One element that has surrounded me for the majority of my life is the notion of 'moving along'. In my lifetime I have lived in 3 different continents, 2 major countys, 11 different cities, while attending 5 different elementary schools, 1 junior highschool and 1 highschool. I have attended 3 different colleges and 1 university that I am now attending.
Those are incredible stats.
The notion of moving has not left me in the context of church. Church is supposed to be the one structured or stable enviroment that people are a part of. I have attended 2 buddhist temples while I was living in Japan, in California I attended 1 Catholic Church, 3 mega-korean churches, 1 Japnese church, 1 Calvary Chapel, and now am at 1 so called postmodern/emergent church because we use Christmas lights as our real lights...
My old professor once called me a "church hopper". My friends who are not so nice call me a "church whore".
That is all folks, let me know what you think all this moving along has done to me!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Observations from John 8
Part 1 of John 8
John 8
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
Observation and Application Pt. 1
This is one of my most favorite passages in the bible. It’s a drama filled with sex, near death, and redemption. The reason this is one of my favorite passages is because it underlines two major themes that I think every person should live by. The first theme that I would like to investigate is the act of forgiveness. The other theme I will write about later.
In this situation Jesus embodies the art of forgiveness. I think that forgiveness is much more then an act of one person saying “I forgive” to the person that has wronged them. Here Jesus teaches us that forgiveness is one looking into their own heart before announcing judgment. This is taught to us by the words of Christ when he says, “Then neither do I condemn you,” to the adultress. Jesus is not saying this because he doesn’t know what this women has done. Clearly she was thrown at his feet with people wanting to kill her maliciously because of her actions of sleeping with another women’s husband. Jesus says those words because even him who has no sin does not condemn a women caught in an act that legalizes her death. Instead he offers forgiveness and redemption for her life. I believe that Jesus is trying to teach us through his interaction with this women that forgiveness shouldn’t stop with the act of forgiving or in our culture today the act of “forgetting”. The act of forgiveness should bring a spirit of redemption for that person caught in sin.
John 8
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
Observation and Application Pt. 1
This is one of my most favorite passages in the bible. It’s a drama filled with sex, near death, and redemption. The reason this is one of my favorite passages is because it underlines two major themes that I think every person should live by. The first theme that I would like to investigate is the act of forgiveness. The other theme I will write about later.
In this situation Jesus embodies the art of forgiveness. I think that forgiveness is much more then an act of one person saying “I forgive” to the person that has wronged them. Here Jesus teaches us that forgiveness is one looking into their own heart before announcing judgment. This is taught to us by the words of Christ when he says, “Then neither do I condemn you,” to the adultress. Jesus is not saying this because he doesn’t know what this women has done. Clearly she was thrown at his feet with people wanting to kill her maliciously because of her actions of sleeping with another women’s husband. Jesus says those words because even him who has no sin does not condemn a women caught in an act that legalizes her death. Instead he offers forgiveness and redemption for her life. I believe that Jesus is trying to teach us through his interaction with this women that forgiveness shouldn’t stop with the act of forgiving or in our culture today the act of “forgetting”. The act of forgiveness should bring a spirit of redemption for that person caught in sin.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Sports can teach us about life Pt. 1
I have been at home watching ESPN when the flashing breaking news came on the screen. The sports broadcaster announced, "Bobby Petrino is leaving the Atlanta Falcons for the Arkansas Razorbacks." Now this would not be a huge deal most of the time. Most college football coaches just don't do well in the NFL. Their style of leadership just doesn't cross over and they can't sell the 'program' to the paid players like they did with the college kids. The reason this is a big deal is because he (Bobby Petrino) is leaving the Atlanta Falcons after only 13 games. He didn't even finish the season!
What is even more ridiculous to hear is how he had lied to the owner of the Falcons and reassured him a day before of him quitting, telling the owner he was the "coach of the Falcons." His former players, the Atlanta Falcons have now come out in criticism calling him everything from 'coward', 'liar', and 'quitter'. Bobby Petrino, no matter how you spin it, quit on the team and the organization.
I'm not ranting about this because I'm an Atlanta Falcons fan. I only write about this because this situation reminds me of life today. Where someone makes a promise or a declaration to stay in some form of committed relationship and then all of a sudden quits. The grass is greener on the other side or the relationship is too hard. The person makes a decision to leave. This led me to a question of why?
What makes the grass look so much better on the other side. I think its not so much as the grass being greener then the other side. I think its the lens of the person that life is being viewed from. If one comes to conclusion that life is not so great here and its better to quit and leave, then does that person have a right perspective on life.
We teach our children to learn from our mistakes. I have made my own quote of "The smartest man is not learning from his own mistake, the smartest man is learning from the mistakes of others." But do we live this ideal out?
So maybe there is some good from Bobby Petrino quitting on his team. Maybe the good is so that we may learn not to quit on ours.
Please let me know your thoughts.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Message that no Progressive Christian wants to Hear, Including Me!
During the last 2 to 3 years, I have heard the message, "Go and be like Jesus, be one with the people'. So I did. After examining the bible and realizing that God has called us to love the other, I went and did so.
It was fun. I had a good time pouring out free Starbucks coffee to the women at the bus station who was on crack by her own admission. I had good times laughing with the homosexual pastor about Hollywood stereotypes. I even had good times dancing and smiling at a party for 'the one'. The messages about giving, sacrifice, loving, and helping the poor were the ones that I embraced with all my heart.
I don't know why, but in embracing those messages, I started rejecting some of the fundamental messages that I have heard from my childhood to youth. It seemed reasonable at the time and in my young adulthood mind-set I started blasting the ideals that had nothing to do with 'the other'. I sacrificed substance for style. I told myself that certain habits were fine because I am progressive. And to be progressive, you have to progress from something right? So I progressed from the fundamentalists. Self-righteousness never felt better for me.
But now I am at this place. This place is a place where I realize that I shouldn't have ever replaced style for substance. That being progressive has nothing to do with giving up the ideals of integrity, purity, and righteousness. It has all to do with up-keeping those ideals because in doing so we get to a place where loving the other is done because of our integrity towards God and his calling in our lives.
I came to this place because of a situation. I want to lead a group of young people at my community. I think God has called me to do it. I think that I can do it with Gods love. Most importantly, I love the young people. But to be the best leader for them and to be honest with them, I have come to an understanding that there are things in my life that need to change. Maybe I am being to candid, a little to honest. But what is life and the beauty of humanity if we are not able to be transparent.
The message that no Progressive wants to hear, the one that I missed was when the speaker was sharing about how Jesus became the poor and how Jesus loved the unrighteous was the message of how Jesus never changed. He became poor, but he didn't change his ideals. He ate with the prositutes, but he never accepted their lifestyle. He saved the young adultress from death and we love this story of how Jesus started writing something on the ground and how he told the right-wing fundamentalist to go throw the first stone, but we forget that Jesus asked her to leave her life of sin at the end. With Christ there is a huge underline of redemption and forgiveness. At the same time there is a huge underline of integrity and honesty.
In my youth I gave up certain habits because it was the popular thing to do in a fanatic pentecostal church. I now give up those same habits, not because of my progressive emergent post-modern church, but because of Christ's calling in my life. Him calling me to be me. Which is calling me to be more like him. To love the poor and to help the oppressed while keeping the traditional ideals of integrity, honesty, and purity.
Please let me know your thoughts.
It was fun. I had a good time pouring out free Starbucks coffee to the women at the bus station who was on crack by her own admission. I had good times laughing with the homosexual pastor about Hollywood stereotypes. I even had good times dancing and smiling at a party for 'the one'. The messages about giving, sacrifice, loving, and helping the poor were the ones that I embraced with all my heart.
I don't know why, but in embracing those messages, I started rejecting some of the fundamental messages that I have heard from my childhood to youth. It seemed reasonable at the time and in my young adulthood mind-set I started blasting the ideals that had nothing to do with 'the other'. I sacrificed substance for style. I told myself that certain habits were fine because I am progressive. And to be progressive, you have to progress from something right? So I progressed from the fundamentalists. Self-righteousness never felt better for me.
But now I am at this place. This place is a place where I realize that I shouldn't have ever replaced style for substance. That being progressive has nothing to do with giving up the ideals of integrity, purity, and righteousness. It has all to do with up-keeping those ideals because in doing so we get to a place where loving the other is done because of our integrity towards God and his calling in our lives.
I came to this place because of a situation. I want to lead a group of young people at my community. I think God has called me to do it. I think that I can do it with Gods love. Most importantly, I love the young people. But to be the best leader for them and to be honest with them, I have come to an understanding that there are things in my life that need to change. Maybe I am being to candid, a little to honest. But what is life and the beauty of humanity if we are not able to be transparent.
The message that no Progressive wants to hear, the one that I missed was when the speaker was sharing about how Jesus became the poor and how Jesus loved the unrighteous was the message of how Jesus never changed. He became poor, but he didn't change his ideals. He ate with the prositutes, but he never accepted their lifestyle. He saved the young adultress from death and we love this story of how Jesus started writing something on the ground and how he told the right-wing fundamentalist to go throw the first stone, but we forget that Jesus asked her to leave her life of sin at the end. With Christ there is a huge underline of redemption and forgiveness. At the same time there is a huge underline of integrity and honesty.
In my youth I gave up certain habits because it was the popular thing to do in a fanatic pentecostal church. I now give up those same habits, not because of my progressive emergent post-modern church, but because of Christ's calling in my life. Him calling me to be me. Which is calling me to be more like him. To love the poor and to help the oppressed while keeping the traditional ideals of integrity, honesty, and purity.
Please let me know your thoughts.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The Kingdom of Heaven
I have recently come to visual contact with the term kingdom of heaven and it led me to some of these thoughts...
The kingdom of heaven has been a complex idea since its birth. It has led to a conquest of lands, approval of deaths, and oppression of particular people groups. Not only has the term 'kingdom of heaven' turned people off from Christianity, it has led people to leave "Christianity" due to the history of the term.
In my own life I have gone through many different understandings of the term 'kingdom of heaven'. In my youth I described the term as a great warehouse of people who believed in God and were willing to 'take back the land for his kingdoms sake'. Thankfully God took me away from the mass heresy and put me at a bible college where I learned the theological understanding of the term kingdom of heaven. A nice professor with a beaming bald head and a high pitched voice taught me that the kingdom of heaven is here but still not here. In simple man's words, Jesus brought down the kingdom of heaven, its just not fully here till he comes back again. The only reason I remember that much of it is because he would put the A.C on full blast in the month of October at 7 am on any given weekday.
I, understandably of course started running away from the term kingdom of heaven. I didn't like what it stood for and how instead of giving hope for people, it brought despair. Not only were Christians using the term for personal gain, so were other religions and people of different faiths.
Most recently though, during the last year I have been confronted more and more with the idea of the 'kingdom of heaven'. My pastor would talk about the term and what it means in our life today. Me being the pessismesstic and realist didn't believe him and accused him of wrong doing. I didn't know what he did wrong, I just knew there was something wrong. Me, once again being the 'humble' one started doing my own research to prove him wrong on the idea of the term 'kingdom of heaven'.
I was dumbfounded to realize that he was right. And this is now what I believe the term 'kingdom of heaven' means when Christ spoke during his lifetime.
When Christ spoke to the large crowd and the disciples, I would think that there were some poor in the crowd. That it wasn't like how our church's are today with the nice chairs and the lined up pews filled with our Sunday suits, Sunday socks, and Sunday shoes. That Jesus' gathering of people on that mountainside included; the poor, the meek, the mourning, the truth-seekers, and maybe even the righteous. I believe that Jesus was trying to teach that the kingdom of heaven isn't some secluded club like Curves is with a sign at the door screaming, "Only certain people allowed in". He was trying to teach that its an inclusive club with the door open, begging for people to come and join the party. Jesus also taught that the kingdom of heaven isn't something that needs to be taken, its already here. I've learned that it lives within our midst. That the kingdom of heaven is within our touch even, the touch of another human being. The kingdom of heaven is not for the proud or haughty where Jesus taught in one of his parables about how a Pharisee and the teacher of the Law would not help the Jewish man who was beaten and robbed at the road.
The kingdom of heaven is for the Samaritan. For the half-breeds and the marginalized. For the people who were passed by because of race, gender, or a lack of wealth. I have learned that the kingdom of heaven is for all and that if nobody wants to be a part of the kingdom, its fine. I will be honest with all of you. The hard part was not realizing what Christ meant when he said the term kingdom of heaven. The hard part is moving from the 'knowing' to the doing of the kingdom of heaven that Christ calls us too.
So here I am now. Hoping that I may live out to the best of my ability, the kingdom of heaven. Or in simple man's words, "The Kingdom of Love".
The kingdom of heaven has been a complex idea since its birth. It has led to a conquest of lands, approval of deaths, and oppression of particular people groups. Not only has the term 'kingdom of heaven' turned people off from Christianity, it has led people to leave "Christianity" due to the history of the term.
In my own life I have gone through many different understandings of the term 'kingdom of heaven'. In my youth I described the term as a great warehouse of people who believed in God and were willing to 'take back the land for his kingdoms sake'. Thankfully God took me away from the mass heresy and put me at a bible college where I learned the theological understanding of the term kingdom of heaven. A nice professor with a beaming bald head and a high pitched voice taught me that the kingdom of heaven is here but still not here. In simple man's words, Jesus brought down the kingdom of heaven, its just not fully here till he comes back again. The only reason I remember that much of it is because he would put the A.C on full blast in the month of October at 7 am on any given weekday.
I, understandably of course started running away from the term kingdom of heaven. I didn't like what it stood for and how instead of giving hope for people, it brought despair. Not only were Christians using the term for personal gain, so were other religions and people of different faiths.
Most recently though, during the last year I have been confronted more and more with the idea of the 'kingdom of heaven'. My pastor would talk about the term and what it means in our life today. Me being the pessismesstic and realist didn't believe him and accused him of wrong doing. I didn't know what he did wrong, I just knew there was something wrong. Me, once again being the 'humble' one started doing my own research to prove him wrong on the idea of the term 'kingdom of heaven'.
I was dumbfounded to realize that he was right. And this is now what I believe the term 'kingdom of heaven' means when Christ spoke during his lifetime.
When Christ spoke to the large crowd and the disciples, I would think that there were some poor in the crowd. That it wasn't like how our church's are today with the nice chairs and the lined up pews filled with our Sunday suits, Sunday socks, and Sunday shoes. That Jesus' gathering of people on that mountainside included; the poor, the meek, the mourning, the truth-seekers, and maybe even the righteous. I believe that Jesus was trying to teach that the kingdom of heaven isn't some secluded club like Curves is with a sign at the door screaming, "Only certain people allowed in". He was trying to teach that its an inclusive club with the door open, begging for people to come and join the party. Jesus also taught that the kingdom of heaven isn't something that needs to be taken, its already here. I've learned that it lives within our midst. That the kingdom of heaven is within our touch even, the touch of another human being. The kingdom of heaven is not for the proud or haughty where Jesus taught in one of his parables about how a Pharisee and the teacher of the Law would not help the Jewish man who was beaten and robbed at the road.
The kingdom of heaven is for the Samaritan. For the half-breeds and the marginalized. For the people who were passed by because of race, gender, or a lack of wealth. I have learned that the kingdom of heaven is for all and that if nobody wants to be a part of the kingdom, its fine. I will be honest with all of you. The hard part was not realizing what Christ meant when he said the term kingdom of heaven. The hard part is moving from the 'knowing' to the doing of the kingdom of heaven that Christ calls us too.
So here I am now. Hoping that I may live out to the best of my ability, the kingdom of heaven. Or in simple man's words, "The Kingdom of Love".
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Speak Clear
Speaking clearly is not something that most people have problems with. In fact it is not a problem that I have had to deal with in my life until recently. Many people have told me in my lifetime that my mouth is a running motor.
They have also commented that if I could fuel my energy somehow from the negative to the positive that I might have an outside chance of doing something usefull with it. With all due respect to those people, I quickly dropped their opinions like a hot sack of coal. For me, being able to speak my mind was my privelage. I didn't want someone to come and take that gift away from me. The gift to chatter.
Recently though through conversations with my girlfriend (her name is Pearl), she has quickly pointed out, without even pointing, that I am not good at speaking clearly. I get my descriptions mixed up, emotions all flustered and when I am trying to conceive a message to her about how I feel, it usually ends up with me muttering the words 'I'm sorry'. It is killing me inside when I can't get the right words to come out of my mouth to match the emotions that I feel. This idea or notion of speaking clearly though is something I know that needs to be learned and understood.
And as I work through those hard learned lessons from my failures, I realize that the details of speaking are important. That its not just the act of me speaking about how I feel is important, it is the act of detailed speaking that is of greater importance. And now it makes my whole situation with speaking clearly even more difficult. I can't just generalize or sterotype or use bad metaphors to explain myself. I need details.
Can't life go on without details? I have come to a hard conclusion of 'no it can't'. Details need to be there. And when the act of speaking comes into play for me, I need to realize that details can't be missing from the conversation. A hard place for someone to be, especially when trying to learn how to speak clear.
They have also commented that if I could fuel my energy somehow from the negative to the positive that I might have an outside chance of doing something usefull with it. With all due respect to those people, I quickly dropped their opinions like a hot sack of coal. For me, being able to speak my mind was my privelage. I didn't want someone to come and take that gift away from me. The gift to chatter.
Recently though through conversations with my girlfriend (her name is Pearl), she has quickly pointed out, without even pointing, that I am not good at speaking clearly. I get my descriptions mixed up, emotions all flustered and when I am trying to conceive a message to her about how I feel, it usually ends up with me muttering the words 'I'm sorry'. It is killing me inside when I can't get the right words to come out of my mouth to match the emotions that I feel. This idea or notion of speaking clearly though is something I know that needs to be learned and understood.
And as I work through those hard learned lessons from my failures, I realize that the details of speaking are important. That its not just the act of me speaking about how I feel is important, it is the act of detailed speaking that is of greater importance. And now it makes my whole situation with speaking clearly even more difficult. I can't just generalize or sterotype or use bad metaphors to explain myself. I need details.
Can't life go on without details? I have come to a hard conclusion of 'no it can't'. Details need to be there. And when the act of speaking comes into play for me, I need to realize that details can't be missing from the conversation. A hard place for someone to be, especially when trying to learn how to speak clear.
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