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Thursday, September 04, 2008
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Currently Reading
They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations
By Dan Kimball
see relatedJesus vs. Religion
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event! Coming to the ring first, all the way from Nazareth in the Galilee... this... is... Jesus the Messiaaaaaaaaah! ...Messiah! And coming the ring next, His opponent, all the way from minds of well-meaning people of the ages... this... is... Religiooooooon! ...Religion!
Sometimes that's how I feel. Somehow, we've shifted into this mindset that Jesus is good, but religion is bad. All the while, there are many people in our world who don't know there is a difference. One person might say, "Oh, I'm very religious" meaning "I consider myself a Christian." But another might say, "I hate religion!" meaning "I consider myself a Christian." What about those that consider themselves a religious person, but it has nothing to do with Christianity? And what about someone who would consider themselves to be spiritual but not at all religious?
Here are a few things from my own heart:
I'll start with my own definition of religion: an understood set of life rules which are determined by how a person acts on what they believe.
I think this differs from how religion is generally defined, in that usually religion is thought of as a set of rules (usually written down) that determine what a person believes and how they act. This is where the separation of Jesus and religion comes in, because I don't feel that Jesus was, or is, about this kind of religion.
When I read the story of Jesus, I read about One who has established, and is now reigning over, a Kingdom of Love. It is a spiritual kingdom, and it is established in the hearts of those who would accept the love of a Most Gracious King. In this kingdom, loving the King is a way of life. Citizens trust that the King truly has their best interests at heart, and love Him for that. And out of this trust and love, they live as citizens of His Kingdom.
Are you tracking with this? No one enters this spiritual kingdom by talking about it... or doing good deeds... or offering up specific prayers at specific times of the day... or wear specific clothing... or attempting to understand certain universal secrets... or by relaxing the mind and body... or by being a part of a gathering... or by controlling their own destiny... No one gets into the Kingdom by acting like a citizen of it. That is religion without Jesus.
To be spiritual is to be reconnected. None of the things above (and not even who you vote for in the upcoming election) can reconnect us. Isn't that what all this religious stuff is about - reconnecting us? I'm not the only one who has felt like the world is broken... disconnected... am I? We are more than flesh and bone - in our very essence of who we are, we are spirit. We can't not be spiritual! And the whole point, I think, of Jesus is the spiritual kingdom that He established and is reigning over. He loves us and says to us, "Come, follow me." I love that! He's all about reconnecting the broken pieces of our lives and our world.
And now, because I love a King who loves me and desires the best for my life... I talk about the Kingdom... I do good deeds... I offer up specific prayers at specific times of the day... I sometimes wear certain clothes... I attempt to understand universal secrets... I relax my mind and body... I am regularly a part of a gathering... I am choosing my own destiny... I am acting like a citizen of the Kingdom because I am a citizen of the Kingdom! This is religion as a response to Jesus.
As you wrestle with this yourself, may you discover the joy and hope and peace of having your spirit reconnected... and may you live in that joy and hope and peace!
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
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Currently Listening
The Ultimate Collection
By Eurythmics
~Here Comes the Rain Again~
see relatedOur week thus far
Our Labor Day was a great day of relaxing, and enjoying some family time, just staying around the house. I did get some labor done by working a few hours out in the yard... and making gumbo!
Here are the piles of ingredients...
And here is the gumbo!
It was a nice day out (pretty hot and steamy though) and I managed to get a few fabulous photos of fancy fungal formations.
Say that 5 times fast.
Here is my moth friend, taking a break on my hiking stick.
I've heard that this is considered a type of faerie circle, where wood nymphs hide and play...
Actually, there pretty much just mushrooms.
And then it rained.
...it rained a lot.
This morning, I got up at 5 AM to get to our church facility to get the coffee going for our Wednesday morning men's group meeting (6:30 AM). As I turned into the area of town where the facility is, I noticed a lack of light... a completeness to the dark, if you will. All the power was out in that part of town, so I stood out in the wind telling each man that showed up (and there was a bunch today!) that we had no power... therefore no coffee... therefore no meeting.
Actually, we could have met without the coffee, but we could not really go through with the agenda of the meeting without electricty... wait... did I just say "we could have met without the coffee"????
*ahem* Anyways, quote of the day goes to one of the men who was standing alongside me for about 45 minutes, under the cover of the church facility's covered drive - as the rain was pouring down all around us and the wind was whipping my spiked hair into submission, he remarked, "I hear there's about a 90% chance of rain today."
Ya think?
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
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Currently Listening
Dance or Die
By Family Force 5
~Fever~
see relatedPreaching to an empty room
Every so often someone makes a remark after I finish my Sunday teachings such as, "I sure wish *insert name* could hear that!" To which I reply, "They can. Just go to the church website and go to the MP3 Downloads, and listen to the podcast. You can even download it and put it on a disc for them if you like." Well, this was one of those weeks when quite a few people made that kind of remark, and it just so happens that we... forgot... to record. In our effort to make the teaching available, I went in on Monday and... get this...preached to a big empty auditorium.
Hahaa! But, we did get it recorded and uploaded. If you're interested, you can hear it at www.oaklawnchog.com/podcasts... or click this link below:
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
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Currently Listening
Dance or Die
By Family Force 5
~Dance or Die~
see relatedMilk, it does a body good... mixed with coffee!
This morning was like any other morning, and I found myself preparing for my first foray into the coffee experience of the day. Each morning I prepare a beverage technically known as cafe con leche - it is mostly sweetened steamed milk, which I mix with a specific espresso coffee from Cuba. The coffee pot, which is a basic stove-top espresso maker, makes what is supposed to be 2 large or 3 regular shots of espresso... I put all of it my cafe con leche.
So, this morning I bumped my hand as I was preparing to pour the coffee into the steamed milk, and a little milk spilled on the counter. I cried out, "oh no!"
Without missing a beat, my wife said, "Don't cry over spilled milk."
"Yeah... at least I didn't spill any coffee," I replied.
Not being a coffee drinker herself, she responded with slight sarcasm, "Yes, that would be horrible."
Then, from the dining room, our son called out, "Yeah dad... that would burn a hole through the counter!"
*sigh* The things one must go through for a good cup of coffee.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
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Currently Listening
Unconditional
By Kirk Whalum
see relatedUnconditional Love
This is my contribution to the conversation with Featured_Grownups... on unconditional love.
I get to discuss this all the time, which makes me nothing of an expert. My life's vocation, my calling if you will, is to bring the Message of God to people. The bottom line of this Message is this - unconditional love... God loves YOU.
Our problem is (in the English language) that we have one word - love - that gets used and misused all the time. Not that it's a blatant conspiracy, but when I say "I love my wife" and "I love coffee", my intention is two completely different emotions. We use the word love flippantly. Ancient Greeks had several words instead of just one, so a person could pretty well distinguish romantic love, from brotherly love, from a general good feeling about something. One of those words is agape (uh-gop-ay), which literally means unconditional love, and is used in the language of ancient Greeks to describe the love God has for creation. You may have heard of this Scripture that says God is love. Or perhaps you heard that nothing can separate us from God's love. Which brings us to this monumental question, "If God is love, then why does He allow (or "cause" depending on your theology) such bad things to happen?
Here is where I understand God as Father. As a daddy myself, I can say this - I love my son no matter what. He can lie to me, he can steal from me, he can turn his back on me and everything I have ever, or will ever, teach him. He may cheat millions of people out of their money, he may commit murder... he may even become a politician. I will love him no matter what. My love for him is unconditional... but his actions will still have consequences. He can choose to follow the Path I lay out before him, or he can choose to go completely the opposite way, and I will love him. My heart will be broken, I will struggle to trust him, and it may be very hard to believe anything he has to say... but I will love him. And this love for my son will always... ALWAYS... desire what is best for him, and I will always desire that he come back to the Path I showed him. But even if he doesn't, I will still love him. Even if chooses to completely separate himself from me, I will still love him and hope with all my heart that he turns around and comes back. Certainly, I want him to love me the way I love him, but it is his choice. Because I love him, I want to protect him from bad things that may happen... but, because I love him, I must let him choose for himself, and learn to make good choices... and pray that he learns from bad ones, and eventually let him go and let life happen. The bottom line is, because I love him, I can't choose for him and I can't protect him from this reality of life - when we do as we wish, we really have no way of knowing who may be harmed.
Isn't a pretty well accepted fact that our choices affect our lives, and the lives of others? Bad things can happen because of the choices we make... or ones someone else makes. Because God's love is unconditional, He lets us mess up... and He lets us experience life. Because a Father loves His child, He disciplines the child. Because a Father loves his child, He lets the child choose his/her path... and end up where that path leads. He does all of this in spite of the fact that He knows there really is only One Path that leads to life! Because a Father loves His child, He teaches and trains the child, and then lets the child go and experience life... all the while yearning for His child to choose the Path He laid out before them.
May you experience unconditional love, and come to know that God is love, and loves you just as you are... but loves you too much to let you stay the way you are. None of us are perfect, and I, for one, am so glad that God's perfect love is for imperfect people.
mourning2dancing
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