Set Loose!

I am not great at this, but I want to learn! (There are those out there who model this skill very well.)

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My first response to almost all of my culture (American culture and Church culture) is critique. My response to other cultures, however, is largely to listen, learn, ask questions, reflect, affirm, and then seek to redirect towards the Kingdom...

...affirmation and Redirection!

This unfortunately, causes me to approach with contempt the group to which I am a missionary! I need to learn the desire for redemption of culture as the first response! Not critique, nor blind allegiance, but redemption!

To redeem is to buy the freedom of someone who has been enslaved. We must buy-back the good in our culture that the enemy has stolen!

This means that we must look first for the good!

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We find ourselves, as followers of the Messiah, in the position of being attacked by a man enslaved. He does not attack us at his own bidding, but rather by his master who has chained him. I must admit, my first tendency is not to loose the chains but rather to punch at the man wearing them.

Halford Luccock

You remember that among the Franks, whole armies were sometimes given baptism at one stroke, and many warriors went into the water with their right hands held high so that they did not get wet. Then they could say, “This hand has never been baptized,” and they could swing their battle axes just as freely as ever. The modern counterpart of that partial baptism is seen in many people who have been baptized, all except their pocketbooks. They held these high out of the water.

And We're Off!!!

Cory and I leave today for the Dominican Republic!

The Importance of the Big Picture

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat."
Sun Tzu (400 BC–330 BC)

A Taste pt II

There is a form of thought (often called 'Modern' in philosophical conversation) that bends itself toward concrete analysis. It is a way of approaching the world that seeks to reduce everything to the smallest possible unit, in order to understand its functions, attributes, relationship to the whole, and so to approach knowledge of the universe.

These people ask, "Is the apple real? Can we know anything about the apple? What is it's color, texture, weight, and size?"

Moderns talk only of the observable truth of the apple; it is solid, actionable, universal, public knowledge. This is the strength of modern thought. It allows us to build buildings that withstand earthquakes, to raise large metal objects into the sky for extended periods of time, discover unique compounds of matter that removes pests, or alter certain plant species to make them yield greater caloric output for the same resource input. (Even in this list, is the beginning of the critique!) Modern thought has many strengths, its weakness, however, is its impersonal and calculating heart.

This type of thought yields tremendous evidence for the existence of the apple. There are hard arguments about its makeup. These arguments are convincing, but...

...the apple is dissected and categorized but untasted, it is understood and yet, not understood.

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This same approach is taken to spiritual matters. As ~eljeffe points out, "I wonder if these common battles lead the earlier Church to develop the famous "Creeds" that have been recited over the generations." Concrete thoughts and definitions are deeply needed, however (while the Creeds are a formulation of a premodern Church) the people of God in Modern times have adopted Modern thought uncritically. The emphasis has become convincing argument, propositional truth claims, often to the exclusion (or even outright disparaging) of experience...

We understand the map, we dissect the apple, we recite the Creed; but we do not take the journey, eat the apple, or listen to Jesus.

Combating Evil

"And Abraham’s a bit of a shaky character too in various ways, because the people who are called to be the bearers of the solution are also part of the problem."

N.T. Wright

A Taste pt I

Just the other day I had someone tell me, "That's true for them, but not for me."

This led to a long conversation.

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I said, "Can it really be true for me and not for you?"

My friend responded, "Sure, you tell me the apple is sweet, but when I try it, I say it is bitter. One is true for you, the other is true for me."

"But surely the statement, 'This apple taste sweet on that tongue,' is true for all people at all times?" I replied.

My friend retorted, "Okay, then 'This person believes that to be true,' is also true for all people at all times, but that doesn't make what 'this person believes' true for all people!"

I responded, "But, isn't that begging the question as to whether spiritual knowledge is describing how the apple tastes on my tongue? Shouldn't we be trying to determine whether spiritual knowledge is describing how the apple tastes to me, or information about the existence, substance, and attributes of the apple? Or even information about the nutritional and culinary benefits of an apple?"

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I am fascinated by the fact that most people who express this sentiment believe they are 'free-thinkers' who are rebelling against the mass of cultural opinion. The truth is, of course, the opposite; they are actually expressing popular opinions that they have been inculcated with via various sources of cultural influence.

The main reason they don't recognize this influence is that it rarely takes the form of explicit argument, but rather takes the form of implicit story. This brought me to some reflection on the contrast between these two forms of thought and the subsequent world-views produced.

Pastor Rob

If your relationship with God doesn’t bring you into conflict with your culture, then you need to reevaluate you relationship with God.

Integrity

"If the things we believe in are different than the things we do, there can be no true happiness."
Dana Telford

Cost

"The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it."
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

A Bloody Dream

For only the second time in my life I had a prophetic dream.

This was several months ago when I was in Texas with friends.

In my dream I was with a friend from my childhood. He and I had spent many years as friends, but haven't talked much with each other since I moved East.

My friend was not living with God, and his life was being destroyed by it. In my dream there was a real sense of urgency, as though God was offering him a choice with drastic consequences...

I felt strongly that God wanted to give something to my friend, then (while I was still dreaming) God spoke to me about my friend, "I want to make him a father to the fatherless."

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I immediately woke up, and jolted upright in my bed.

I began to pray for my friend. A few minutes later I realized that I was wide awake and was unable to go back to sleep. I decided to go into the hotel bathroom to read so as not to wake my wife.

When I walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, my face was covered with blood!

In somewhat of a daze I walked back into the room to see that my pillow also had blood all over it. I woke my wife and shared what happened with her.

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Later that day I was able to call my friend and share with him what had happened. I wish he had cried out to God. He didn't. But he did acknowledge the message that was given in the dream. I continue to pray that God would give him the gift, and that my friend would receive it.

Without Belief

"The abdication of belief makes the behavior small."
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Change the World, Start in Santa Cruz

The Process Supersedes the Result

"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)

Context is Important!

Like a Child

The other day I was invited to share at another church in town. Tamy worked the night before so she was unable to go with me, but she laid out a specific outfit for the kids to wear because she worried I would take the kids out in public in dirty clothes. Such is my wife's faith in my fashion sense...

As we were getting ready to go, I noticed Zane wasn't wearing the shorts and shirt that I had dressed him in (the ones Tamy had laid out).

I asked, "Zane, how come you aren't wearing the clothes I dressed you in?"

"I'm wearing pants, because you're wearing pants, Papa!" he exclaimed.

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St Paul tells us to "watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents."

We are designed to take our cues from God, just the way my son takes his cues from me...

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As St James says, true wisdom for life comes from somewhere else. It is not something we just muster up ourselves, or find on our own; we must learn it. Wisdom must be received!

Do we have ears to hear and eyes to see? Like a child with his father, are our arms wide to receive?

Dorothy Sayers

The Man Born to Be King

King Herod tells the magi: "You cannot rule men by love. When you find your king, tell him so. Only three things will govern a people--fear and greed and the promise of security."

Action Reveals Character

"Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

The American Caesar

"After all, in a democracy ‘Caesar’ is ‘all of us’, and though we have Presidents and Prime Ministers the critique of ‘empire’ is more complicated now than it was in the first century."

NT Wright

Donegality

(Click on the title link to a fascinating NT Wright article on a book about CS Lewis)

Donegality is essentially a way of getting at the experience of something in contrast to the knowledge of something. The difference between contemplation and enjoyment. I can contemplate a piece of music, or I can enjoy it...

The article explores the possibility that Lewis' seven book series was intended to help people enjoy something without contemplating it; that hiding the explicit viewpoint being expressed would help people to see the world through the viewpoint, instead of merely looking at the viewpoint itself. It is the difference between looking at a pair of glasses, and wearing them...