A Pentecostal's Emergence

I will not be a lazy blogger

2008-05-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

I feel as though I should do lines. "I will write a blog entry three times a week." 100X.
Since I last wrote, I finished a class. I went on a missions trip. I got a raise. I also discovered N.T. Wright which makes me last or near to last to do so. I'm reading "Surprised by Hope" which is about his study and beliefs about the resurrection. I will post a review when I'm finished. I recently finished "Conversation with the Bible" by Markus Barth. It is about a different Hermeneutic which holds bible as authoritative, describing the conversation that God has with man which does not need to be inerrant since man who is recording it is not inerrant but who is talking with and about God who is without error. Its quite a remarkable read and I have to read it again to fully grasp all of it. (I'm a bit slow.)
I haven't kept up (much) on the emergent church. What I have seen appears to be a distillation into several groups 1) trying to establish authenticity in following Christ even within church traditions; 2) trying to recover from bad church experiences; 3) social gospel; 4) all these and more besides. I've been listening to lectures by N.T. Wright (which led to the whole book reading thing). His insight is remarkable. I haven't heard or read enough to comment, but at some future date, I will. I have to confess to listening to the occasional Mars Hill sermon which is sort of a guilty pleasure as I believe that that church's pastor has really strange beliefs about women in the pulpit which demonstrate an unfortunate misogyny. He is also the only pastor I have heard speak effectively and sensibly to single people while emphasizing the importance and sanctity of marriage. He actually talks about sin and how to recognize it in its many forms.
Originally, I wanted to use this blog to talk about stuff at church that drives me up and through concrete walls. However, I'd rather be more constructive and catalog writers and ideas that promote spiritual and intellectual growth. I may digress from time to time, but will keep it to a minimum.

Being Christ-like

2007-12-25T15:57:00.000-08:00

We are taught to seek to know Jesus Christ and to be like him. Last night, I really started to wonder -- what does that mean, exactly? I was reading John where Jesus is speaking to the Father for his disciples. For some reason, I thought it was a prayer he says after being crucified. I was, of course, wrong. This was the prayer Jesus speaks to his Father for his followers just before he is arrested. I suppose this is as good a starting point as any in knowing Jesus' character. In the moment when he is suffering under the agonizing prospect before him, when he is in such emotional pain he literally sweats blood, Jesus remembers his friends and speaks for them. He is not too busy or consumed with his own destiny -- as he would have any right to be -- his love for others is so complete that he can put himself aside to commend them to the Father, even though he is about to sacrifice himself for everyone. What is more Christ-like than this?

Writing blogs

2007-12-19T18:21:00.001-08:00

I reread the post below. I suck at this kind of writing. Legal writing I can manage. By the way, this is an argument for the Holy Spirit being the real genesis of the Scriptures -- how else would so many people be able to talk rationally and eloquently about God without sounding like asses?

One Person

2007-12-18T22:44:00.000-08:00

I'm not very good at doing big things. I've had opportunities to do so, probably many more than my fair share and managed to be useless at them all. What I am good at is doing small things for individual people. When I realized I didn't have the emotional wherewithal for the large things and projects in life, I made a conscious decision to pay more attention to small acts. I realized that each day there were countless opportunities to show love to others. I would be lying if I said I took advantage of more than a few, but each effort builds up my strength to do more. I decided if I can't help thousands, I can:

1) Pray for the people I don't like at the moment I don't like them.
2) Be kind to someone to whom others are inclined to be unkind.
3) Give small gifts of money, time, kind words, a listening ear, etc. Its amazing how many people just want someone to take the time to really listen to them.
4) Be indignant at injustice and try in my small way to confront it whether through conversation or letters to the editor.
5) Remember someone I haven't seen in a while and call or e-mail.
6) Praise someone, encourage someone, grieve with someone.

There are so many ways to touch an individual person.

All of this makes me sound better than I am. I'm not -- but I'm trying.

Blessings at this Christmas season.

Not going to church today

2007-12-02T08:44:00.001-08:00

I'm not going to church today. Its 8:40 and I'm still in my pajamas. Every once in a while I wake up and really don't want to go. This is one of those days. Although . . . I was kind of thinking of visiting an Evalgelical Lutheran church. Habits are hard to break.

God's Love

2007-07-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

God loves us so intensely, passionately, and completely that he sacrificed his only Son. He didn't even require that of Abraham. To be loved so much in this grossly imperfect state is something I only dimly realize. Even that dim realization is enough to bring me to tears. I wonder if the real reason we can't look at the face of God as we are is because facing His perfect love would make us so aware of our imperfect selves, we would be die from that knowledge.

Loving everyone

2007-06-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

Jesus calls on us to love everyone including those who hurt us. This post is about loving difficult people.

Surely, I can't be the only person who has this problem. Its easy to love people for whom everything is a struggle who do bad things, but are only dimly aware of them. Its a lot harder to love the people who are malicious or who are self-righteous. Its complicated by the fact that I am (or can be) extremely self-righteous myself, especially in pursuit of what I think is right. I cannot bear it when I perceive that someone is deliberately hurting another, especially someone who is powerless. God calls us to such a high standard. I could love the person who shrieks obscenities at me from a gutter, but struggle to care about the bureaucrat whose standards are based on a clean kitchen and a relatively untroubled life. Am I passing judgment? Probably. My sin is double.

Updates (Like Anyone is Reading This)

2007-06-23T08:56:00.001-07:00

I decided to get involved in local politics. There, I said it. I appear to be a member of my local political committee. I decided that I couldn't complain if I didn't participate. The political conversation is extremely important and all voices are needed.

I just finished a mentoring program at my church and its helped focus things for me. Over the course of a year, I realized that relationships were going to be important -- however difficult that may be. There's a lot of talk about the importance of community and relationships in the emergent church thing. Unfortunately, its very easy to have the appearance of belonging to the community and relationship with its members without having any of the substance. Jesus talked to his disciples about the importance of the inner as well as the outer. If I look like a member but I'm not emotionally connected am I any better than the proverbial white washed tomb? I'm making friends in the community outside my church -- real ones and slowly. I find I'm having a harder time connecting with people from church. There seems to be more stuff to overcome to find common ground and feeling. I wonder if I'm the only one who has this difficulty. Maybe its just me. I have a really hard time with "churchy" church people. The jargon drives me nuts and I have been known to disagree with certain time honored platitudes -- or at least to put my own spin on them based on my own study. I go to a really cool pentecostal church with wonderful pastors, but . . .

Live Writer!!! writing . . .

2007-03-11T17:38:00.001-07:00

Well, I've decided to get something to help write this thing that I don't write that often. I hope this works. I can post pictures of . . . cats and trees and cats in trees and cows and things I see while walking around. Not exciting to you, no doubt

I started reading a book titled, The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. So far I've read his premise that the greatest way to cheapen the concept of grace is to say that it is without any cost at all, that after accepting grace, a person doesn't have work to do or changes to make. I've also got Ethics. I'm sure I should also finish my bible college papers, but there's so many more interesting things to read.

Two hands of God

2007-01-27T10:25:00.000-08:00

God has two hands for each man
One hand to hold him
and lift him up

One to correct him
And catch him when he falls

When will man get it
God's hand won't drop him
But he can jump
Or inch forward
towards
a dark descent.

How do you read the Bible?

2007-01-27T10:18:00.000-08:00

I get tired of endless arguments over seeming-minutiae. Instead of looking at the bible as a set of not-too-well drafted blueprints, could we try to look at it a different way? Lately, I've been reading the bible as different things: A family history, instruction, a love-letter to a bride from her fiance's Father. Reading with these different perspectives in mind, gives the Word of God a different flavor and causes me to read it as something that is one whole rather than infinite and barely related parts. Do I still believe in the idea of "Sola Scriptura?" Yes. But maybe I can start to see the forest AND the trees.

Inflicting my Poetry on an Unsuspecting Blogosphere

2007-01-12T21:34:00.000-08:00

The sky will always be above
The earth below
And God in everything
That's security

CATS

Furry
Hungry
Needy
Cute
Curious
Greedy
Watchful
Nosy
Sleepy
Opportunistic beasts.

Melodrama is tempting
All the world's a stage
Full of fright wigs and
hysteria
Drama (mama or mine)
An adrenalin pumping rush
Too bad its a hard fall
Crash bang back to nothing
Peace isn't as exciting
But its a softer pillow
easy on my head.

A snowball's lament:

Rolling on through my day
I don't stop and think
Just bowl over whatever's in my path
Gathering no moss
Leaving destruction in my wake
God help you all.

Divine appointments

2007-01-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

This post was inspired by my response to another post in another fine blog -- www.robbymac.org.
If anyone actually reads this, I encourage you to visit his blog. He has a truly thoughtful writing style.

Divine appointments was a new concept to me when I decided to join a charismatic church. It seems to be the idea that you meet someone and something about that meeting further's God's aims through blessing or something. I have an MBA. I've never used it for any purpose. One of the things you learn in b school is that opportunities are everywhere if you look for them. For a while I was caught up in trying to find my "divine purpose" in trying to figure out God's will for my life. If God could be irritated by incessant demands, I imagine He was by mine. Tell me, tell me, tell me NOW (please). The only clear message I received on this topic was none at all. Perhaps this is different for some people. It occurred to me to just try to help the person who crossed my path. All right, I confess. I had a picture of that movie, Bruce Almighty where Bruce gives up trying to solve everyone's problems and does all kind of kind things for individuals. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what I mean. I attend a church I love which seems sometimes to be enamored of large things. I've been around large (ish) events and discovered I wasn't equipped to deal with them. I am equipped to talk to one person, help one person, listen to one person. So far, this is working out well. I find I miss a lot of opportunities, but I am also seeing more. Divine appointments? Divine opportunities.

Oops! Been a while

2006-11-18T11:54:00.000-08:00

I haven't written for a while. Work got busy, etc., etc., etc. I have been thinking, however. I'm always thinking. I have what's called a melancholy personality (as opposed to sanguine, choleric, or phlegmatic) which means I think things to death. I've been thinking, specifically, about what I like and don't like about the whole emergent conversation.

I like:

the emphasis on being missional
the emphasis on being incarnational
the emphasis on social justice
the emphasis on being and doing community
the dialogue

I don't like:

the lack of diversity
the tendency toward self-righteousness
the substitution of a new "in" vocabulary for another
the tendency toward relativism.

My questions about this whole thing

2006-10-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

I really have some questions about the whole emergent movement or conversation or thought process or communal divine inspiration. Sometimes, I think I get it and even seem to understand postmodernism. Sometimes I'm sure I don't get it at all. Sometimes I think the most audible voices are all inclusive and then sometimes I think they're only all inclusive if I'm all inclusive. Sometimes I think its about keeping all the babies in the bathwater and sometimes I think its about throwing out the baby with the bathwater. I suppose the question I have for anyone interested in the subject is, where are you?