Ponderings, Parables, & Other Discoveries
Rob Bell has a new book coming out this year and a new speaking tour in connection to the book.
Can’t wait.
Oh, did I mention he hand wrote the book…
he’s going old school on us.
Shane Hipps would probably be proud.
If you don’t know much about Rob Bell, here is a link to a site that has a ton of info and links on Rob.
Shane Hipps new book “Flickering Pixels” just came in the mail.
I can’t wait to read it.
I hope to post some thoughts on it soon.
Although it may inspire to quit blogging…?
Some people have a gift for saying certain things in powerful ways.
From “The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell:
“And yet, in all those years of preparation, the prayer that had resonated most strongly in his soul was the cry, “Lord, I believe. Help me in my disbelief.”
He found the life of Jesus profoundly moving; the miracles, on the other hand, seemed a barrier to faith, and he tended to explain them to himself in rational terms. It was as though there were only seven loaves and seven fishes. Maybe the miracle was that people shared what they had with strangers, he thought in the darkness.
He was aware of his agnosticism, and patient with it. Rather than deny the existence of something he couldn’t perceive himself, he acknowledged the authenticity of his uncertainty and carried on, praying in the face of his doubt.”
Lord, I believe.
Help me in my disbelief.
I’ve been pondering how often disbelief is accompanied by belief.
But can Christianity and I be honest about that?
Can we say that we have doubts?
Can we stand in the strange and uncomfortable space of un/certainty?
Yet still believe.
Or do we dress up our doubts in fierce hostility towards that which we’ve been told is unorthodox?
Would admitting our dis/belief free us up to live a more humble and loving life?
Maybe Christianity and I need to pray…
Lord, we have doubts.
Help us in our beliefs.
… the fruit of the Spirit is
love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness,
and
self-control.
I’ve been pondering how often Christianity and I hand out bruised fruit to the world?
How does the fruit become bruised in the first place?
Is it from bad habits?
Bad theology?
Bad pratices?
Good theology?
Good habits?
Good practices?
What makes the difference between cultivating healthy fruit and bruised fruit?
Right beliefs?
Right practices?
Wrong beliefs?
Wrong practices?
What grows healthy fruit?
What bruises our fruit?
Do we even notice when our bruised fruit starts rotting?
Should Christianity and I care that our fruit is bruised?
When we notice another handing out bruised fruit what should we do?
Anything?
Something?
Everything?
What gives us the standard for our fruit anyways?
The Bible?
History?
Sermons?
Stories?
Philosophy?
The Law?
Government?
Television?
Which is more important: the healthy cultivation of fruit or having the right beliefs?
Fruit?
Beliefs?
Both?
Some of both?
Neither?
Either?
Lately Fruit has seemed a whole lot more complicated than it used to be.
I can’t remember the last time I heard someone speak directly about courage or cowardice.
Probably the last time was 9/11 but people only talked about courage as something we have and cowardice as something they had.
But I can’t recall the last time someone said we struggle with cowardice and should strive to work on our courage.
I don’t think our submersion into the electronic world helps.
It’s easy to think we are showing courage through an email, blog comment, or text message.
But sometimes it seems more like cowardice.
We are at a safe distance/volume/proximity/reach from whomever we are communicating with, little risk of them hitting/smacking/kicking us, and sometimes we have anonymity on our side.
We don’t have to talk to them if we want… most electronic devices/programs have an off or quit button.
And we can put it off till we feel like facing it… if ever.
Is this healthy/beneficial/loving?
Why shouldn’t we learn to resolve things sooner than later?
Why shouldn’t we let someone know who we are when we disagree with them?
Doesn’t it take courage to talk to someone face to face?
Doesn’t it take courage to stay calm while disagreeing?
How much cowardice does it take to apologize over a cup of coffee?
How much cowardice does it take to respectively debate with someone over a meal?
Is it courage to face the words on a computer screen?
Is it courage to face the face of someone you hurt?
Why don’t people talk about courage or cowardice anymore?
Do the technologies we love help us to show courage or cowardice?
If they en(courage) cowardice in us, how do we find the courage to turn off and away from that which hinders us?
Spend one week really paying attention to what people are saying and I bet you won’t hear a single person use the word courage or cowardice. I’ve been listening for those two words for awhile and haven’t heard them used yet.
Don’t know if it means anything… just has me pondering courage and cowardice.
What happens when the word Samaritan is replaced with heretic?
(main text from Luke 10:25-37 of The Voice New Testament Translation)
Just then a scholar of the Hebrew Scriptures tried to trap Jesus.
Scholar: Teacher, what must I do to experience the eternal life?
Jesus (answering with a question): What is written in the Hebrew Scriptures? How do you interpret their answer to your question?
Scholar: You shall love — “love the Eternal One your God with everything you have: all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind” –and “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus: Perfect. Your answer is correct. Follow these commands and you will live.
The Scholar was frustrated by this response because he was hoping to make himself appear smarter than Jesus.
Scholar: Ah, but who is my neighbor?
Jesus: This fellow was traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho when some robbers mugged him. They took his clothes, beat him to a pulp, and left him naked and bleeding and in critical condition. By chance, a priest was going down that same road, and he saw the wounded man, he crossed over to the other side and passed by. Then a Levite who was on his way to assist in the temple also came and saw the victim lying there, and he too kept his distance. Then a heretic journeyed by. When he saw the fellow, he felt compassion for him. The heretic went over to him, stopped the bleeding, applied some first aid, and put the poor fellow on his donkey. He brought the man to an inn and cared for him through the night. The next day, the heretic took out some money–two days’ wages to be exact–and paid the innkeeper, saying, “please take care of this fellow, and if this isn’t enough, I’ll repay you next time I pass through.” Which of these three proved himself a neighbor to the man who had been mugged by the robbers?
Scholar: The one who showed mercy to him.
Jesus: Well then, go and behave like that heretic.
Last night I saw “A Christmas Carol: The Musical” performed at the Spokane Civic Theatre.
It was grand.
The guy who played Marley’s ghost did a particularly fantastic job.
But a theme/line/phrase from the musical got me thinking…
“God blesses everyone.”
Everyone??
Really??
I thought only God blessed America… at least that’s what the bumper stickers say.
Maybe I should get a “God blesses everyone” bumper sticker.
Doesn’t scripture say that God causes God’s sun to rise on the evil and good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous?
But don’t we as Americans or Westerners or as Christians or whomever, spend a whole lot of time propping up/creating/sustaining/reincarnating/buying into the idea that God only blesses certain people and not others (especially not them)?
Is that right?
How’d we get to thinking we’re so special that only we get blessed?
And are our blessings even from God?
Or are the things we think of as blessings actually more about the anti-(Christ)mas spirit and ultimately not blessings in the end?
Dickens’ story of Scrooge is also interesting, because not only does it speak of God blessing everyone, it also sprouts the idea that with blessing comes the challenge for us to bless others.
Scrooge had money (a type of blessing).
He then encountered three spirits (the musical last night called them spirits instead of ghosts, which I thought was interesting) challenging him to go and bless others.
Do we need to encounter the spirits of (Christ)mas past, present, and future to remind us to be a blessing just as we have been blessed?
Would we repent like Scrooge?
Or end up chained by our b(less)ings like Marley’s spirit?
Last week someone used the phrase “The Anti-Christmas.”
I’ve been thinking about it ever since.
The
Anti
Christ
mas.
What is Christmas these days?
Do we really celebrate Christmas or is our Christmas really an anti-Christmas?
Do the ways we celebrate Christmas actually destroy or damage what Christmas means?
Do we think about Christmas in ways that damage our ability to live into all that (Christ)mas means?
Isn’t our commercial Christmas season supposed to be the season of Advent, which ends with Christmas day (not season) and starts off the journey towards Epiphany?
As Christians do we often participate more in the anti-Christmas, while Muslims and Jehovah Witnesses actually participate in (Christ)mas by not participating in Christmas?
Do we spend most of our time, energy, money, year, etc… participating in a culture that seeks to reinvent and re-sell the anti-christmas spirit with the next holiday, special event, birthday, sports tournament, etc…
or are we participating in
an
anti-
anti-
Christ
mas
?
