As soon as I signed off last time it occurred to me that I may want to have a place to post my professional writings on the web. As a result, I've begun developing a personal site for my writing - a place to blog about my novel, share my sermons, etc... I'll also be contributing a blog to a new site called WDWHUB.net very soon. So I'm not entirely disappearing.
My next and FINAL post will be to tell you where you can find my professional site when its up and running.
Thanks again!
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
So long and thanks for all the fish...
I've run out of things to say in this format. The new Novel is almost finished (two days away). I'm almost done with my CLP training and will soon be preaching and stuff. So, I've decided to bring this blog experiment to an end.
It has been my great honor to write stuff for you all and I'm even more grateful that anyone read it. If you want to keep up with me, I'd suggest finding me on Facebook and hopefully you'll be able to find me in a local bookstore or Amazon very soon.
Thank you for everything.
Will Robison
It has been my great honor to write stuff for you all and I'm even more grateful that anyone read it. If you want to keep up with me, I'd suggest finding me on Facebook and hopefully you'll be able to find me in a local bookstore or Amazon very soon.
Thank you for everything.
Will Robison
Monday, March 25, 2013
Tranmogrified
The further down this rabbit hole I go, the more I realize this is probably a one way trip.
For the past three months, my CLP journey has only intensified. In coordination with the perfect timing of the departure of Lakeside's pastor and the ensuing chaos, stress, and extra work that has entailed, my CLP classes have become more intense and more transforming as well. First there was the Old Testament Class which coincided with the guest preaching of my former youth pastor, Dave Lamb. It added a surreal touch to my classwork to know that I was taking classes to become a "pastor" while visiting with the first real pastor that had started my journey down this path. The following month I had New Testament Theology a week before I was to deliver my own guest sermon, and also for the first time, to plan and lead an entire worship service by myself. As it turned out, this sermon and worship service was a communion Sunday and as I'm not yet ordained, we had a guest pastor - Reverend Calvin Chin (former head of our Presbytery and one heck of a great guy) - and so, in addition to the scrutiny of my church, I also had the scrutiny of a very experienced pastor as well. And then, this month, class fell on Palm Sunday weekend during the most recent divisive issue to hit our church and I had to present yet another playlet that I'd written for the drama team, as well as act in it (if you can call that acting). This coincided with our class on Preaching. Intense classes. Intense church. God has led me through it like a four legged dog tiptoeing through a minefield.
All of that is by way of saying that the further I go, the more changed I become. I'm no longer the elder of Lakeside and I'm not yet a Pastor of Lakeside either. I'm somewhere in between - clinging to my layman's role as long as I can, and yet, becoming aware of how I might react differently as a pastor (and vice versa, how the church is starting to behave differently towards me). I'm now half-way through the classes, and I feel about half-way through the transition process as well.
I guess one of the amazing things I've observed is in realizing how many skills I already have in place for pastoring. I am, apparently, a good preacher. I'm always very reluctant to believe anything people tell me in response to my "performance". It seems too easy to me, and therefore, praise becomes untrustworthy. If there is no struggle involved, how can there be accomplishment? But after taking the Preaching course and discovering that I pretty much knew everything that was being taught (not as a result of some natural gift, mind you, but as a result of a long and difficult journey to perfect my writing ability) I am more ready to accept that, perhaps, the evaluations of my performance might be genuine. I am also quite knowledgeable about the Bible. I guess reading it as many times as I have, it was bound to rub off sooner or later. There are other skills, of course, but as many as I think I have, I know there are others I must master before I am ready to be a pastor of any kind.
I am far too uncomfortable around sickness and grief. I just don't know how to deal with it. I admit that this is a blind spot in my life. Clearly its an area that I will need to improve upon before I can be any sort of pastor. Unless, of course, I put up a sign that reads, Happy People Only...
I'm also not quite able to bury my anger as fast as I need to. My first response is always to rant... then to let logic prevail. At least, I've recognized this tendency now. I told some of the choir members this week that we needed to get the ranting out of our system first, then remember that we were Christians and come up with a sensible solution. Before that, I was leading the group with suggestions of boiling in oil, tarring and feathering, and other variations of A Pox On Your First Born! The reason most people see me as happy go lucky all the time is because I usually leave the ranting to those moments when I'm alone. In the midst of a Session meeting, this might be kind of hard to call for a five minute time out every time someone ticks me off.
Clearly I have a long way to go, but as the song says, Woah oh, I'm half way there...
For the past three months, my CLP journey has only intensified. In coordination with the perfect timing of the departure of Lakeside's pastor and the ensuing chaos, stress, and extra work that has entailed, my CLP classes have become more intense and more transforming as well. First there was the Old Testament Class which coincided with the guest preaching of my former youth pastor, Dave Lamb. It added a surreal touch to my classwork to know that I was taking classes to become a "pastor" while visiting with the first real pastor that had started my journey down this path. The following month I had New Testament Theology a week before I was to deliver my own guest sermon, and also for the first time, to plan and lead an entire worship service by myself. As it turned out, this sermon and worship service was a communion Sunday and as I'm not yet ordained, we had a guest pastor - Reverend Calvin Chin (former head of our Presbytery and one heck of a great guy) - and so, in addition to the scrutiny of my church, I also had the scrutiny of a very experienced pastor as well. And then, this month, class fell on Palm Sunday weekend during the most recent divisive issue to hit our church and I had to present yet another playlet that I'd written for the drama team, as well as act in it (if you can call that acting). This coincided with our class on Preaching. Intense classes. Intense church. God has led me through it like a four legged dog tiptoeing through a minefield.
All of that is by way of saying that the further I go, the more changed I become. I'm no longer the elder of Lakeside and I'm not yet a Pastor of Lakeside either. I'm somewhere in between - clinging to my layman's role as long as I can, and yet, becoming aware of how I might react differently as a pastor (and vice versa, how the church is starting to behave differently towards me). I'm now half-way through the classes, and I feel about half-way through the transition process as well.
I guess one of the amazing things I've observed is in realizing how many skills I already have in place for pastoring. I am, apparently, a good preacher. I'm always very reluctant to believe anything people tell me in response to my "performance". It seems too easy to me, and therefore, praise becomes untrustworthy. If there is no struggle involved, how can there be accomplishment? But after taking the Preaching course and discovering that I pretty much knew everything that was being taught (not as a result of some natural gift, mind you, but as a result of a long and difficult journey to perfect my writing ability) I am more ready to accept that, perhaps, the evaluations of my performance might be genuine. I am also quite knowledgeable about the Bible. I guess reading it as many times as I have, it was bound to rub off sooner or later. There are other skills, of course, but as many as I think I have, I know there are others I must master before I am ready to be a pastor of any kind.
I am far too uncomfortable around sickness and grief. I just don't know how to deal with it. I admit that this is a blind spot in my life. Clearly its an area that I will need to improve upon before I can be any sort of pastor. Unless, of course, I put up a sign that reads, Happy People Only...
I'm also not quite able to bury my anger as fast as I need to. My first response is always to rant... then to let logic prevail. At least, I've recognized this tendency now. I told some of the choir members this week that we needed to get the ranting out of our system first, then remember that we were Christians and come up with a sensible solution. Before that, I was leading the group with suggestions of boiling in oil, tarring and feathering, and other variations of A Pox On Your First Born! The reason most people see me as happy go lucky all the time is because I usually leave the ranting to those moments when I'm alone. In the midst of a Session meeting, this might be kind of hard to call for a five minute time out every time someone ticks me off.
Clearly I have a long way to go, but as the song says, Woah oh, I'm half way there...
Thursday, December 06, 2012
To infinity... but beyond?
Dude... will you fight Nazi's, crack your bullwhip, take on sword wielding bad guys, swim through the Mediterranean on the back of a Nazi U-Boat, and then try to blow up the Ark if I asked you to do it?
Absolutely.
Would you dig a tunnel under four hundred feet of earth and help some 200 prisoners of war escape through war-torn Europe during World War II even if it meant getting caught in a barbed wire fence while trying to jump it on a motorcycle?
Yes. Especially that last part.
Would you go toe to toe with the dark lord of the Sith with nothing but a lightsaber, the force, and an especially loyal R2 unit at your side even if it meant learning dark family secrets and possibly losing a limb?
That would be very cool.
Would you carry the Ring through thousands of miles of muck, murder, mayhem and orcs and finally climb Mt. Doom and throw the Ring into the fires, only to be possibly consumed by lava afterwards?
One does not simply walk into Mordor, but I would do it for you on my honor.
Would you go and have coffee with a bunch of men, tell them about me, maybe pray with them, console them, and ask them to find a place in their hearts for a relationship with me?
WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH! Let's not get too hasty now...what you ask of me is such a burden?!
Absolutely.
Would you dig a tunnel under four hundred feet of earth and help some 200 prisoners of war escape through war-torn Europe during World War II even if it meant getting caught in a barbed wire fence while trying to jump it on a motorcycle?
Yes. Especially that last part.
Would you go toe to toe with the dark lord of the Sith with nothing but a lightsaber, the force, and an especially loyal R2 unit at your side even if it meant learning dark family secrets and possibly losing a limb?
That would be very cool.
Would you carry the Ring through thousands of miles of muck, murder, mayhem and orcs and finally climb Mt. Doom and throw the Ring into the fires, only to be possibly consumed by lava afterwards?
One does not simply walk into Mordor, but I would do it for you on my honor.
Would you go and have coffee with a bunch of men, tell them about me, maybe pray with them, console them, and ask them to find a place in their hearts for a relationship with me?
WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH! Let's not get too hasty now...what you ask of me is such a burden?!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
A little nourishment for Thanksgiving
Just a morsel...
My next paper for my Commissioned Lay Pastor class is on the nature of sin. I was going to title the paper, "Sin is like really, really, bad... m'kay?" Because, honestly, how can you write 2 pages on sin, right? But then, by the grace of God entirely, I had a really profound insight into the nature of sin last night from, of all places, my own sinful bad self doing sinfully bad things.
The actual nature of the sin isn't what's interesting here, so I'll leave out the salacious details. Suffice it to say, I was bored and I was online. No, wait... let me start at the beginning, because it'll make more sense that way.
When I write, I transport myself to another world, walk around for a while, and then write what I see. Like Narnia, to a certain extent, this world has a very powerful influence on me and makes me want to visit it as often as I can - but getting there isn't always the easiest thing. Sometimes I will sit and stare at my computer screen for hours trying to conjour up that one word of magic behind which all other words will flow. I'll put on music. I'll visit facebook. I'll watch TV. I'll play games. I'll read. I'll go back to facebook. I'll play solitaire... and again... and again... I'll be so close to this other world that I can taste it, but that first word will still not come and the writing will not flow. It's incredibly frustrating. It's not writer's block, per se, because that involves more the idea of not knowing what to write rather than not being able to write anything.
And so what happens is that I'm literally at my computer screen for hours straining sub-consciously to evoke this feeling, this connectedness to this other world, so that I can write and all I end up doing is draining my creative batteries and my physical ones as well. Not being able to write is my number one cause of insomnia (ironically, writing too much is my next leading cause of insomnia as I can't shut my mind off).
Last night, I was not being able to write. My mind was blocked. And I felt that longing to be part of that other world where my mind could soar and I could be a part of the word... but I couldn't get there. The words wouldn't come but the longing remained. So I began trying to answer that longing in other ways on the internet. I looked up old girlfriends. I tried to connect with people I hadn't seen in years. Anything I could think of to replace that longing I felt with a sense of fulfillment, of connection. I searched and searched and searched and never did find a connection. I stayed up way past midnight even though I knew I'd be tired the next day, and that being tired, I wouldn't be able to remain sharp and focused so that I could write the next night - thus prolonging my agony over this loss of connection.
It was only after I finally shut down my computer and reluctantly trudged off to bed that I had this sudden and powerful revelation on the nature of sin. Sin is the absence of God. We experience it by turning away from God. We turn away from God whenever we try to fulfill that feeling of love and connection that we experience with God with something human and man-made. Since that substitute experience can never ever come anywhere close to the feeling of fulfillment we get from God, every time we search for something that is Not God, we are disappointed and left unfulfilled - which drives us to seek further and further and further from God until we reach some deep dark corner of our life where we feel surrounded by darkness and utterly alone. That is where sin takes you. It starts out as an obstinate feeling of self, seeking self-fulfillment, and it takes you quickly off to places you'd never imagine going when you start the journey. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and a very powerful feedback loop. Sin leads to more sin, leads to more sin, leads to more sin. Yet turning back to God, coming back to where he is waiting for you, instantly brings you back to your senses - until you sin again.
Anyway... the idea is still a little jumbled in my head. I need to play with it some more, but I'm certain, at least, that I have an interesting framework for a discussion on the nature of sin for my next paper. I've got a little under two weeks to write it.
As usual, I appreciate all feedback... though I find I don't usually have time to respond because by the time I read your feedback, I'm usually neck deep into writing my paper. But I do read everyone's response and I do ponder what you have to say and I really do appreciate your taking the time to comment.
My next paper for my Commissioned Lay Pastor class is on the nature of sin. I was going to title the paper, "Sin is like really, really, bad... m'kay?" Because, honestly, how can you write 2 pages on sin, right? But then, by the grace of God entirely, I had a really profound insight into the nature of sin last night from, of all places, my own sinful bad self doing sinfully bad things.
The actual nature of the sin isn't what's interesting here, so I'll leave out the salacious details. Suffice it to say, I was bored and I was online. No, wait... let me start at the beginning, because it'll make more sense that way.
When I write, I transport myself to another world, walk around for a while, and then write what I see. Like Narnia, to a certain extent, this world has a very powerful influence on me and makes me want to visit it as often as I can - but getting there isn't always the easiest thing. Sometimes I will sit and stare at my computer screen for hours trying to conjour up that one word of magic behind which all other words will flow. I'll put on music. I'll visit facebook. I'll watch TV. I'll play games. I'll read. I'll go back to facebook. I'll play solitaire... and again... and again... I'll be so close to this other world that I can taste it, but that first word will still not come and the writing will not flow. It's incredibly frustrating. It's not writer's block, per se, because that involves more the idea of not knowing what to write rather than not being able to write anything.
And so what happens is that I'm literally at my computer screen for hours straining sub-consciously to evoke this feeling, this connectedness to this other world, so that I can write and all I end up doing is draining my creative batteries and my physical ones as well. Not being able to write is my number one cause of insomnia (ironically, writing too much is my next leading cause of insomnia as I can't shut my mind off).
Last night, I was not being able to write. My mind was blocked. And I felt that longing to be part of that other world where my mind could soar and I could be a part of the word... but I couldn't get there. The words wouldn't come but the longing remained. So I began trying to answer that longing in other ways on the internet. I looked up old girlfriends. I tried to connect with people I hadn't seen in years. Anything I could think of to replace that longing I felt with a sense of fulfillment, of connection. I searched and searched and searched and never did find a connection. I stayed up way past midnight even though I knew I'd be tired the next day, and that being tired, I wouldn't be able to remain sharp and focused so that I could write the next night - thus prolonging my agony over this loss of connection.
It was only after I finally shut down my computer and reluctantly trudged off to bed that I had this sudden and powerful revelation on the nature of sin. Sin is the absence of God. We experience it by turning away from God. We turn away from God whenever we try to fulfill that feeling of love and connection that we experience with God with something human and man-made. Since that substitute experience can never ever come anywhere close to the feeling of fulfillment we get from God, every time we search for something that is Not God, we are disappointed and left unfulfilled - which drives us to seek further and further and further from God until we reach some deep dark corner of our life where we feel surrounded by darkness and utterly alone. That is where sin takes you. It starts out as an obstinate feeling of self, seeking self-fulfillment, and it takes you quickly off to places you'd never imagine going when you start the journey. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and a very powerful feedback loop. Sin leads to more sin, leads to more sin, leads to more sin. Yet turning back to God, coming back to where he is waiting for you, instantly brings you back to your senses - until you sin again.
Anyway... the idea is still a little jumbled in my head. I need to play with it some more, but I'm certain, at least, that I have an interesting framework for a discussion on the nature of sin for my next paper. I've got a little under two weeks to write it.
As usual, I appreciate all feedback... though I find I don't usually have time to respond because by the time I read your feedback, I'm usually neck deep into writing my paper. But I do read everyone's response and I do ponder what you have to say and I really do appreciate your taking the time to comment.
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Did I sign up for this?
I lasted all of about two pages into my first CLP reading material before I found my head exploding with newfound insight.
I don't want to change. I like my theology where it is. Its not complicated. I don't need to be challenged.
I've been thinking lately that there was some piece of the equation that I was missing - some elusive tidbit that could help me to understand how come my Christianity doesn't sound like anyone else's description of the religion. Two pages into my first CLP reading and there was the answer. But...
I don't want to change. I like my theology where it is. Its not complicated. I don't need to be challenged.
I was watching Stephen Hawking's latest science program on the science channel explaining why there is no need for God in the equations explaining how the universe was created and how it continues to evolve and exist... except that his explanation was so fantastical that it made most religious explanations for the origins of the universe look almost boring by comparison. How does one explain to a great mind like Stephen Hawking that he may have math on his side, but his explanation of how the universe works makes it EVEN MORE likely that God had a hand in it? Why is it that great minds insist that there is no God when the evidence is all around them staring them in the face? These questions have left me thinking about the short comings of my own religion and wondering how one counteracts the general disbelief in the most obvious things in the modern world... and it made me realize that...
I don't want to change. I like my theology where it is. Its not complicated. I don't need to be challenged.
So here I am... two pages into my first article and I read that our job as theologians is to read the scripture, interpret it, and then seek feed back from the rest of the congregation - to create a dialog with Christ at the center (I'm paraphrasing quite a bit here). It was that last part, the part about the feedback, that suddenly made me realize what piece of the puzzle I'd been missing. I read the rest of the article with great relish... I was actually learning something NEW about religion - something I had suspected was out there but that I hadn't yet articulated in my own mind... And Then The Breaks Went On And...
I don't want to change. I like my theology where it is. Its not complicated. I don't need to be challenged.
What The Heck?! One article and my faith is being changed. One article and my theology is being advanced. One article and my world view is becoming more complicated (and simplified at the same time, but only if I stop resisting). One article and I'm already being challenged! Is this what I signed up for? Is This What God Had In Mind For ME?
I don't want to change. I like my theology where it is. Its not complicated. I don't need to be challenged.
Where is this all going? How much does God expect me to change? Will I become some sort of Christian Zombie parroting back theology to the masses? Will there be any part of Will left? Am I being transformed against my will?
I imagine Frodo was perfectly fine with leaving the Shire with Sam, perfectly fine with packing up his sack, grabbing some maps, taking the ring, and heading for some far off tavern to meet Gandalf. It was probably all perfectly fine until the Ring Wraiths arrived and Frodo had the first inkling that perhaps all was not perfectly fine, that this was a journey that he wasn't likely to embark upon and return the exact same person. This was not some trip to the market, or the bar, or even to visit a distant cousin... this was a journey of transformation. And between running for the Buckland Ferry and dodging dark horse hooves, I wonder if the dawning realization caused Frodo to pause, even momentarily, and wonder if it wasn't too late to turn around and head back to the Shire.
But, of course, he couldn't. And, of course, I can't... nor do we really want to. Frodo must know that this is the time to embrace his destiny... and so, for what ever reason, it is time for me to become whatever it is that God wishes me to become.
I'm ready to change. I'm ready to take my theology to new places. I'm ready to embrace a complicated world view. I'm ready to be challenged.
And so, I say... bring on the next article and let the transformation begin.
I don't want to change. I like my theology where it is. Its not complicated. I don't need to be challenged.
I've been thinking lately that there was some piece of the equation that I was missing - some elusive tidbit that could help me to understand how come my Christianity doesn't sound like anyone else's description of the religion. Two pages into my first CLP reading and there was the answer. But...
I don't want to change. I like my theology where it is. Its not complicated. I don't need to be challenged.
I was watching Stephen Hawking's latest science program on the science channel explaining why there is no need for God in the equations explaining how the universe was created and how it continues to evolve and exist... except that his explanation was so fantastical that it made most religious explanations for the origins of the universe look almost boring by comparison. How does one explain to a great mind like Stephen Hawking that he may have math on his side, but his explanation of how the universe works makes it EVEN MORE likely that God had a hand in it? Why is it that great minds insist that there is no God when the evidence is all around them staring them in the face? These questions have left me thinking about the short comings of my own religion and wondering how one counteracts the general disbelief in the most obvious things in the modern world... and it made me realize that...
I don't want to change. I like my theology where it is. Its not complicated. I don't need to be challenged.
So here I am... two pages into my first article and I read that our job as theologians is to read the scripture, interpret it, and then seek feed back from the rest of the congregation - to create a dialog with Christ at the center (I'm paraphrasing quite a bit here). It was that last part, the part about the feedback, that suddenly made me realize what piece of the puzzle I'd been missing. I read the rest of the article with great relish... I was actually learning something NEW about religion - something I had suspected was out there but that I hadn't yet articulated in my own mind... And Then The Breaks Went On And...
I don't want to change. I like my theology where it is. Its not complicated. I don't need to be challenged.
What The Heck?! One article and my faith is being changed. One article and my theology is being advanced. One article and my world view is becoming more complicated (and simplified at the same time, but only if I stop resisting). One article and I'm already being challenged! Is this what I signed up for? Is This What God Had In Mind For ME?
I don't want to change. I like my theology where it is. Its not complicated. I don't need to be challenged.
Where is this all going? How much does God expect me to change? Will I become some sort of Christian Zombie parroting back theology to the masses? Will there be any part of Will left? Am I being transformed against my will?
I imagine Frodo was perfectly fine with leaving the Shire with Sam, perfectly fine with packing up his sack, grabbing some maps, taking the ring, and heading for some far off tavern to meet Gandalf. It was probably all perfectly fine until the Ring Wraiths arrived and Frodo had the first inkling that perhaps all was not perfectly fine, that this was a journey that he wasn't likely to embark upon and return the exact same person. This was not some trip to the market, or the bar, or even to visit a distant cousin... this was a journey of transformation. And between running for the Buckland Ferry and dodging dark horse hooves, I wonder if the dawning realization caused Frodo to pause, even momentarily, and wonder if it wasn't too late to turn around and head back to the Shire.
But, of course, he couldn't. And, of course, I can't... nor do we really want to. Frodo must know that this is the time to embrace his destiny... and so, for what ever reason, it is time for me to become whatever it is that God wishes me to become.
I'm ready to change. I'm ready to take my theology to new places. I'm ready to embrace a complicated world view. I'm ready to be challenged.
And so, I say... bring on the next article and let the transformation begin.
Monday, October 01, 2012
Cloud Contemplation #1
Question: Out of the four sources for Christian theology - Scripture, the Christian tradition, reason (and philosophy), and contemporary human experience (including the sciences), which two are most important for you and you do theology, and why?
This is the first question I must answer in my CLP training. Of course, there are readings to read, and lots of thoughts and studies to contemplate before I write my two page double spaced essay, but I was wondering how to answer this question just off the bat. I figure that before I can have my mind changed and my perspective broadened, I need to figure out where I stand in the debate to begin with. And I thought I'd share that with my fellow travelers because I value your opinions and vastly different experiences to help me shape my thinking on the subject. You may not make me see eye to eye with you, but you can at least illuminate corners of the argument that I might miss in the shadows of my ignorance. We'll call this exercise Cloud Contemplation... a modern study method utilizing the latest in social technology.
Hmm... Well, obviously Scripture is very important. Its probably not the only method of knowing God's will, but it's certainly one of the most definitive. The challenge with Scripture is not in its definitiveness, but in its definition. How it is defined seems to be determined mostly by cultural and temporal preferences. The same written passage can probably be interpreted several different ways. It seems that for such an inefficient form of communication to be considered the ONE and ONLY definitive truth of God is asking for theological stagnation and misinterpretation. But then again, perhaps God made the word flesh to transform such an inefficient form of communication into a perfect one. If the written text serves as nothing more than a way to identify Jesus as the one true authority on all things, then it has done its job.
The Christian Tradition is a curious thing in and of itself. I'm not quite sure how to define it. Are we talking about the things we have always done as having some weight over the things we have yet to do? I've found that looking backwards while moving forwards is the one guaranteed way to stumble. On the other hand, while going from Point A to Point Z, it's probably a good idea to remember Point A - if for no other reason than to judge how far you've come. Or are we talking about those things that define us as a religion - church structure and baptism and prayer and the like? To be honest, I haven't really given those much thought. It's sort of like asking a newcomer to the sport of baseball what he feels about the Infield Fly rule. A) It's such a loaded question. And B) Its such an integral part of the game that contemplation of it is way too complicated at this point. I can't weigh how I feel about baptism because I can't separate it out from everything else at this point. Baptism is baptism. Its part of theology to me.
Reason (and philosophy) - I really don't know anybody that goes against their own reason or philosophy when it comes to anything in life. 2 plus 2 is four... but I'll call it five because that's what my Pastor says. Yeah... that just doesn't work. But if you're asking about whether a specific reason or a specific philosophy has any bearing on my theology... that's a good question. I'd say as a starting point that if scripture is cherry-picked for theology that conforms to your own personal world view, then philosophy and reason are torn apart with jackhammers - gleaned cleaner than a grape vine on the day of Jubilee. Reason and Philosophy surely have to be accepted or rejected according to our own personal tastes and then probably modified to fit specific needs as life goes on. As a tool of theology, I think one would have to be careful about using "reason" or philosophy because of its varying nature as life goes on and new views about once strongly held beliefs come to the forefront. This is the one area where hypocrisy is probably most prevalent.
The last is deceptively probably the first - human experience and the sciences - probably informs more theology than anything else. Our lives always form the framework through which we see the entire world and try to make sense of it. Each new wrinkle in our human experience informs our own theology and then, in turn, can be used to do theology with others. Whether we are very good at turning human experience into theology or not, our natural human instinct is to relate life to our theology and our theology to life.
I think I'll leave that off there. Please weigh in while I still have time to chew the gristle of thought-provoking marrow.
This is the first question I must answer in my CLP training. Of course, there are readings to read, and lots of thoughts and studies to contemplate before I write my two page double spaced essay, but I was wondering how to answer this question just off the bat. I figure that before I can have my mind changed and my perspective broadened, I need to figure out where I stand in the debate to begin with. And I thought I'd share that with my fellow travelers because I value your opinions and vastly different experiences to help me shape my thinking on the subject. You may not make me see eye to eye with you, but you can at least illuminate corners of the argument that I might miss in the shadows of my ignorance. We'll call this exercise Cloud Contemplation... a modern study method utilizing the latest in social technology.
Hmm... Well, obviously Scripture is very important. Its probably not the only method of knowing God's will, but it's certainly one of the most definitive. The challenge with Scripture is not in its definitiveness, but in its definition. How it is defined seems to be determined mostly by cultural and temporal preferences. The same written passage can probably be interpreted several different ways. It seems that for such an inefficient form of communication to be considered the ONE and ONLY definitive truth of God is asking for theological stagnation and misinterpretation. But then again, perhaps God made the word flesh to transform such an inefficient form of communication into a perfect one. If the written text serves as nothing more than a way to identify Jesus as the one true authority on all things, then it has done its job.
The Christian Tradition is a curious thing in and of itself. I'm not quite sure how to define it. Are we talking about the things we have always done as having some weight over the things we have yet to do? I've found that looking backwards while moving forwards is the one guaranteed way to stumble. On the other hand, while going from Point A to Point Z, it's probably a good idea to remember Point A - if for no other reason than to judge how far you've come. Or are we talking about those things that define us as a religion - church structure and baptism and prayer and the like? To be honest, I haven't really given those much thought. It's sort of like asking a newcomer to the sport of baseball what he feels about the Infield Fly rule. A) It's such a loaded question. And B) Its such an integral part of the game that contemplation of it is way too complicated at this point. I can't weigh how I feel about baptism because I can't separate it out from everything else at this point. Baptism is baptism. Its part of theology to me.
Reason (and philosophy) - I really don't know anybody that goes against their own reason or philosophy when it comes to anything in life. 2 plus 2 is four... but I'll call it five because that's what my Pastor says. Yeah... that just doesn't work. But if you're asking about whether a specific reason or a specific philosophy has any bearing on my theology... that's a good question. I'd say as a starting point that if scripture is cherry-picked for theology that conforms to your own personal world view, then philosophy and reason are torn apart with jackhammers - gleaned cleaner than a grape vine on the day of Jubilee. Reason and Philosophy surely have to be accepted or rejected according to our own personal tastes and then probably modified to fit specific needs as life goes on. As a tool of theology, I think one would have to be careful about using "reason" or philosophy because of its varying nature as life goes on and new views about once strongly held beliefs come to the forefront. This is the one area where hypocrisy is probably most prevalent.
The last is deceptively probably the first - human experience and the sciences - probably informs more theology than anything else. Our lives always form the framework through which we see the entire world and try to make sense of it. Each new wrinkle in our human experience informs our own theology and then, in turn, can be used to do theology with others. Whether we are very good at turning human experience into theology or not, our natural human instinct is to relate life to our theology and our theology to life.
I think I'll leave that off there. Please weigh in while I still have time to chew the gristle of thought-provoking marrow.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Finally... A Diet That Works For Me!
If you want something done right, go ahead and create it yourself...
So here, in essence, is my very simple but so far extremely successful diet plan. I have no idea whether it will work for you, but it works for me just fine and its essence is simplicity.
A little background... why diet? Why now? Though I have tried before, I think I was doing it for all the wrong reasons. I wanted to look better or feel better... but for what? What motivation did I have other than as some form of ego boost? Here, I think, is where I made the biggest difference. There is a direct correlation between my diet plan and the reason behind my diet.
In November, I'm going to Disneyland. And the simple fact of the matter is, I did not feel capable of walking around Disneyland, much less taking on all of those stress-inducing rides. And I REALLY want to take on all those stress-inducing rides. But I don't want my heart or head to explode in the process. So, it is time to diet.
And here is my plan... I get one point for each good meal I eat. I don't define good meal because I know what that means for me. It might mean something different for you and that definition might even change through time. Because in the past, following various diets, I've found ways around the essence of the diet plan by using the diet's rules to eat things that I wouldn't consider good or healthy (because the rules said I could... see, right here, there's nothing that prevents me from eating this Double Cheeseburger... you get the drift). This way, the definition is locked in my head purposefully vague. I know what's good for me and I know what's bad, and the decision then becomes mine as to whether I eat well or not. I get no points if I don't eat a meal. And I get -1 points for each bad meal (or snack) that I eat. Simple. I can still have that Double Cheeseburger if I so desire, but it's gonna cost me a hard-earned point.
Further, I get one point for every fifteen minutes of exercise I do. This must be extra-curricular exercise (or as I phrase it, planned, out of the ordinary, exercise.) So, if I take three 15 minute walks every day, that's 3 points. If I don't do any exercise in a day, that's -1 point (which is where the planned, out of the ordinary part comes in - since, unless you're in a coma, you're likely to do some sort of movement during the day, but unless its specifically planned as exercise, it doesn't count). This, of course, means that I could go for an 8 hour hike and earn 32 points in one day... but if I could hike for 8 hours, I certainly can walk around Disneyland and do all the stressy rides, so I'm not worried about destroying my point curve.
Other things include sleep: 8 hours gives me a point, less than 6 hours takes a point, and other bad for you things like smoking or heavy drinking. As I come up with other things, I'll probably add them to the list. But simplicity is the issue.
Now, as to what the points are used for, I decided to not make them cheap. The idea is to trade off the points for things you can do. This is sort of a realistic approach to determining what your body will be able to handle when it comes time for the trip.
I decided that it costs 50 points just to be able to walk around Disneyland all day long (not including rides nor food). Multiply that by four days, and I now have to earn 200 points just to be able to have my feet stay underneath me. I think this might be overkill, but I don't want to hobble around Disneyland, I want to walk!
I then assigned a point value to each of the rides. It costs 10 points for the most stress-inducing rides (roller coasters, Tower of Terror, etc...). 5 points for each of the other E-Ticket rides (if only for the long lines themselves). 4 points for D Tickets. 3 Points for C Tickets, etc... So like the old ticket books of old, you can take your points and divide them up amongst the rides that you think you're likely to ride. For the old Maxi Book of Tickets, it would require you to have... 5 E-Tickets (we'll call it 35 points because realistically you weren't going to get more than 2 roller coasters in on any given day), 4 D-Tickets (16 points), 3 C Tickets (9 points) 2 B Tickets (4 points) and 1 A Ticket (1 point) for a total of 65 points a day. That brings each days total to 115 points without food. Fortunately, we've already decided that it costs 3 points for 3 bad meals and an additional 1 point for each snack. I can eat my way through Disneyland and still be okay.
How has this worked out for me so far... I have been really trying hard to maximize my points. I've been eating Breakfast every day since I started the plan. I have only gone out for fast food twice (both as a matter of necessity, not out of desire). I have been mostly keeping to my 8 hours of sleep each night. And I have been exercising as much as I possibly can. For instance, this weekend I went to Muir Woods and hiked for an hour. And then I went location scouting yesterday for at least a half hour (I didn't have my watch with me... but it was AT LEAST a half hour and probably more). I'm already planning how I'm going to get my exercise in this weekend when I'm in Ashland, Oregon.
Is my plan too simple? Probably. But it's also hard to deceive. I'm only accountable to myself - so there's no real way I can cheat. If I cheat, I'm only robbing myself at Disneyland since that's the only goal I'm really interested in at this point.
As for what happens after I return from Disneyland in November... well, there's always Disney World in 2014.
Anyway... this may have been convoluted and crazy talk and you may be naturally skeptical as to whether it will work and in what level I'll be able to maintain it, but it sure beats another blog post about politics, doesn't it?
So here, in essence, is my very simple but so far extremely successful diet plan. I have no idea whether it will work for you, but it works for me just fine and its essence is simplicity.
A little background... why diet? Why now? Though I have tried before, I think I was doing it for all the wrong reasons. I wanted to look better or feel better... but for what? What motivation did I have other than as some form of ego boost? Here, I think, is where I made the biggest difference. There is a direct correlation between my diet plan and the reason behind my diet.
In November, I'm going to Disneyland. And the simple fact of the matter is, I did not feel capable of walking around Disneyland, much less taking on all of those stress-inducing rides. And I REALLY want to take on all those stress-inducing rides. But I don't want my heart or head to explode in the process. So, it is time to diet.
And here is my plan... I get one point for each good meal I eat. I don't define good meal because I know what that means for me. It might mean something different for you and that definition might even change through time. Because in the past, following various diets, I've found ways around the essence of the diet plan by using the diet's rules to eat things that I wouldn't consider good or healthy (because the rules said I could... see, right here, there's nothing that prevents me from eating this Double Cheeseburger... you get the drift). This way, the definition is locked in my head purposefully vague. I know what's good for me and I know what's bad, and the decision then becomes mine as to whether I eat well or not. I get no points if I don't eat a meal. And I get -1 points for each bad meal (or snack) that I eat. Simple. I can still have that Double Cheeseburger if I so desire, but it's gonna cost me a hard-earned point.
Further, I get one point for every fifteen minutes of exercise I do. This must be extra-curricular exercise (or as I phrase it, planned, out of the ordinary, exercise.) So, if I take three 15 minute walks every day, that's 3 points. If I don't do any exercise in a day, that's -1 point (which is where the planned, out of the ordinary part comes in - since, unless you're in a coma, you're likely to do some sort of movement during the day, but unless its specifically planned as exercise, it doesn't count). This, of course, means that I could go for an 8 hour hike and earn 32 points in one day... but if I could hike for 8 hours, I certainly can walk around Disneyland and do all the stressy rides, so I'm not worried about destroying my point curve.
Other things include sleep: 8 hours gives me a point, less than 6 hours takes a point, and other bad for you things like smoking or heavy drinking. As I come up with other things, I'll probably add them to the list. But simplicity is the issue.
Now, as to what the points are used for, I decided to not make them cheap. The idea is to trade off the points for things you can do. This is sort of a realistic approach to determining what your body will be able to handle when it comes time for the trip.
I decided that it costs 50 points just to be able to walk around Disneyland all day long (not including rides nor food). Multiply that by four days, and I now have to earn 200 points just to be able to have my feet stay underneath me. I think this might be overkill, but I don't want to hobble around Disneyland, I want to walk!
I then assigned a point value to each of the rides. It costs 10 points for the most stress-inducing rides (roller coasters, Tower of Terror, etc...). 5 points for each of the other E-Ticket rides (if only for the long lines themselves). 4 points for D Tickets. 3 Points for C Tickets, etc... So like the old ticket books of old, you can take your points and divide them up amongst the rides that you think you're likely to ride. For the old Maxi Book of Tickets, it would require you to have... 5 E-Tickets (we'll call it 35 points because realistically you weren't going to get more than 2 roller coasters in on any given day), 4 D-Tickets (16 points), 3 C Tickets (9 points) 2 B Tickets (4 points) and 1 A Ticket (1 point) for a total of 65 points a day. That brings each days total to 115 points without food. Fortunately, we've already decided that it costs 3 points for 3 bad meals and an additional 1 point for each snack. I can eat my way through Disneyland and still be okay.
How has this worked out for me so far... I have been really trying hard to maximize my points. I've been eating Breakfast every day since I started the plan. I have only gone out for fast food twice (both as a matter of necessity, not out of desire). I have been mostly keeping to my 8 hours of sleep each night. And I have been exercising as much as I possibly can. For instance, this weekend I went to Muir Woods and hiked for an hour. And then I went location scouting yesterday for at least a half hour (I didn't have my watch with me... but it was AT LEAST a half hour and probably more). I'm already planning how I'm going to get my exercise in this weekend when I'm in Ashland, Oregon.
Is my plan too simple? Probably. But it's also hard to deceive. I'm only accountable to myself - so there's no real way I can cheat. If I cheat, I'm only robbing myself at Disneyland since that's the only goal I'm really interested in at this point.
As for what happens after I return from Disneyland in November... well, there's always Disney World in 2014.
Anyway... this may have been convoluted and crazy talk and you may be naturally skeptical as to whether it will work and in what level I'll be able to maintain it, but it sure beats another blog post about politics, doesn't it?
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Ignore my hyperbole
Look, I know of no other era in the history of the world with which to compare this current political climate other than the German Weimar Republic shortly before the rise of Adolph Hitler. I say this not to compare any current politician or group of politicians to that group, but only to compare tactics to tactics.
I've often wondered how it was that the Nazi's came to power in a country filled with reasonable moderate normal people. Pushed to the brink... sure. Lots of poverty and anger... I can accept that. But still, Nazi thuggery aside, don't right meaning people stand up to lies, half truths, and outrageous behavior? Not ten years before, the exact same tactics that Hitler used to win the Chancelorship of Germany landed him in prison because normal everyday Germans, still smarting from the end of World War I and the reparations that followed, did not and would not believe the lies he was spouting.
I've had my differences with the Republican Party, and in the distant past, I even admired them for a short period of time. But that was a different Republican Party than the one trying to fool the country today. While I might have disagreed with everything George W. Bush stood for, I nevertheless thought that he was speaking the truth (from a slightly skewed perspective) about the world. If Kerry said the economy was bad, Bush would say the economy was good and explain why. I didn't necessarily agree with Bush, but I wouldn't feel that he was just making stuff up. I might have disagreed with the Republican Party, but I listened to what they had to say with respect before I made up my mind on which way to vote.
I tried to do the same thing with the current Republican Party last night. Even though the PAC's and the politicians out there have been spouting off a lot of patently false nonsense lately (Birthers, swiftboating the President on Osama, etc...), I figured that when it came time for the Republican convention all that crazy stuff would stop and the truth (or something like it) would come out and I would be able to judge the Republican party for what they actually stood for and not for some crazy belief that the President was Kenyan, Muslim, Communist, and out to destroy America in some vast conspiracy. Boy, was I wrong.
I listened to the speeches. They were dialed back a bit, but they were every bit as looney as the rest of the nonsense the Republicans have been speaking since 2008. To listen to it, you would think that Barack Obama was the antithesis of everything good and that he had singlehandedly caused every single problem faced by Americans today. You name it, he was blamed for it. And in a vacuum completely - nobody else had done anything wrong in this country. Rush Limbaugh half-blamed Obama for Hurricane Isaac yesterday and the rest of the party seemed ready to follow suit.
I'm not just disappointed. I'm alarmed. To be fair, Mitt Romney is too good for these bunch of crazy people he's been saddled with. The Grand Old Party sounds like a bunch of old people blaming (fill in the blank) for everything from cancer to pollution. I just nod politely and walk away. But, to bring this around full circle, I wonder if that's what the Germans did. Did they really believe half of the crap that the Nazi party was spouting, but assumed, incorrectly, that the more moderate elements of the Party would control things? This is one of those questions that can probably only be answered if the Republicans win and we look back on this same subject four years from now.
I recognize that such hyperbole is almost always false. Everybody claims that a Spanish Inquisition is coming, but nobody really ever expects it, and hence, they rarely ever actually occur. Its just as valid that President Obama might really be a bad choice for this country and that he really will usher in the economic end times. There really is no way to know - since both claims are rooted more in fear and guesswork than based in fact.
Unfortunately that's the only way people are being given to decide. We are presented with our worst fears and told to choose between which apocalyptic future we think is more likely to happen. That's no way to make an informed vote and both sides are to blame.
I've often wondered how it was that the Nazi's came to power in a country filled with reasonable moderate normal people. Pushed to the brink... sure. Lots of poverty and anger... I can accept that. But still, Nazi thuggery aside, don't right meaning people stand up to lies, half truths, and outrageous behavior? Not ten years before, the exact same tactics that Hitler used to win the Chancelorship of Germany landed him in prison because normal everyday Germans, still smarting from the end of World War I and the reparations that followed, did not and would not believe the lies he was spouting.
I've had my differences with the Republican Party, and in the distant past, I even admired them for a short period of time. But that was a different Republican Party than the one trying to fool the country today. While I might have disagreed with everything George W. Bush stood for, I nevertheless thought that he was speaking the truth (from a slightly skewed perspective) about the world. If Kerry said the economy was bad, Bush would say the economy was good and explain why. I didn't necessarily agree with Bush, but I wouldn't feel that he was just making stuff up. I might have disagreed with the Republican Party, but I listened to what they had to say with respect before I made up my mind on which way to vote.
I tried to do the same thing with the current Republican Party last night. Even though the PAC's and the politicians out there have been spouting off a lot of patently false nonsense lately (Birthers, swiftboating the President on Osama, etc...), I figured that when it came time for the Republican convention all that crazy stuff would stop and the truth (or something like it) would come out and I would be able to judge the Republican party for what they actually stood for and not for some crazy belief that the President was Kenyan, Muslim, Communist, and out to destroy America in some vast conspiracy. Boy, was I wrong.
I listened to the speeches. They were dialed back a bit, but they were every bit as looney as the rest of the nonsense the Republicans have been speaking since 2008. To listen to it, you would think that Barack Obama was the antithesis of everything good and that he had singlehandedly caused every single problem faced by Americans today. You name it, he was blamed for it. And in a vacuum completely - nobody else had done anything wrong in this country. Rush Limbaugh half-blamed Obama for Hurricane Isaac yesterday and the rest of the party seemed ready to follow suit.
I'm not just disappointed. I'm alarmed. To be fair, Mitt Romney is too good for these bunch of crazy people he's been saddled with. The Grand Old Party sounds like a bunch of old people blaming (fill in the blank) for everything from cancer to pollution. I just nod politely and walk away. But, to bring this around full circle, I wonder if that's what the Germans did. Did they really believe half of the crap that the Nazi party was spouting, but assumed, incorrectly, that the more moderate elements of the Party would control things? This is one of those questions that can probably only be answered if the Republicans win and we look back on this same subject four years from now.
I recognize that such hyperbole is almost always false. Everybody claims that a Spanish Inquisition is coming, but nobody really ever expects it, and hence, they rarely ever actually occur. Its just as valid that President Obama might really be a bad choice for this country and that he really will usher in the economic end times. There really is no way to know - since both claims are rooted more in fear and guesswork than based in fact.
Unfortunately that's the only way people are being given to decide. We are presented with our worst fears and told to choose between which apocalyptic future we think is more likely to happen. That's no way to make an informed vote and both sides are to blame.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
2012 Election - Rock or Hard Place?
Before I explain why it's imperative to vote Democratic in this next election, I want to start out by saying how disgusted I am with the current spate of politics in this country. If disrespect and outright lies could block access to the sun, this country would be in perpetual darkness. Both sides of the fence share the blame. Both sides are equally useless in running this country. But, we can't throw out the baby with the bath water. There are some good politicians out there... but there is no good politics right now.
And that's why we all must vote Democratic in this election. It's not because a vote for this party is a stamp of approval for what they've accomplished. They haven't. And it's not an endorsement of what they stand for or stand against - which is mostly a moot point anyway. Its because the other party has been using a tactic for the past four years that will spell doom for the country if it continues for another four years.
For four years, the Republican party has done everything in their power to block any form of legislation from moving forward. Good, Bad or Indifferent - the legislature of this country has sat on its duff for the last four years while the situation that got us into this mess has continued to fester and grow. Now, I don't think the Democrats are entirely blameless in this. They haven't exactly tried to reach across the aisle. But mostly I blame the Republicans who have basically said since President Obama's inauguration in 2009 that they were going to do everything in their power to block him from accomplishing anything.
If the Republicans win the election it will prove to both sides that preventing anything from getting done is the way to proceed politically in order to destabilize the other parties power. This is the absolute wrong precedent to set in bicameral politics. Once we start down that path, once we show that doing nothing has political advantages, this country will cease to exist as we've known it.
Of course, if the Democrats win it doesn't necessarily mean that the tactics of the Republican party will change. And it doesn't mean that if the Democrats gain the power to accomplish things that they will do so wisely. But something has got to give in Washington gridlock. Our nation's survival depends on it.
And if nothing changes... then a third party will need to be created in order to end the loggerhead.
And that's why we all must vote Democratic in this election. It's not because a vote for this party is a stamp of approval for what they've accomplished. They haven't. And it's not an endorsement of what they stand for or stand against - which is mostly a moot point anyway. Its because the other party has been using a tactic for the past four years that will spell doom for the country if it continues for another four years.
For four years, the Republican party has done everything in their power to block any form of legislation from moving forward. Good, Bad or Indifferent - the legislature of this country has sat on its duff for the last four years while the situation that got us into this mess has continued to fester and grow. Now, I don't think the Democrats are entirely blameless in this. They haven't exactly tried to reach across the aisle. But mostly I blame the Republicans who have basically said since President Obama's inauguration in 2009 that they were going to do everything in their power to block him from accomplishing anything.
If the Republicans win the election it will prove to both sides that preventing anything from getting done is the way to proceed politically in order to destabilize the other parties power. This is the absolute wrong precedent to set in bicameral politics. Once we start down that path, once we show that doing nothing has political advantages, this country will cease to exist as we've known it.
Of course, if the Democrats win it doesn't necessarily mean that the tactics of the Republican party will change. And it doesn't mean that if the Democrats gain the power to accomplish things that they will do so wisely. But something has got to give in Washington gridlock. Our nation's survival depends on it.
And if nothing changes... then a third party will need to be created in order to end the loggerhead.
Monday, August 20, 2012
I'm Pushing Up Against My Own Limits
God continues to lead me into uncharted territory and I'm no longer sure where I stand. I could use a little advice from all my blogging friends.
In finishing the book on the Spiritual Journey of U2, I've been thinking about what it means to serve out on the frontiers of Christendom - the area that, unfortunately, must now include a great deal of the United States as well. Theologically this is an area where most people probably identify themselves as religious, or spiritual, but do not identify with any particular church or religion. These people, clearly, are out there hoping for someone to show them the right path, but being either too stubborn to follow it or, having been burned by the experience before, hesitant to be lead into another soul crushing experience. What sort of theology must one adopt in order to reach these people?
I don't believe its a question of telling two different stories - one to believers and one to non-believers. I think its a question of how you engage non-believers and lead them to want to become believers. One of the issues that keeps coming up in the U2 book was how Bono could get so many people to become involved in very Christian causes (like social justice, poverty, AIDS, etc...) while on one hand being very forward about his own religious beliefs and on the other hand including all those non-believers into the mix. It probably helps being a rock star. ;) But it's interesting that so many people will recognize the importance of helping others if there isn't a religious tag associated with it, and then, ironically, lambasting religious people for not doing enough to help others.
The Geek Community has a great many people that are very anti-religious... and yet, I believe that the Geek Community is a caring community that could be a wonderful force for good in this world. But beyond their usefulness to the world, I believe there are a number of people in this community that are searching for Christ without knowing who it is that they seek, and every time the search leads them back to church, they are turned off by the notion of what the Church has become. How do you counteract that while still remaining part of the very thing that causes them such turmoil?
In finishing the book on the Spiritual Journey of U2, I've been thinking about what it means to serve out on the frontiers of Christendom - the area that, unfortunately, must now include a great deal of the United States as well. Theologically this is an area where most people probably identify themselves as religious, or spiritual, but do not identify with any particular church or religion. These people, clearly, are out there hoping for someone to show them the right path, but being either too stubborn to follow it or, having been burned by the experience before, hesitant to be lead into another soul crushing experience. What sort of theology must one adopt in order to reach these people?
I don't believe its a question of telling two different stories - one to believers and one to non-believers. I think its a question of how you engage non-believers and lead them to want to become believers. One of the issues that keeps coming up in the U2 book was how Bono could get so many people to become involved in very Christian causes (like social justice, poverty, AIDS, etc...) while on one hand being very forward about his own religious beliefs and on the other hand including all those non-believers into the mix. It probably helps being a rock star. ;) But it's interesting that so many people will recognize the importance of helping others if there isn't a religious tag associated with it, and then, ironically, lambasting religious people for not doing enough to help others.
The Geek Community has a great many people that are very anti-religious... and yet, I believe that the Geek Community is a caring community that could be a wonderful force for good in this world. But beyond their usefulness to the world, I believe there are a number of people in this community that are searching for Christ without knowing who it is that they seek, and every time the search leads them back to church, they are turned off by the notion of what the Church has become. How do you counteract that while still remaining part of the very thing that causes them such turmoil?
Monday, August 13, 2012
I No Longer Believe In Coincidences
I have detailed here recently my decision to enter the Commissioned Lay Pastor program. In that post, I mentioned how I had heard the call and then had it confirmed through prayer and the "coincidental" timing of Matt Cain's Perfect Game. Since that time, the coincidences have been coming fast and furiously.
When my power went out a month or so ago, and I couldn't watch the television program that I'd been wanting to see nor check my e-mail on the computer, I picked up a dusty volume of In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day that my good friend Andy had given me one year for my birthday, and I started to read it. Here was a book about being bold in your faith and answering God's call in your life. More importantly, here was a book that described the author's call in such a clear and concise way that I recognized it immediately as the exact same description of the way God had called me. It was the ultimate confirmation that what I had heard God tell me was authentic and that I needed to be bold. One clear line stood out in the author's reminder to me personally that often times God's call makes absolutely no sense to the person being called. It was an interesting coincidence.
After I made arrangements to begin the process of joining the CLP program, I admit that I still had no idea what God was asking me to do. I'm not Grade A religion material. God laughed when I asked whether he wanted me to go to seminary out of high school. But I had confirmation that God wanted me to go to the program even if he wasn't telling me why.
The hang up was in the idea of the CLP program itself. Its designed mostly for mission programs - when a church is trying to reach into a new community and needs someone who speaks that language (whatever that language might be) - a church might designate someone to take on the trappings of a pastor for a short period of time in order to better serve that new community. But what community did I belong to that wasn't already a part of the church? I only speak English, and then only barely... ;)
At the end of my last preaching assignment, I was asked to deliver the benediction. As of the morning of the service, I still had not thought what to say. I was preaching about why I was no longer looking for a career in film making. But I still have a passion for film and other geeky things. I was struck with a bizarre idea to use film quotes from familiar movies as my benediction - things like ET saying, BE GOOOD! Well, this was highly unorthodox... even for me... but when the time came to deliver my benediction I stood before the church thinking it was a really bad idea and realized that I had no other idea for what to say as a benediction. I delivered the benediction as I had prepared it and the congregation loved it.
Where this gets interesting, coincidentally, is that the next day at work I was telling my co-worker about my benediction and she laughed and said, "I wish my church was more like that. I'd actually want to go more often." Boy that really got me to thinking... what language did I really know, what language could I really speak? I am fluent in GEEK!
This set off a fury of thought about reaching out to my fellow Geek brothers and sisters as a community and hopefully engaging them in a dialog that led to Jesus. But wait... that's absolutely crazy, right? Is this not just my own wishful thinking? God, please send me out to talk to people, but don't send me to people I can't understand? I was looking for a way to serve God on my own terms. God clearly had other more important things for me to do. Surely he was calling me into ministry with the homeless or battered women or drug users or something. Geeks? Be serious, Will.
I put the thought aside and continued to wonder what it was that God was calling me to do. All I knew was that he would have something good for me to do and that sooner or later he would reveal that plan to me.
Yesterday our Pastor returned from his sabbatical. He had been gone for a little over three months - praying, resting, and renewing his faith in God and Christ. He had also been to the General Assembly - a gathering of the entire Presbyterian Church in the United States on a national level. It was at the GA where church policy was discussed and made and where our commitment to Jesus was always refreshed. This was the first time I had seen our Pastor since he'd left for his sabbatical and I was curious as to what he was going to preach.
Coincidentally, he told the congregation that the Presbyterian Church in the United States is committed to bringing forth over 1000 new congregations in this country in the next three years - and none of them are to be based in church buildings. The National Church has recognized the fact that we ought to be outside our church building preaching to the people out there, where the people are. This was, in fact, that subject of my first sermon. The National Church has further recognized the fact that these new congregations ought to be started by bringing together unchurched people with common interests and forming communities with them - like, say, a group of bike riders or a bunch of people who hang out in coffee shops, or... maybe... even Geeks.
PZOW! Lightning!
Here I am, about to enter classes that will allow me to preach to a new faith community and the only faith community I can think of preaching to is the Geek Community and then the national church basically jumps in and says we need volunteers to preach to the Geek Community. Total coincidence, right? Purely random.
So, I'm talking to my Kenya group about these thoughts and feelings and my pastoral advisor says to me, "Oh by the way, Will, another member of the church came to me this week and said that they had decided to become a Commissioned Lay Pastor as well." I'm telling you, there is something in the water at my church.
The more I travel the world and speak to Christians the world over, the more I read about the Christian experience, and the more I experience Christianity myself, the more convinced I am that there is NO SUCH THING AS A COINCIDENCE. This is like deja vu in the Matrix. If you experience a coincidence, you have been witness to the moving of the Holy Spirit in your life. God's motives may be mysterious, but his methods are on display for all to see. You see coincidence, I see divine appointment.
It seems as if God has given me my answer and my call. Tomorrow I meet with my official ministry liason for the CLP program and then my last step will be to bring this forward to my church governing board. I now have some idea what God has planned for me and I am eager to get started on the next step of my journey.
And now I feel safe to begin my next post... Jesus was a Geek. Come back soon.
When my power went out a month or so ago, and I couldn't watch the television program that I'd been wanting to see nor check my e-mail on the computer, I picked up a dusty volume of In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day that my good friend Andy had given me one year for my birthday, and I started to read it. Here was a book about being bold in your faith and answering God's call in your life. More importantly, here was a book that described the author's call in such a clear and concise way that I recognized it immediately as the exact same description of the way God had called me. It was the ultimate confirmation that what I had heard God tell me was authentic and that I needed to be bold. One clear line stood out in the author's reminder to me personally that often times God's call makes absolutely no sense to the person being called. It was an interesting coincidence.
After I made arrangements to begin the process of joining the CLP program, I admit that I still had no idea what God was asking me to do. I'm not Grade A religion material. God laughed when I asked whether he wanted me to go to seminary out of high school. But I had confirmation that God wanted me to go to the program even if he wasn't telling me why.
The hang up was in the idea of the CLP program itself. Its designed mostly for mission programs - when a church is trying to reach into a new community and needs someone who speaks that language (whatever that language might be) - a church might designate someone to take on the trappings of a pastor for a short period of time in order to better serve that new community. But what community did I belong to that wasn't already a part of the church? I only speak English, and then only barely... ;)
At the end of my last preaching assignment, I was asked to deliver the benediction. As of the morning of the service, I still had not thought what to say. I was preaching about why I was no longer looking for a career in film making. But I still have a passion for film and other geeky things. I was struck with a bizarre idea to use film quotes from familiar movies as my benediction - things like ET saying, BE GOOOD! Well, this was highly unorthodox... even for me... but when the time came to deliver my benediction I stood before the church thinking it was a really bad idea and realized that I had no other idea for what to say as a benediction. I delivered the benediction as I had prepared it and the congregation loved it.
Where this gets interesting, coincidentally, is that the next day at work I was telling my co-worker about my benediction and she laughed and said, "I wish my church was more like that. I'd actually want to go more often." Boy that really got me to thinking... what language did I really know, what language could I really speak? I am fluent in GEEK!
This set off a fury of thought about reaching out to my fellow Geek brothers and sisters as a community and hopefully engaging them in a dialog that led to Jesus. But wait... that's absolutely crazy, right? Is this not just my own wishful thinking? God, please send me out to talk to people, but don't send me to people I can't understand? I was looking for a way to serve God on my own terms. God clearly had other more important things for me to do. Surely he was calling me into ministry with the homeless or battered women or drug users or something. Geeks? Be serious, Will.
I put the thought aside and continued to wonder what it was that God was calling me to do. All I knew was that he would have something good for me to do and that sooner or later he would reveal that plan to me.
Yesterday our Pastor returned from his sabbatical. He had been gone for a little over three months - praying, resting, and renewing his faith in God and Christ. He had also been to the General Assembly - a gathering of the entire Presbyterian Church in the United States on a national level. It was at the GA where church policy was discussed and made and where our commitment to Jesus was always refreshed. This was the first time I had seen our Pastor since he'd left for his sabbatical and I was curious as to what he was going to preach.
Coincidentally, he told the congregation that the Presbyterian Church in the United States is committed to bringing forth over 1000 new congregations in this country in the next three years - and none of them are to be based in church buildings. The National Church has recognized the fact that we ought to be outside our church building preaching to the people out there, where the people are. This was, in fact, that subject of my first sermon. The National Church has further recognized the fact that these new congregations ought to be started by bringing together unchurched people with common interests and forming communities with them - like, say, a group of bike riders or a bunch of people who hang out in coffee shops, or... maybe... even Geeks.
PZOW! Lightning!
Here I am, about to enter classes that will allow me to preach to a new faith community and the only faith community I can think of preaching to is the Geek Community and then the national church basically jumps in and says we need volunteers to preach to the Geek Community. Total coincidence, right? Purely random.
So, I'm talking to my Kenya group about these thoughts and feelings and my pastoral advisor says to me, "Oh by the way, Will, another member of the church came to me this week and said that they had decided to become a Commissioned Lay Pastor as well." I'm telling you, there is something in the water at my church.
The more I travel the world and speak to Christians the world over, the more I read about the Christian experience, and the more I experience Christianity myself, the more convinced I am that there is NO SUCH THING AS A COINCIDENCE. This is like deja vu in the Matrix. If you experience a coincidence, you have been witness to the moving of the Holy Spirit in your life. God's motives may be mysterious, but his methods are on display for all to see. You see coincidence, I see divine appointment.
It seems as if God has given me my answer and my call. Tomorrow I meet with my official ministry liason for the CLP program and then my last step will be to bring this forward to my church governing board. I now have some idea what God has planned for me and I am eager to get started on the next step of my journey.
And now I feel safe to begin my next post... Jesus was a Geek. Come back soon.
Thursday, August 09, 2012
43
At some point on my birthday every year I am reminded that I share this day with the anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki by the United States - an act that finally brought World War II to a close and that was so horrific, nobody has felt the urge to repeat it since. Every year on my birthday, the Japanese have asked the world for peace and for an end to the threat of nuclear war. I can think of no greater birthday wish than that.
I am not naive. I've been on the other side of the equation. I've experienced war first hand (well, as first hand as one can get from a satellite in orbit over a war zone). I've cheered at the death of the enemy in real time - before the somber music and cool video game effects appeared on CNN days later. I've been through all the justification responses and righteous indignation that I've ever wanted to have in a lifetime. In the end, war is still wrong. Dead is still dead. And blowing stuff up is still no way to bring about peace.
We all know it. Deep in our hearts, we all know that any sort of killing is wrong - but we are so obsessed with it that we can't fathom any other concept. The peace we offer is done so with the threat of the big stick backing it up. That is not a way to make a lasting peace as it only lasts so long as we can guarantee our security. We are forced to constantly threaten death to our enemies in order to maintain peace and security.
I've been thinking about this a lot over the past few weeks because of the shootings in Aurora, Colorado. Our love affair with guns and violence is ingrained into our culture in such a way that it has become a part of our American identity. There is no simple solution to the idea of preventing these shootings from occurring in this nation, but the one wrong headed approach to this problem is to suggest that guns are part of the solution. If a rogue nation attacks the United States we don't defend their rights to have weapons and then suggest that we should let all rogue nations have free access to weapons as well because it's their God given right. No. Instead we pound them into dust, confiscate their weapons, and do our best to make sure that these weapons are never again allowed in the hands of those people who seek us harm. Why can't we do the same thing for guns in this country?
To find a solution to a problem, we first have to be willing to change. And I'm not sure that we're ready to go there yet. Our desire to own weapons is tied to our notion of freedom. Owning weapons is not yet associated with death and killing and maiming and the harming of the innocent. Our desire to protect our freedoms from other nations is strong - even unto the point of killing others to maintain them. Peace, real peace, does not come from strength of arms, but from strength of soul. It is not enough to be able to kill every single man, woman, and child on this earth a thousand times over. If we want a lasting peace, we need to be able to build up every single man, woman, and child on this planet and help them to achieve their best life. A first step toward that goal would be to stop trying to kill them.
Now that's a birthday wish I could really get behind.
I am not naive. I've been on the other side of the equation. I've experienced war first hand (well, as first hand as one can get from a satellite in orbit over a war zone). I've cheered at the death of the enemy in real time - before the somber music and cool video game effects appeared on CNN days later. I've been through all the justification responses and righteous indignation that I've ever wanted to have in a lifetime. In the end, war is still wrong. Dead is still dead. And blowing stuff up is still no way to bring about peace.
We all know it. Deep in our hearts, we all know that any sort of killing is wrong - but we are so obsessed with it that we can't fathom any other concept. The peace we offer is done so with the threat of the big stick backing it up. That is not a way to make a lasting peace as it only lasts so long as we can guarantee our security. We are forced to constantly threaten death to our enemies in order to maintain peace and security.
I've been thinking about this a lot over the past few weeks because of the shootings in Aurora, Colorado. Our love affair with guns and violence is ingrained into our culture in such a way that it has become a part of our American identity. There is no simple solution to the idea of preventing these shootings from occurring in this nation, but the one wrong headed approach to this problem is to suggest that guns are part of the solution. If a rogue nation attacks the United States we don't defend their rights to have weapons and then suggest that we should let all rogue nations have free access to weapons as well because it's their God given right. No. Instead we pound them into dust, confiscate their weapons, and do our best to make sure that these weapons are never again allowed in the hands of those people who seek us harm. Why can't we do the same thing for guns in this country?
To find a solution to a problem, we first have to be willing to change. And I'm not sure that we're ready to go there yet. Our desire to own weapons is tied to our notion of freedom. Owning weapons is not yet associated with death and killing and maiming and the harming of the innocent. Our desire to protect our freedoms from other nations is strong - even unto the point of killing others to maintain them. Peace, real peace, does not come from strength of arms, but from strength of soul. It is not enough to be able to kill every single man, woman, and child on this earth a thousand times over. If we want a lasting peace, we need to be able to build up every single man, woman, and child on this planet and help them to achieve their best life. A first step toward that goal would be to stop trying to kill them.
Now that's a birthday wish I could really get behind.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
A Rambling Follow Up To My Sermon
As a follow up to my sermon...
Here are the latest sticking point I'm dealing with in my quest to find salvation for those not yet affiliated with Christianity. I think my quest comes out of a personal perspective that goes something like this... I know a lot of people that are excellent loving human beings - many of whom, quite frankly, that put most Christians to shame with their acts of goodness - but that wouldn't touch Christianity with a ten foot pole while wearing gloves and a full body suit. It's not that they don't know Christ. The problem is that these people know "Christ" all too well. The branding of our religion has been so horribly mismanaged that these people think they know Jesus and the Jesus they think they know is not a dude they want to associate with. So these loving people go on loving other people and being good people while throwing up barriers to the TRUE gospel because of the false gospel they have heard. Are they doomed because of the evangelical missteps of others?
I admit that the sticking point in my thinking is that I believe Jesus when he says that he is the way and the truth and the life. I have found nothing else in all my travels that comes even close to Jesus as the way to live. Nothing. Even those many misguided individuals who think that they can be "spiritual" or perfectly good people without religion, no matter what they do are never going to reach their goal without finding Jesus. I believe this like I believe a boat without a rudder either crashes into rocks or goes in circles. No matter what your best intentions, without Jesus, you will fail to reach your goal of salvation.
But I define salvation a little bit differently than most. I don't see it as a place with pearly gates and unlimited non-fattening ice cream. I see salvation as a place where you are once and for all truly at peace with yourself and with each other - a place that is completely absent of all evil, where only love can reign. And really, can that be any place but in the presence of the one who made love, the one who is love? So salvation and Jesus line up perfectly with each other in a way that no other religion can offer - not Buddha, not Mohammed, nobody else.
So that's the sticking point. These people through no fault of their own are rejecting the one thing they truly want and need because flawed people have been representing Jesus to be something that He is not (and perhaps I am doing the same thing as well).
If Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and if we can not possibly convey that concept to others except through our limited human flawed perspective, then how does anyone ever get to know the real Jesus? I've always been taught that Jesus calls people to him. We don't save anyone ourselves, we only facilitate God in his work. Therefore, the only one that can truly present Jesus to other people is Jesus Himself. And I'm thinking that if that's the case, Jesus can take any form He wishes and follow any set of rules He wants in order to bring people to Him.
I think labels are man made constructs. I think God sees humans far differently than we see ourselves. I think He divides us into three groups - saved, not yet saved, and not willing to be saved. I think the first group is very small - maybe less than 1 person in a million. I think the second group is almost everyone else. And I think the last group is also very small - because to belong to the last group, you have to know Christ and reject him anyway. And I don't just mean that you heard about him on some TV talk show, but REALLY know him.
So the vast majority of us are wandering around in various places on our own spiritual quests - some near the end, some having just begun, most probably somewhere in the middle - and God is leading us at our best pace towards true wisdom and understanding. Fortunately, God grades on a curve and each student has his own curve - that is what true forgiveness is all about. One day we will all stand before him and we will know instantly whether we passed or failed - because the scales will fall from our eyes and we will see ourselves as God sees us and we will know whether we have pleased him or whether we have rejected him.
Anyway, that's where I'm at... it's not a complete theology... and some of it might be fancy wish fulfillment with scripture quoted conveniently to back it up. I don't know. I don't speak for God. I'm also not at the end of my spiritual journey and I still have a great deal to learn.
Here are the latest sticking point I'm dealing with in my quest to find salvation for those not yet affiliated with Christianity. I think my quest comes out of a personal perspective that goes something like this... I know a lot of people that are excellent loving human beings - many of whom, quite frankly, that put most Christians to shame with their acts of goodness - but that wouldn't touch Christianity with a ten foot pole while wearing gloves and a full body suit. It's not that they don't know Christ. The problem is that these people know "Christ" all too well. The branding of our religion has been so horribly mismanaged that these people think they know Jesus and the Jesus they think they know is not a dude they want to associate with. So these loving people go on loving other people and being good people while throwing up barriers to the TRUE gospel because of the false gospel they have heard. Are they doomed because of the evangelical missteps of others?
I admit that the sticking point in my thinking is that I believe Jesus when he says that he is the way and the truth and the life. I have found nothing else in all my travels that comes even close to Jesus as the way to live. Nothing. Even those many misguided individuals who think that they can be "spiritual" or perfectly good people without religion, no matter what they do are never going to reach their goal without finding Jesus. I believe this like I believe a boat without a rudder either crashes into rocks or goes in circles. No matter what your best intentions, without Jesus, you will fail to reach your goal of salvation.
But I define salvation a little bit differently than most. I don't see it as a place with pearly gates and unlimited non-fattening ice cream. I see salvation as a place where you are once and for all truly at peace with yourself and with each other - a place that is completely absent of all evil, where only love can reign. And really, can that be any place but in the presence of the one who made love, the one who is love? So salvation and Jesus line up perfectly with each other in a way that no other religion can offer - not Buddha, not Mohammed, nobody else.
So that's the sticking point. These people through no fault of their own are rejecting the one thing they truly want and need because flawed people have been representing Jesus to be something that He is not (and perhaps I am doing the same thing as well).
If Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and if we can not possibly convey that concept to others except through our limited human flawed perspective, then how does anyone ever get to know the real Jesus? I've always been taught that Jesus calls people to him. We don't save anyone ourselves, we only facilitate God in his work. Therefore, the only one that can truly present Jesus to other people is Jesus Himself. And I'm thinking that if that's the case, Jesus can take any form He wishes and follow any set of rules He wants in order to bring people to Him.
I think labels are man made constructs. I think God sees humans far differently than we see ourselves. I think He divides us into three groups - saved, not yet saved, and not willing to be saved. I think the first group is very small - maybe less than 1 person in a million. I think the second group is almost everyone else. And I think the last group is also very small - because to belong to the last group, you have to know Christ and reject him anyway. And I don't just mean that you heard about him on some TV talk show, but REALLY know him.
So the vast majority of us are wandering around in various places on our own spiritual quests - some near the end, some having just begun, most probably somewhere in the middle - and God is leading us at our best pace towards true wisdom and understanding. Fortunately, God grades on a curve and each student has his own curve - that is what true forgiveness is all about. One day we will all stand before him and we will know instantly whether we passed or failed - because the scales will fall from our eyes and we will see ourselves as God sees us and we will know whether we have pleased him or whether we have rejected him.
Anyway, that's where I'm at... it's not a complete theology... and some of it might be fancy wish fulfillment with scripture quoted conveniently to back it up. I don't know. I don't speak for God. I'm also not at the end of my spiritual journey and I still have a great deal to learn.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
The Age of Exploration (Sermon 7/15/12)
Well... Here it is... I hope you enjoy...
Age of Exploration
I grew up wanting to be a filmmaker and I’ve spent
most of my life pursuing that dream. So what, might you ask, has prevented me
from becoming a filmmaker? The short answer to the question is that God has had
other plans for my life.
When I
graduated from high school, I went straight to film school. I bombed horribly.
No matter how much I wanted to be a film maker, my heart wasn’t it. Here I was
finally getting the opportunity to play with real cameras, lights, and other
gear and the one thought that kept coming to my mind was, “Is this it?
Shouldn’t I be doing something more with my life?”
When my
friend, Jay, told me that he was dropping out of film school to join the Navy,
I told him that he was an idiot. But somewhere in the process of trying to talk
Jay out of it, I had a firm push from behind to go out into the world and find
the answers to the questions I’d been asking. I called Jay and told him that I
was joining the Navy too.
What I
didn’t know then, but I realize now, is that I had just taken the first steps
in my spiritual journey.
It
sounds kind of strange to say that a young person raised in a loving church
family would have to go out there to find God, but then Jesus’s own story of
the Prodigal Son probably wouldn’t ring so true. Even the author of
Ecclesiastes admits to trying out all the real world has to offer before
finding that such a journey ultimately returns to God. All people take
spiritual quests. All spiritual quests end in God. Not all spiritual quests
take you to Hawaii for three years, though, so I guess I was luckier than most.
Of
course, I had no idea that I was on a spiritual quest. I was, like most young
people, merely trying to find my place out in the world. I only wanted to
answer one simple question – what is my purpose in life? It seemed that any day
I would find the answer to that question and that the rest of my life could begin
in earnest – especially the part where I was making movies and winning Oscars.
But the more I looked, the more I explored, the harder the question was to
answer.
At
first, I tiptoed around the question. I read a lot when I was in the Navy. Not
just the collected works of Heinlein, Asimov and other great Sci-Fi legends,
but also classics like Dante, Shakespeare, Steinbeck, and the X-MEN. I also
read about the history of Christianity and of Christian thought and started
wondering which of the various factions of Christian theology was correct. I
became obsessed with the idea of figuring out which words in the Bible were
true and which were made up. It was all a chasing after the wind as I came to
the conclusion that nobody really knew. I either accepted all of the Bible as
valid or I didn’t. That wasn’t a terribly satisfying answer. I wanted truth,
instead I got faith.
I
suddenly came to a crossroads of my young spiritual journey. If I couldn’t
historically or scientifically verify the validity of every word in the Bible,
did I believe in it? Did I believe in God? I was 20, living in Hawaii,
completely on my own, and I didn’t have anyone trying to persuade me one way or
the other. I could decide the answers to these questions all on my own. Not
what was I taught… what did I believe?
The
answers to both questions were yes. I did believe the Bible and I did believe
in God. In my case, the seeds planted here at Lakeside had landed on good soil.
Now that
I believed in God, I decided then and there to give myself over to Him. “Lord,”
I prayed, “I’m completely lost here trying to run my life. If you can run the
universe, surely you can take me where I need to go. From now on, you’re in
charge. Lead on.” I think I suspected that God would reveal to me the answer to
my questions then and there and I could get back to that award-winning
lifestyle any moment, but, again, I was wrong.
Instead,
as no quest ever truly takes you where you were expecting to go, I began to
develop a curious new question about God and my new found faith – in short,
what about everyone else? What about people who never encounter a Bible? They
are created by God. They live their lives. They die. Having never been given
the opportunity to know Christ in their lifetime by being born into the wrong
circumstances, were they doomed from conception to the eternal flames?
I went
to the one source that I was sure would have the answer to my questions. I
finally read the Bible. Cover to cover. Word for Word. Not bad. Some boring
bits, but on the whole – a pretty good read. It didn’t specifically answer my
question though.
I sought out other books. I
searched for answers. I prayed for enlightenment. Though it was only a nagging
question that really had nothing to do with me, per se, since I believed in Jesus
and I believed in God and I’d been fortunate enough to know Him my whole life,
I continued to look for answers all the same. For some reason, the fate of the
rest of the world plagued me. It just wasn’t enough for me for Christianity to
be some sort of Golden Ticket to a fantastic chocolate factory, I really needed
to know that anyone could have a relationship with Jesus whether they were ever
formally introduced to him or not.
Of course, what I didn’t
realize was that my spiritual quest was starting to affect my other life – the
one that I live the other 99% of the time when I’m not trying to resolve deep
theological questions. When I got out of the Navy, I tried film school again –
only lasted six weeks this time. I changed majors. I studied writing for about
two weeks, realized that I knew more than the teachers, then switched to
History for a semester or two before settling on archaeology.
(As an aside, I suppose I
really studied archaeology because I wanted to be Indiana Jones. If you can’t
film them, join them.)
It came time to decide where
to go to get my degree. I sent out college applications to all the state
schools and universities in the west and Florida. Two days later, I got a
package from Idaho State. I’d never even heard of Idaho State before I’d
applied there. I was just being thorough. But again, I received that gentle
nudge that told me that God had some sort of purpose for me to go there. So
despite never having set foot in Idaho before, I went to school at Idaho State
in Pocatello. Film school, as you can imagine, was completely abandoned at this
point.
Though I was majoring in
Anthropology in order to become an archaeologist, I found myself trying to
resolve the religious questions that still lingered in my mind. Anthropology is
the study of all people in all cultures, past, present, and future. In my
studies of other disparate cultures from around the world and in different
times, I began to see an interesting trend.
So far, every culture in
every time has had religion. Humans, it seems, are by their very nature
religious beings. While most scientists have tried to explain this fact by
suggesting that as social creatures we need the connection that religion gives
us to one another, or that religion is some sort of reflexive response to primitive
stimuli like thunder or death or other things that primitive minds can’t
explain without science to show the way, I began to wonder if humanities need
for religion wasn’t something internal – some part of their very make up.
C.S. Lewis postulates in his
book, Mere Christianity, that all human beings, having been created by God, are
bound together by a desire to return to God because He is that feeling of
perfection humans strive to attain. Though I hadn’t read C.S. Lewis at the
time, I had arrived at a similar theory. If the soul really does exist, then
humanity throughout history, would always feel the urge, the need, to seek out
God. For those not born into Christianity, the desire to find God would still
be there – but it would manifest itself in a way that was culturally
significant to that particular person. In other words, a Christian would
worship God, a Muslim, Allah, a Buddhist, Buddha, a Native American, Coyote,
etc... All would be seeking to find God and to worship him, but they would do
so in a way that they could understand and that they were taught.
I knew that I was on some
pretty unstable ground. My teachers were already warning me about using my
Christian upbringing to answer scientific questions. Trying to write a thesis
in which I explain that all religions are essentially the same thing would have
been the very short end of my anthropoligcal career. But I knew that the
thought was important. If everyone on the planet is a child of God and everyone
yearns to get back to God, to be closer to their creator, then all sincere
religion, all sincere seeking, all spiritual quests lead to God – the one and
only God. No matter what shape that quest takes, all of these yearnings are
yearnings after the same thing.
We – all of us, all of them,
everyone – are exactly the same in our desire to find God, to find love, and to
be truly happy.
In this, in all my studies
and readings and explorations during and since college, I have only found two
people that have the right answer to humanities ultimate goal and how to
achieve it – the author of Ecclesiastes and Jesus of Nazareth.
The author of Ecclesiastes,
reputed to be King Solomon, tells a story of a spiritual quest that takes him
to the very ends of the Earth in search of the answer to the question that
plagues him – what is his purpose here? As you may recall, Solomon was gifted
by God with divine wisdom. He begins his book about this quest by saying that
everything we do here is meaningless – that all of our efforts to find
satisfying happiness on our own, whether that be through hard work or leisure
or wealth or pleasure or escape – that all of these attempts are a complete
waste of time. The truth, he says, is that we all live and we all die and
nobody is exempt. Everything else means nothing… EXCEPT our relationship with
God.
Jesus said, “Sell everything
you have, give it to the poor, and come and follow me.” And the rich man walked
away very sad because he was very wealthy. Isn’t that a great punchline. He
walked away sad. Why did he walk away sad? Because he was very wealthy… Think
about it. We assume that the Bill Gates’ of this world are extremely happy –
ecstatic even – because of their vast wealth. But here is Jesus saying that
this rich man who has done everything in his power to conform to the religious
doctrines of his day, who was considered a righteous man by other people, this
man walks away sad because of the vast wealth he has in the bank. Imagine
someone giving you a million dollar bill and you burst into tears, and cry
out,” Oh what cruel fates! How will I ever give away all of this money?”
This is, I think, the crux
of the question. After all my years of searching, after all my questions, after
all my explorations, I believe more than ever that Jesus is our Lord and that
His way is the only way because of this passage. Because Jesus is saying that
the only way to achieve immortality, to find love and happiness, is to let go
of everything this world has to offer – all of the false hope, all of the false
love, all of the false promises of security and power – to drop it all / give
it away because it is utterly meaningless, and then to follow him and become a
servant of love to your fellow human being. And it doesn’t matter if you’re
rich or poor, and it doesn’t matter where you were born, and it doesn’t matter
how you were raised or what you think you know about the world – all of that is
a chasing after the wind – what matters is that you leave it all behind and do
as Christ does.
Jesus of Nazareth is the
only religious figure who teaches this selfless love. At Idaho State, I took a
course of Western Philosophy from Plato to Nietsche. It was a worthless class
in that after we learned everything about a particular philosophy, we also
learned why that philosophy was wrong, invalid, and did not conform to reality.
As I learned the entire knowledge base of secular humanism, it occurred to me
that the one philosophy that could not be refuted was the one taught by Jesus
of Nazareth.
Love your neighbor can’t be
refuted. And you can’t tell me that those people who follow this philosophy –
no matter what their background or upbringing – aren’t the people the Jesus is
talking about when he says, “For I was hungry and you gave me something eat. I
was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you
invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked
after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Jews, Gentiles,
Samaritans, Romans… in the end, it is what’s written on our heart that defines
us.
At Idaho State, I learned
all sorts of things about life and religion and respect for other cultures. But
when it came time to go for my Master’s Degree in Religious Anthropology, I had
another major revelation – there are no jobs for religious anthropologists. The
formal side of my spiritual quest came to an end, but even after I came home, I
continued to follow Christ wherever he led me.
He returned me to Lakeside
finally after a nice long prodigal journey of my own. I came back to join the
choir… and maybe have a few cookies every Sunday. That plan lasted all of one
half choir rehearsal. I joined the bell choir. Then I became an assistant youth
leader. Then I was asked to join Session. Then I became the head youth leader.
I went on mission trips. I went to Kenya. I became a deacon. And God continues
to lead me into places I never expected to go.
In fact, long after I had
given up on any thought of film school, I was approached by two of my youth
group kids. They wanted to make a film and wondered if I could help them. I
didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Faith, as it turns out, is the assurance
of things hoped for. I got to make my film. My journey has finally come full
circle.
Every single one of us is a
child of God. Every single one of us yearns to be reunited with Him. We all
search for love. We all search for Happiness. Since all love and happiness
comes from God, we all search for God. And if we are fortunate in our search,
we will discover God in service to others.
Love the Lord your God with
all of your heart, mind, body and soul. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Everything else is meaningless – a chasing after the wind.
Amen.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
The Importance of Blogging (Quick Note)
Just a thought really...
I preached last Sunday on an area that I considered borderline controversial. In a nutshell, part of my sermon explained my conviction that all religions are essentially the same and yet, they all lead to Christ. It was pretty convoluted and to be fair I was mostly concerned that the essence of my argument couldn't be properly conveyed to the congregation in the length of a sermon. So, nervously, I stood up and delivered my sermon.
It was not only not controversial, but apparently the congregation rather liked it.
In hindsight, I realized that all of the blogging I've done over the years where I've tried to weigh in on a controversial topic has finally paid dividends. Though I wasn't aware of it until Sunday, this has all been great practice for writing sermons of substance.
Thank you all for your praise, but mostly for your criticism. It has made me a better writer.
And now, I will resume my practice...
I preached last Sunday on an area that I considered borderline controversial. In a nutshell, part of my sermon explained my conviction that all religions are essentially the same and yet, they all lead to Christ. It was pretty convoluted and to be fair I was mostly concerned that the essence of my argument couldn't be properly conveyed to the congregation in the length of a sermon. So, nervously, I stood up and delivered my sermon.
It was not only not controversial, but apparently the congregation rather liked it.
In hindsight, I realized that all of the blogging I've done over the years where I've tried to weigh in on a controversial topic has finally paid dividends. Though I wasn't aware of it until Sunday, this has all been great practice for writing sermons of substance.
Thank you all for your praise, but mostly for your criticism. It has made me a better writer.
And now, I will resume my practice...
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Tying up loose ends
At age 42, I am not a writer. I am not a film maker. I am not much of a office drone. I'm not exactly sure what I am, but I'm not any of these things that I set out to be. I'm either on one of the longest training programs ever invented, or I've been fiddling away while my life clock burns. But I was not completely cognizant of these obvious facts until God decided to drop a little bombshell in my midst - a drop of perspective and a new challenge.
About 8 weeks ago, while I was minding my own business at a mostly boring Presbytery Meeting, God told me to become a Commissioned Lay Pastor.
Now, before you all freak out and start giving me excuses, I want to save you a bit of time... I had the exact same reaction. Wait one minute here, God, did I hear you correctly? Did I understand it correctly? Is this some metaphor for changing my life? I was confused and desperate for clarification.
I started with research. The CLP program was started by the Presbytery mostly as a way for lay people to help out as Pastors in situations where no current Pastor could do the job. For instance, if a Church decided to offer a Spanish Language service, they might call a CLP that spoke Spanish if no regular pastor was available to do the job. In time, the CLP program had developed to include all sorts of Mission related calls that might need pastors - calls for CLP's to reach out to a local residential living home or a teenage program of at-risk youth, etc... Each CLP is associated with a specific church and their pastor's abilities apply only to their specific call.
I didn't have a call, per se. God told me to be a CLP, but He didn't suggest that there was a specific reason for one. I asked around to see if I'd missed something. Nope. No CLP needed.
In the meantime, I started some soul searching and came to the conclusion above. This was not a pity party, but just an acknowledgement that if my life was going to matter in some way to the Earth I will one day leave behind, it probably won't be as a writer, film-maker, or office-drone. Being able to relegate these things to a new proper place in my life, made me realize that I'd not only not reached my potential, but had, in many ways, stagnated.
AHA! I thought! This was a wake up call by God to realize my true potential. Thanks, God... I'm glad that's all it was... I would have been a terrible CLP, and...
The problem was, the CLP idea wouldn't go away. It occurred to me that whether I wanted to be a CLP or not was irrelevant. God had already written it on my heart. But maybe I'd misunderstood. Maybe, secretly, deep down inside in places I didn't want to think about, I had always somehow harbored some thought of becoming a CLP and it had just chosen that particular moment to bubble up and latch on. Didn't Freud say something about this?
The next day the cover of Presbyterian Monthly magazine at church blared, "Answering God's Call..." and that Sunday, the sermon topic was all about Jonah and Abraham and Moses answering God's call... So, maybe it was all a coincidence... but just in case...
I talked to Pastor J.D. about it. He told me about the program, asked me all the same questions I'd already asked myself, and seemed convinced that while I might not know the answers, I was certainly sincere in asking the questions. He said that I was in a period of Investigation - trying to understand God's call to myself.
I asked God bluntly the next day, Did I just make this up? Is this really what you want? Was I imagining the whole thing? I got my perfect answer that night.
On my way home, I had a sudden thought (in hindsight, it was as sudden and as clear as the thought that I should become a CLP) that Matt Cain was going to pitch a no-hitter that night. It wasn't that it was a stretch to imagine that Matt Cain could pitch a no-hitter. He can pitch a no-hitter any time he takes the hill. He's really good. It was the clarity and the certainty of the conviction in my head that made it stand out in my mind. In fact, as I got home and got out of my car, I thought, "I should probably watch the game tonight." But I didn't, because I had work to do. Of course, Matt Cain not only threw a no-hitter, he threw a Perfect Game.
I realized the next day that God had given me my answer. Just as there was no logical way I would have ever had a thought that I should become a CLP, there was no logical reason why I would have suddenly thought, Matt Cain's going to throw a no-hitter tonight. I've had these bizarre "premonitions" before, but few with the clarity and insight that I'd had on those two occasions. God was letting me know that I hadn't imagined things.
Okay. I'm committed now. To what? I still don't know. Since I never saw this coming, I really don't have any idea where I'm going next.
In the meantime, I'm tying up loose ends. I've been rushing to finish two movies before the end of summer. Those are the main two obligations I have left from my old life. I will continue to write, continue to make amateur films, and continue to be an office drone, but I will no longer consider these things to be the end result of my life. God has called me to do something different now. Who am I to ignore such a call?
About 8 weeks ago, while I was minding my own business at a mostly boring Presbytery Meeting, God told me to become a Commissioned Lay Pastor.
Now, before you all freak out and start giving me excuses, I want to save you a bit of time... I had the exact same reaction. Wait one minute here, God, did I hear you correctly? Did I understand it correctly? Is this some metaphor for changing my life? I was confused and desperate for clarification.
I started with research. The CLP program was started by the Presbytery mostly as a way for lay people to help out as Pastors in situations where no current Pastor could do the job. For instance, if a Church decided to offer a Spanish Language service, they might call a CLP that spoke Spanish if no regular pastor was available to do the job. In time, the CLP program had developed to include all sorts of Mission related calls that might need pastors - calls for CLP's to reach out to a local residential living home or a teenage program of at-risk youth, etc... Each CLP is associated with a specific church and their pastor's abilities apply only to their specific call.
I didn't have a call, per se. God told me to be a CLP, but He didn't suggest that there was a specific reason for one. I asked around to see if I'd missed something. Nope. No CLP needed.
In the meantime, I started some soul searching and came to the conclusion above. This was not a pity party, but just an acknowledgement that if my life was going to matter in some way to the Earth I will one day leave behind, it probably won't be as a writer, film-maker, or office-drone. Being able to relegate these things to a new proper place in my life, made me realize that I'd not only not reached my potential, but had, in many ways, stagnated.
AHA! I thought! This was a wake up call by God to realize my true potential. Thanks, God... I'm glad that's all it was... I would have been a terrible CLP, and...
The problem was, the CLP idea wouldn't go away. It occurred to me that whether I wanted to be a CLP or not was irrelevant. God had already written it on my heart. But maybe I'd misunderstood. Maybe, secretly, deep down inside in places I didn't want to think about, I had always somehow harbored some thought of becoming a CLP and it had just chosen that particular moment to bubble up and latch on. Didn't Freud say something about this?
The next day the cover of Presbyterian Monthly magazine at church blared, "Answering God's Call..." and that Sunday, the sermon topic was all about Jonah and Abraham and Moses answering God's call... So, maybe it was all a coincidence... but just in case...
I talked to Pastor J.D. about it. He told me about the program, asked me all the same questions I'd already asked myself, and seemed convinced that while I might not know the answers, I was certainly sincere in asking the questions. He said that I was in a period of Investigation - trying to understand God's call to myself.
I asked God bluntly the next day, Did I just make this up? Is this really what you want? Was I imagining the whole thing? I got my perfect answer that night.
On my way home, I had a sudden thought (in hindsight, it was as sudden and as clear as the thought that I should become a CLP) that Matt Cain was going to pitch a no-hitter that night. It wasn't that it was a stretch to imagine that Matt Cain could pitch a no-hitter. He can pitch a no-hitter any time he takes the hill. He's really good. It was the clarity and the certainty of the conviction in my head that made it stand out in my mind. In fact, as I got home and got out of my car, I thought, "I should probably watch the game tonight." But I didn't, because I had work to do. Of course, Matt Cain not only threw a no-hitter, he threw a Perfect Game.
I realized the next day that God had given me my answer. Just as there was no logical way I would have ever had a thought that I should become a CLP, there was no logical reason why I would have suddenly thought, Matt Cain's going to throw a no-hitter tonight. I've had these bizarre "premonitions" before, but few with the clarity and insight that I'd had on those two occasions. God was letting me know that I hadn't imagined things.
Okay. I'm committed now. To what? I still don't know. Since I never saw this coming, I really don't have any idea where I'm going next.
In the meantime, I'm tying up loose ends. I've been rushing to finish two movies before the end of summer. Those are the main two obligations I have left from my old life. I will continue to write, continue to make amateur films, and continue to be an office drone, but I will no longer consider these things to be the end result of my life. God has called me to do something different now. Who am I to ignore such a call?
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
A Psalm For Understanding
Lord, you delight me
with your call.
But I am confused.
I know what you want
But I don't know why.
You send me forth
and I am bewildered.
I go forth
into the wilderness
but I wander aimlessly.
Give me clarity, Lord.
You caught me off guard.
I was foolish in my delay.
I wasted time asking
for confirmation.
Who else could it be?
You set the stars in the sky,
you know their course
before their first illumination.
Your confirmation was perfection.
Anything less, and I
would have had reason to doubt.
Knowing that it is your call
does not tell me
why have you chosen me?
I am unworthy.
I am unprepared.
I am not the one that I would choose.
Give me clarity, Lord.
You have your reasons.
That is good enough for me.
Lead me to your flock.
Tell me what to do.
Give me the ability
to be your presence.
Your love to be my love.
Fill me with your spirit.
Send me forth, Lord.
with your call.
But I am confused.
I know what you want
But I don't know why.
You send me forth
and I am bewildered.
I go forth
into the wilderness
but I wander aimlessly.
Give me clarity, Lord.
You caught me off guard.
I was foolish in my delay.
I wasted time asking
for confirmation.
Who else could it be?
You set the stars in the sky,
you know their course
before their first illumination.
Your confirmation was perfection.
Anything less, and I
would have had reason to doubt.
Knowing that it is your call
does not tell me
why have you chosen me?
I am unworthy.
I am unprepared.
I am not the one that I would choose.
Give me clarity, Lord.
You have your reasons.
That is good enough for me.
Lead me to your flock.
Tell me what to do.
Give me the ability
to be your presence.
Your love to be my love.
Fill me with your spirit.
Send me forth, Lord.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Where there's a Will (Version 2.0)
I will be going incommunicado for a brief time. It's been coming on for a few weeks now.
As a previous version of me has said before, there are two sides to Will - the Creative Side and the Totally Kick Ass and Takes Names Intelligence Specialist Side. The wimpy, nice, creative side has been in charge now for a little over ten years. He's really done a number on this place while he's been in charge. Eeeuch!
Now, the other Will is in charge. And he doesn't like what he sees. And he's really not liking some of the things going on in his life. Therefore, I've stuffed Creative Will in a box for a while so that I can take care of some business.
Things are going to change around here. Rapidly. And then, I will return you to your regular... hippy... programming.
As a previous version of me has said before, there are two sides to Will - the Creative Side and the Totally Kick Ass and Takes Names Intelligence Specialist Side. The wimpy, nice, creative side has been in charge now for a little over ten years. He's really done a number on this place while he's been in charge. Eeeuch!
Now, the other Will is in charge. And he doesn't like what he sees. And he's really not liking some of the things going on in his life. Therefore, I've stuffed Creative Will in a box for a while so that I can take care of some business.
Things are going to change around here. Rapidly. And then, I will return you to your regular... hippy... programming.
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Preach the Gospel... use words if you must.
I think the worst thing that can happen to my brothers and sisters in Christ is to have a microphone, gavel, or TV camera shoved in their face. It seems that when a Christian is asked for their opinion on any issue, good or bad, they feel duty bound to answer the question with an authoritative response as if they speak for all Christians everywhere. Even in the rare case where these spokespeople do speak for all Christians, they seem to forget that they don't necessarily speak for God.
I say this because I have seen the struggles of faith firsthand in the churches and in larger regional bodies of church government over issues that divide the rest of the world as well. Abortion, Same Sex relationships, the Death Penalty, and on and on, these issues divide the church as easily as they divide the nation and the world. Yet if you turn on the TV there is always some Christian pundit ready to give an answer for the Church that is so authoritative, you would assume it was written in stone by the hand of God.
While I think every Christian ought to have the moral authority to speak their mind on these issues and to attempt to prayerfully discuss these issues with other believers and non-believers alike, I think this mind-set that some Christians have that their thoughts MUST be correct and that everyone else is wrong is starting to get out of hand.
It's one thing to say that you believe Same Sex relationships are wrong and that the Bible clearly spells that out. It's another thing to say that you should punch your children if they display same sex tendencies as one Baptist minister did a few weeks ago. That message flows from the outright conviction of the Baptist Minister that he is 100% correct in his thinking and that, therefore, the next logical step is to do whatever it takes to prevent such a horrible outcome for your children.
I read, too, of a conservative minister who has preached that extending the right to vote to women has been the cause of our great nation's demise. Now you might think that God does not want women to be deacons or elders in your church (and certainly not ministers), but to suggest that their ability to think and to vote their conscience has somehow caused this nation harm is taking your religious views and perverting them to the point where they no longer support your thoughts but undermine them. You not only sound like a loon when you say things like that, but it also speaks to the fact that the words you are speaking are coming out of your mouth and not your heart.
My biggest issue with a great deal of what is being said by Christians is that these words have taken on legalistic, exclusionary tones that damage not only the work of the Church but also the message of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that They will know we are Christians by our love. These things that are being said show no form of love that I would ever want to be associated with - and I'm a Christian. You can imagine how the rest of the world views us.
I do not know what the solution is. I would not muzzle my brothers and sisters or attempt to control WHAT they say, only the way that it is said. You are free to have your convictions in Christ. You are free to disagree with mine. You are free to argue with me, plead with me, and entreat me to come over to your view. But please, do not allow your views of Christianity to come before God's. Speak with your heart, not with your mouth, and that will make all the difference.
I say this because I have seen the struggles of faith firsthand in the churches and in larger regional bodies of church government over issues that divide the rest of the world as well. Abortion, Same Sex relationships, the Death Penalty, and on and on, these issues divide the church as easily as they divide the nation and the world. Yet if you turn on the TV there is always some Christian pundit ready to give an answer for the Church that is so authoritative, you would assume it was written in stone by the hand of God.
While I think every Christian ought to have the moral authority to speak their mind on these issues and to attempt to prayerfully discuss these issues with other believers and non-believers alike, I think this mind-set that some Christians have that their thoughts MUST be correct and that everyone else is wrong is starting to get out of hand.
It's one thing to say that you believe Same Sex relationships are wrong and that the Bible clearly spells that out. It's another thing to say that you should punch your children if they display same sex tendencies as one Baptist minister did a few weeks ago. That message flows from the outright conviction of the Baptist Minister that he is 100% correct in his thinking and that, therefore, the next logical step is to do whatever it takes to prevent such a horrible outcome for your children.
I read, too, of a conservative minister who has preached that extending the right to vote to women has been the cause of our great nation's demise. Now you might think that God does not want women to be deacons or elders in your church (and certainly not ministers), but to suggest that their ability to think and to vote their conscience has somehow caused this nation harm is taking your religious views and perverting them to the point where they no longer support your thoughts but undermine them. You not only sound like a loon when you say things like that, but it also speaks to the fact that the words you are speaking are coming out of your mouth and not your heart.
My biggest issue with a great deal of what is being said by Christians is that these words have taken on legalistic, exclusionary tones that damage not only the work of the Church but also the message of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that They will know we are Christians by our love. These things that are being said show no form of love that I would ever want to be associated with - and I'm a Christian. You can imagine how the rest of the world views us.
I do not know what the solution is. I would not muzzle my brothers and sisters or attempt to control WHAT they say, only the way that it is said. You are free to have your convictions in Christ. You are free to disagree with mine. You are free to argue with me, plead with me, and entreat me to come over to your view. But please, do not allow your views of Christianity to come before God's. Speak with your heart, not with your mouth, and that will make all the difference.
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