for me. I could understand it. I could work within its rules. I think this is why people of all ages sit in front of the television day in and day out and watch sports. There is a part of us that longs for life to make sense again. We long for purpose and an understanding of how to operate within such a purpose. Sports can offer this. But even though sporting events can mirror certain aspects of life, life asks us much bigger questions then can be found in the latest addition of Sports Illustrated, an ESPN highlight reel or through the atmosphere of a Monday night football game.
When I was younger I did not think about life’s biggest questions. I did not worry or ever cry out because of injustice. I never had regret. I was insulated.
As I grew older life became complicated. As a college wrestler athletics became a job. Life presented more questions then answers. My sense of purpose began to fade away.
After college I moved to San Diego and entered into a small theology program through Point Loma Nazarene University and tried to answer some of my questions. To pay the bills I became a certified personal trainer and a high school wrestling coach. All in all, my life revolved around training. I trained people’s bodies in my studio, I trained my wrestlers on how to win on the mat and I was getting spiritually trained in my theology program.
At first the three spheres of my life remained separate. I saw no real connection. However, I soon realized that spirituality encompasses every aspect of our lives. We live holistically. Nothing is secular. Everything is spiritual.
I then became excited about integrating spirituality into health and fitness. My sense of purpose came back. I started to feel alive again.
My excitement continued to grow as “spirituality” became a buzzword in mainstream America. Classes like Yoga and Tai Chi sprouted up everywhere as people began to realize that spirituality is integral to health and that our modern scientific culture was neglecting their spiritual needs.
I then heard about a conference in Las Vegas that dealt with the role of spirituality in health and fitness. The conference was put on by a reputable company whose goal was to inform the rest of the health and fitness community on how to integrate spirituality into their professions. So with the companionship of a good friend and fellow trainer, I packed up my bags and went to Vegas.
The conference was filled with smiling faces and charismatic speakers. Health was in the air. But a true sense of purpose and meaning was not. One speaker after another came forward and reproduced lines from watered down Hallmark cards while providing a relativistic view on life. I was about as inspired as a bachelor doing dishes alone on a Saturday night.
After one of the sessions I walked up to all the speakers who were sitting at a long table and asked them a simple question. “What do you mean when you say the word ‘spirituality?’” Silence was my first response. Which would have been better then what followed. After a long pause they all looked at each other and almost in unison said, “that is a really good question, we don’t have an answer.”
I was shocked. I had expected an answer that would move me, inspire me and potentially change the course of my life forever. But here I was at a conference on the role of spirituality in health yet not one of the keynote speakers knew what they meant when they said the word spirituality!
I left the conference extremely disappointed. Even though I liked the idea of integrating the body, mind and spirit into a holistic approach to training, I knew that spirituality encompassed much more than an avenue to looking good and having deep conversations at coffee shops. Spirituality is based on the living God’s interaction with the physical world and how we participate in that process. On the car ride home my mind raced with questions. The Absolute Fitness Mode is my answer to those questions.
9.20.2007
The Four Options...
Which best describes you?
=====================
1)
The world is full of people who want to decieve and destroy. They need to be confronted with the truth. You want to expose the lies of those in positions of cultural power. You want to remove the godless authorities from their places of power and show people the truth of God's word. You hope to see godly men and women occupy those positions of control and authority and you are willing to combat the forces working against that hope with whatever social and political means are at your disposal. Your ideal society is one where God has been placed at the top, He is publicly honored by politicians and leaders, professors and business owners. All of society is ordered by the ways of God, from schools and courtrooms, to public places and private homes; the ways of God are taught as the only right way to live.
=====================
2)
The world is a place that has nothing of value to you. You desire to stear clear of those who would corrupt you or your family with their godless ways and evil deeds. Your ideal society is a group of people who are devoted to living for God, who have removed themselves from the evil ways of the world. You would love to live somewhere in the country (living a simple, rural lifestyle) with these godly people, teaching your children the good life, and drawing closer to God.
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3)
The world is a dirty place that needs cleaning up, you find yourself wanting to teach people the right way to live. If the world would only take note of what God has been saying and begin to obey, the world would be a better place. You have little patience with people who chose a life of ignorance and degradation. Your ideal society is one where everyone has comitted to living a pure and righteous life. If people would only follow your example, and listen to what you tell them, they would discover that they too can be blessed by God.
=====================
4)
The world has much to offer. If you could only attach yourself to the right people and the right insititutions, you would be able to use the power and energy and knowledge for good. You want to enlist the aid of those in power to accomplish the goals of God. Your ideal society is one where the spiritual community is on good terms with the secular authorities and those in positions of cultural influence. You don't want to 'rock the boat' unneccisarily, and are willing to find healthy and appropriate compromises to make things work and get things done.
If you read this, I would love to hear which of these viewpoints you would align yourself with. I would probably fit in the number 3 category, although I would have said number 2 a few years ago...
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1)
The world is full of people who want to decieve and destroy. They need to be confronted with the truth. You want to expose the lies of those in positions of cultural power. You want to remove the godless authorities from their places of power and show people the truth of God's word. You hope to see godly men and women occupy those positions of control and authority and you are willing to combat the forces working against that hope with whatever social and political means are at your disposal. Your ideal society is one where God has been placed at the top, He is publicly honored by politicians and leaders, professors and business owners. All of society is ordered by the ways of God, from schools and courtrooms, to public places and private homes; the ways of God are taught as the only right way to live.
=====================
2)
The world is a place that has nothing of value to you. You desire to stear clear of those who would corrupt you or your family with their godless ways and evil deeds. Your ideal society is a group of people who are devoted to living for God, who have removed themselves from the evil ways of the world. You would love to live somewhere in the country (living a simple, rural lifestyle) with these godly people, teaching your children the good life, and drawing closer to God.
=====================
3)
The world is a dirty place that needs cleaning up, you find yourself wanting to teach people the right way to live. If the world would only take note of what God has been saying and begin to obey, the world would be a better place. You have little patience with people who chose a life of ignorance and degradation. Your ideal society is one where everyone has comitted to living a pure and righteous life. If people would only follow your example, and listen to what you tell them, they would discover that they too can be blessed by God.
=====================
4)
The world has much to offer. If you could only attach yourself to the right people and the right insititutions, you would be able to use the power and energy and knowledge for good. You want to enlist the aid of those in power to accomplish the goals of God. Your ideal society is one where the spiritual community is on good terms with the secular authorities and those in positions of cultural influence. You don't want to 'rock the boat' unneccisarily, and are willing to find healthy and appropriate compromises to make things work and get things done.
If you read this, I would love to hear which of these viewpoints you would align yourself with. I would probably fit in the number 3 category, although I would have said number 2 a few years ago...
9.14.2007
These words do not apply to you...
Constitution
I happened to listen to a popular radio talkshow the other day that has a Paul McCartney song as it's theme song. Here are the lyrics:
This is my right - A right given by God
To live a free life - To live in freedom
Talkin' about freedom - I'm talkin' 'bout freedom
I will fight - For the right
To live in freedom
Anyone tries to take it away
They'll have to answer
'Cause this is my right
I'm talkin' about freedom - Talkin' 'bout freedom
I will fight - For the right
To live in freedom
I was really disturbed by this, precisely because this show is overtly 'Christian.' These lyrics stand in direct contradiction to the teachings of Jesus. For someone to claim to follow Him and then to endorse the agenda that this song proposes as being in line with His teachings is simply irresponsible.
My pastor relayed a story to me about one of his college professors. The man read aloud to his class the famous lines from the Declaration of Independence; "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." He then instructed his class:
"If you are a follower of Jesus, then you cannot claim that you have any rights whatsoever; this Declaration does not apply to you."
I happened to listen to a popular radio talkshow the other day that has a Paul McCartney song as it's theme song. Here are the lyrics:
This is my right - A right given by God
To live a free life - To live in freedom
Talkin' about freedom - I'm talkin' 'bout freedom
I will fight - For the right
To live in freedom
Anyone tries to take it away
They'll have to answer
'Cause this is my right
I'm talkin' about freedom - Talkin' 'bout freedom
I will fight - For the right
To live in freedom
I was really disturbed by this, precisely because this show is overtly 'Christian.' These lyrics stand in direct contradiction to the teachings of Jesus. For someone to claim to follow Him and then to endorse the agenda that this song proposes as being in line with His teachings is simply irresponsible.
My pastor relayed a story to me about one of his college professors. The man read aloud to his class the famous lines from the Declaration of Independence; "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." He then instructed his class:
"If you are a follower of Jesus, then you cannot claim that you have any rights whatsoever; this Declaration does not apply to you."
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