Well, it has been quite a while since I have visited the blogging world, and I am feeling the itch again for this creative outlet. We have been extremely busy over the last 6 months getting adjusted to our new home and chasing dreams and goals. Lyndsay loves her new job and the kids are growing like weeds and make sure to pound out of us the last few ounces of energy on a nightly basis. But we are having a lot of fun and really love being where we are. We feel settled and know that we have found a great place to raise our family.
I have been working feverishly on my Master's thesis and I expect to graduate in May. I have also been doing quite a bit of research for the work that here at the church, so the last 6 months have really been a lot of researching and writing, and I've been having a blast. I have a lot of new ideas, thoughts, and areas of interest, so I hope to explore some of those on this blog. I also hope to articulate my current "Lost" Theory in the near future.
To my friends and family, I hope you are doing well and I'll see you online.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Monday, August 27, 2007
Egg on the Floor
I returned home Sunday evening from our regularly scheduled men's basketball night to my lovely wife, who began to create a small meal for the two of us within a few minutes of my arrival. Shortly after I had popped a few popcorn chicken pieces into my mouth and tasted their wonderful flavor, I reached for the refrigerator door, which at that moment completely fell off its hinges and sent several items crashing to the floor, one of which was an egg.
Luckily, I was able to keep the door in a somewhat upright position while Lyndsay rescued the remaining items from their designated slots. We then spent the next thirty minutes scrutinizing the architecture of the door and were able to return the fridge to its former glory. So far that has been the strangest event that has happened to us since we bought our new home. And in case anyone is curious, Lyndsay had an important role in this process which only adds to her long resume of fixing bizarre items around the household. Her resume can be found here.
Luckily, I was able to keep the door in a somewhat upright position while Lyndsay rescued the remaining items from their designated slots. We then spent the next thirty minutes scrutinizing the architecture of the door and were able to return the fridge to its former glory. So far that has been the strangest event that has happened to us since we bought our new home. And in case anyone is curious, Lyndsay had an important role in this process which only adds to her long resume of fixing bizarre items around the household. Her resume can be found here.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Closing
We closed on our house today.
Lyndsay will be painting like mad along with her father and Jody.
I drove 6 hours to closing and back so that I can be here when the moving truck arrives tomorrow.
We've been running at full steam and are very tired...but very excited.
Lyndsay will be painting like mad along with her father and Jody.
I drove 6 hours to closing and back so that I can be here when the moving truck arrives tomorrow.
We've been running at full steam and are very tired...but very excited.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Home
Lyndsay and I now have a contract on this ranch home, which was signed on our anniversary. Lyndsay keeps saying, "You bought me a house for our anniversary!"In case you are wondering, we did have a signed contract on a different house previously, but the home inspector saw a few issues that turned into a twenty-thousand dollar foundation problem.
So this is our new home and we hope that we will be closing on it the first or second week of August. Furthermore, I am glad to say that this time around the home inspection went great. We are really excited to get all the paperwork done, so we can start moving into our new house.
I personally am very excited about this move, for it will be, for me, the first time in my entire life that the structure that I call home, will be owned by myself or my family. That's right, I've never lived in a home that was ours. Growing up in Streator we lived in a parsonage, when I went to college I lived in a dorm, after graduation I lived in an apartment, and for the last 6 1/2 years we have lived in a church owned parsonage. This will be my first home.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Redemption as a Special Dimension of God's Activity as Creator
Apparently, the subject of creation theology has been somewhat neglected by professional theologians in years past, and what's more, the subject has often times been subordinate to redemption. Stated plainly, it has often been the practice of theologians to consider God's real work to be redemption.
The reasons for this subordination of creation are listed by Terrence Fretheim in his book, God and the World in the Old Testament: A Relationship Theology of Creation, and are too many to list at this time. As I have read his book, I think that I have at times been guilty of this kind of subordination in my thinking and teaching. His suggestions have weighed on my mind for quite some time and have formed the way I think about creation and its relationship to redemption.
One passage from the book that I find especially poignant:
The redemptive work of God is a special dimension of God's more comprehensive activity as Creator. To equate the two would collapse all of God's work in the world into redemption and diminish God's more comprehensive work as Creator, including blessing. Generally speaking, God's goal for the creation is not redemption; God's redemption is a means to a new creation, and salvation will be the key characteristic of that new reality.
This understanding, in turn, has implications for how one thinks about creation; the creation is not something to be left behind as God works on more important matters, such as redemption. To equate creation and redemption, or to subordinate creation to redemption, is to endanger the status of the world, including human beings, as creation. It is also to place in question God's love for the creation itself, quite apart from the redemption, as if God's goal is to get beyond creation to some other reality. Moreover, such an equation endangers the recognition that redemption has to do with much more than spiritual matters; it includes the healing of the body (finally, resurrection), indeed the healing of the environment.
-Terrence Fretheim
My reflection upon these statements as well as the larger body of Fretheim's work has been very fruitful and provides a framework with which to approach the many environmental issues that concern many people today.
The reasons for this subordination of creation are listed by Terrence Fretheim in his book, God and the World in the Old Testament: A Relationship Theology of Creation, and are too many to list at this time. As I have read his book, I think that I have at times been guilty of this kind of subordination in my thinking and teaching. His suggestions have weighed on my mind for quite some time and have formed the way I think about creation and its relationship to redemption.
One passage from the book that I find especially poignant:
The redemptive work of God is a special dimension of God's more comprehensive activity as Creator. To equate the two would collapse all of God's work in the world into redemption and diminish God's more comprehensive work as Creator, including blessing. Generally speaking, God's goal for the creation is not redemption; God's redemption is a means to a new creation, and salvation will be the key characteristic of that new reality.
This understanding, in turn, has implications for how one thinks about creation; the creation is not something to be left behind as God works on more important matters, such as redemption. To equate creation and redemption, or to subordinate creation to redemption, is to endanger the status of the world, including human beings, as creation. It is also to place in question God's love for the creation itself, quite apart from the redemption, as if God's goal is to get beyond creation to some other reality. Moreover, such an equation endangers the recognition that redemption has to do with much more than spiritual matters; it includes the healing of the body (finally, resurrection), indeed the healing of the environment.
-Terrence Fretheim
My reflection upon these statements as well as the larger body of Fretheim's work has been very fruitful and provides a framework with which to approach the many environmental issues that concern many people today.
Monday, July 09, 2007
What Is God Like
Yesterday I read a portion of a book that resonated deeply with me and I want to share them with you for your own thought life. In the work that I've been doing on openness theology I have been wrestling with a very difficult question. Do the metaphors, narratives, and poems of the Bible really reveal to us what God is like? Certainly, God is a mystery to man, and we will never fully understand him, and that is fine with me, but the question is: are the words of Scripture reality-depicting?
I have always believed that when the Scripture said that God was angry, sad, or grieved that it meant that God truly experienced anger, sadness, and loss. Yet, classical theism, popularly expressed in much reformed theology states that God is not affected by the world and does not experience anger, sadness, loss, or joy, but exists eternally in a perfect state of blessed happiness.
Many say that these metaphors and narratives are an example of God "talking down to us." John Calvin wrote that God lisps to us like a nursemaid lisps to a child. With this understanding, it seems difficult to see the metaphors as reality-depicting, therefore many theologians and pastors for years have talked about the God behind the metaphors as the true God while the Scripture "speaks down to us" and gives us the God of revelation. For them it is not proper to speak of God experiencing emotion; it is not "dignum deo" for us to think of God this way.
There are many questions, concerns, and problems that arise if we start talking about the "God behind the metaphors." How could anyone really speak about the God behind revelation? How could anyone verify that the metaphors are not reality-depicting? How can someone make the claim that God does not experience anger or frustration at the obdurate nature that human beings can sometimes display? In order to have such information about the God behind revelation, wouldn't they have to have some kind of privileged access to God in order to see that he was in fact different than what we read about in Scripture?
The following authors reject a "God behind revelation" and believe that God has indeed revealed his essential nature in salvation history. These lines resonated with me:
The revelation of God in salvation history is a genuine self-revelation, not a temporary expedient or a public relations ploy, but a portrait of what God is really like.
-Richard Rice, theologian and professor at Loma Linda University
The very nature of God who is self-communicating love is expressed in what God does in the events of redemptive history. There is no hidden God....behind the God of revelation history, no possibility that God is in God's eternal mystery other than what God reveals Godself to be.
-Catherine LaCugna, Feminist Catholic Theologian, author of God For Us.
This revelation is a genuine self-giving. God's true self, God's innermost reality, comes to expression in God's dealings with creation. Consequently, God's saving actions become central to God's identity. In creating and saving a world, he commits himself to the world in such a way that his own destiny and his own identity are forever linked to that of his creatures. Like British generals who acquired their titles from their battlefield triumphs, God's name derives from his saving activity. For Christians the Trinity names God--as Father, Son, and Spirit--identifying God by the definitive moments in salvation history: the mission of the Son and the sending of the Spirit.
Now, if salvation history is a revelation of God's inner reality, we must think of God in a way that is consistent with what we find in this history. Since the qualities of sensitivity, care, commitment, self-giving, and self-sacrifice are prominent in salvation history, as the cross [of Christ] supremely testified, these are the qualities that characterize God's essential reality.
-Richard Rice
[Quotes taken from, Searching for an adequate God: A Dialogue between Process and Free Will Theists. ed by John B. Cobb and Clark H. Pinnock. pgs. 196-197.]
So if salvation history testifies to the nature of God, then God is affected by our world; he is a God who suffers; he knows anger and frustration; he really rejoices like the Scriptures say. God has shown us his true self at the Cross of Christ; there is no God behind the curtain, for in the crucifixion of Christ we see God's true self--we see what God is really like. In Christ, we see that God is self-giving love.
I have always believed that when the Scripture said that God was angry, sad, or grieved that it meant that God truly experienced anger, sadness, and loss. Yet, classical theism, popularly expressed in much reformed theology states that God is not affected by the world and does not experience anger, sadness, loss, or joy, but exists eternally in a perfect state of blessed happiness.
Many say that these metaphors and narratives are an example of God "talking down to us." John Calvin wrote that God lisps to us like a nursemaid lisps to a child. With this understanding, it seems difficult to see the metaphors as reality-depicting, therefore many theologians and pastors for years have talked about the God behind the metaphors as the true God while the Scripture "speaks down to us" and gives us the God of revelation. For them it is not proper to speak of God experiencing emotion; it is not "dignum deo" for us to think of God this way.
There are many questions, concerns, and problems that arise if we start talking about the "God behind the metaphors." How could anyone really speak about the God behind revelation? How could anyone verify that the metaphors are not reality-depicting? How can someone make the claim that God does not experience anger or frustration at the obdurate nature that human beings can sometimes display? In order to have such information about the God behind revelation, wouldn't they have to have some kind of privileged access to God in order to see that he was in fact different than what we read about in Scripture?
The following authors reject a "God behind revelation" and believe that God has indeed revealed his essential nature in salvation history. These lines resonated with me:
The revelation of God in salvation history is a genuine self-revelation, not a temporary expedient or a public relations ploy, but a portrait of what God is really like.
-Richard Rice, theologian and professor at Loma Linda University
The very nature of God who is self-communicating love is expressed in what God does in the events of redemptive history. There is no hidden God....behind the God of revelation history, no possibility that God is in God's eternal mystery other than what God reveals Godself to be.
-Catherine LaCugna, Feminist Catholic Theologian, author of God For Us.
This revelation is a genuine self-giving. God's true self, God's innermost reality, comes to expression in God's dealings with creation. Consequently, God's saving actions become central to God's identity. In creating and saving a world, he commits himself to the world in such a way that his own destiny and his own identity are forever linked to that of his creatures. Like British generals who acquired their titles from their battlefield triumphs, God's name derives from his saving activity. For Christians the Trinity names God--as Father, Son, and Spirit--identifying God by the definitive moments in salvation history: the mission of the Son and the sending of the Spirit.
Now, if salvation history is a revelation of God's inner reality, we must think of God in a way that is consistent with what we find in this history. Since the qualities of sensitivity, care, commitment, self-giving, and self-sacrifice are prominent in salvation history, as the cross [of Christ] supremely testified, these are the qualities that characterize God's essential reality.
-Richard Rice
[Quotes taken from, Searching for an adequate God: A Dialogue between Process and Free Will Theists. ed by John B. Cobb and Clark H. Pinnock. pgs. 196-197.]
So if salvation history testifies to the nature of God, then God is affected by our world; he is a God who suffers; he knows anger and frustration; he really rejoices like the Scriptures say. God has shown us his true self at the Cross of Christ; there is no God behind the curtain, for in the crucifixion of Christ we see God's true self--we see what God is really like. In Christ, we see that God is self-giving love.
United With Christ
Sunday was a great day! For there was a young man in our church, named Caleb, that was united with Christ at baptism, sharing in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. He is now dead to sin and to the law and is alive to God in our Lord Jesus. For him there is now no condemnation, for his old relationship to sin has been crucified; his old self has passed away and he is free from sin.
Therefore, there is no condemnation for him, for he is now in Christ Jesus. He has been given the Holy Spirit so that he he may no longer be controlled by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, and with the Spirit he will begin to live the Christian life by putting to death the misdeeds of the body through the Spirit that lives in him.
The Spirit that he received has made him a son of God--an adopted son, who receives all the benefits of a natural born son. He is both our brother and a brother to the firstborn of our new race of mankind, a race of man that will one day be resurrected to a greater plane of existence where death will have no mastery, where we will exclaim that we are alive forevermore. Together we cry out with all of our enthusiasm, emotion, and joy, "Yeah Abba, Father: Yeah Dad."
Together, now we walk in this environment of grace as we become what God has always dreamed we would be--a people formed in the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. While we still experience hardship, may we be reassured that the pain we experience won't be worth comparing to the glory we will experience when we are wholly formed and living in the presence of our great God.
So let us live victorious lives, knowing that God is for us, and that he has revealed himself to us, on the cross, as a God of self-giving love. And let us rest assured that nothing, absolutely nothing can seperate us from the love of Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6-8)
I am so excited for Caleb. It has been my honor and privilege to have been his pastor and to see him grow and mature on his way from third grade to the ninth grade, and I pray that his life will always be Spirit led. I praise God for all the adults that gave of themselves during a week at Church camp, for their effort made an eternal impact in the life of at least one young man, who will never forget one of the most important weeks of his life.
Therefore, there is no condemnation for him, for he is now in Christ Jesus. He has been given the Holy Spirit so that he he may no longer be controlled by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, and with the Spirit he will begin to live the Christian life by putting to death the misdeeds of the body through the Spirit that lives in him.
The Spirit that he received has made him a son of God--an adopted son, who receives all the benefits of a natural born son. He is both our brother and a brother to the firstborn of our new race of mankind, a race of man that will one day be resurrected to a greater plane of existence where death will have no mastery, where we will exclaim that we are alive forevermore. Together we cry out with all of our enthusiasm, emotion, and joy, "Yeah Abba, Father: Yeah Dad."
Together, now we walk in this environment of grace as we become what God has always dreamed we would be--a people formed in the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. While we still experience hardship, may we be reassured that the pain we experience won't be worth comparing to the glory we will experience when we are wholly formed and living in the presence of our great God.
So let us live victorious lives, knowing that God is for us, and that he has revealed himself to us, on the cross, as a God of self-giving love. And let us rest assured that nothing, absolutely nothing can seperate us from the love of Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6-8)
I am so excited for Caleb. It has been my honor and privilege to have been his pastor and to see him grow and mature on his way from third grade to the ninth grade, and I pray that his life will always be Spirit led. I praise God for all the adults that gave of themselves during a week at Church camp, for their effort made an eternal impact in the life of at least one young man, who will never forget one of the most important weeks of his life.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Our New Home
This is a picture of what will soon become our new home (assuming inspection goes well) in a new town. Lyndsay and I made an offer on this home and the sellers took our offer. We will be closing on the home in the beginning part of August and I will begin my work at a new church on the 18th. Lyndsay is still searching for a new job.I have resisted blogging about this transition until we had told the church here, about our plans. We will miss them greatly, but we are also very excited about the work we will be doing in the future. I will update this blog more as we progress in our transition. I have purposely left out personal information about the location of the home as well as the church, so if anyone would like to know more info, you can email or call.
Monday, February 26, 2007
He Is His Father's Son
I knew the day would come when I would say, "Son lets try this video game." I had no idea the day would come before Xander was 2.5 years old. Nevertheless, I was excited to introduce him to one of my very first video games experiences, and I was ecstatic to see how much he was enjoying himself.
We played Duck Hunt on Sunday night and Xander admittedly wasn't the world's greatest hunter, yet he stayed at it for about 20 minutes until it was time for bed (FYI, toddlers playing video games before bed time is not a very good idea). When Lyndsay and i went to bed last night I said to her that if Xander is anything like his dad he will want to play the duck game immediately after waking up tomorrow morning.
Sure enough, five minutes after waking Xander was ready to pump some holes into the the pixeled ducks and when he came home from daycare he wanted to play again. Now up until this point he hadn't really gotten that "far" in the game; but he had managed to get to round two on one of his attempts and that attempt required some beginners luck. But early this evening Xander came into his own and blasted his way into the 6th round of flying ducks where the ducks fly "really fast."
I said, "Round six, mommy can't even make it this far!" My two year old can make it to Round Six! On Duck Hunt! I couldn't be more proud.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Boring In A Manger
Last Thursday was Lyndsay's birthday, and that morning we were busy getting the kids ready for the day. I was feeding Avery her oatmeal and Lyndsay was doing her best to get a bite to eat, while Xander was running circles around all of us.
In the midst of all of this I say to Xander, "Today is mommy's birthday; this is the day mommy was born!" He then replies, "Mommy you were boring?" And before we get to laughing to hard he says, "In a manger."
In the midst of all of this I say to Xander, "Today is mommy's birthday; this is the day mommy was born!" He then replies, "Mommy you were boring?" And before we get to laughing to hard he says, "In a manger."
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
We Are Famous
We made it onto the Tribune's website.
Go to fan photos on the right and find picture 54.
Edit: Since yesterday we have moved from picture 54 to 65, so you may have to scroll a bit.
Go to fan photos on the right and find picture 54.
Edit: Since yesterday we have moved from picture 54 to 65, so you may have to scroll a bit.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Go Bears!
Despite our hulking forms, I doubt that we could make up one Brian Urlacher. Let's hope that the jerseys are good luck against the Saints this Sunday.
A New Blogger
It has been a while since I last blogged. Life has been pretty busy with the holidays, 2 kids, a thesis to write and a church to lead. I just back from a 4 day snowboarding/skiing trip with the youth of our churches. It was a blast, but now I am tired, a little under the weather, and have a bit of pain from one really hard wipeout.
I am excited to tell you that my lovely wife, Lyndsay has just made the decision to enter the blogging world after many weeks of reading the blogs linked to my own. You can visit her blog here.
Hope you are all doing well, and I hope to do some more blogging soon.
I am excited to tell you that my lovely wife, Lyndsay has just made the decision to enter the blogging world after many weeks of reading the blogs linked to my own. You can visit her blog here.
Hope you are all doing well, and I hope to do some more blogging soon.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Our Buddy Lowery
I decided a month or so ago that it would be a wonderful thing if this picture were to pop up on someone's blog every now and then, so that Brian's fame can be continually celebrated. Its not everyday that one gets to be the posterboy for the LCC preaching department.
Much thanks to Soebeck for his original post that featured this great pic of Brian and for the photo shop job on the caption at the bottom.
For the confused, you can unlock of the meaning of the caption by visiting the book of Acts chapter 20, verse nine and read about the fate of Eutychus.
Have a great day!
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Hope
In actual fact, however, eschatology means the doctrine of the Christian hope, which embraces both the object hoped for and also the hope inspired by it. From first to last, and not merely in the epilogue, Christianity is eschatology, is hope, forward looking and forward moving, and therefore also revolutionizing and transforming the present. The eschatological is not one element of Christianity, but it is the medium of Christian faith as such, the key in which everything in it is set, the glow that suffuses everything here in the dawn of an expected new day. For Christian faith lives from the raising of the crucified Christ, and strains after the promises of the universal future of Christ. Eschatology is the passionate suffering and passionate longing kindled by the Messiah. Hence eschatology cannot really be only a part of Christian doctrine. Rather, the eschatological outlook is characteristic of all Christian proclamation, of every Christian existence and of the whole Church.
-Jurgen Moltmann, "Theology of Hope." Now available to read online.
-Jurgen Moltmann, "Theology of Hope." Now available to read online.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Happy Turkey Day....Hot Wing Day
I'm not sure when this happened, but a few years ago our family decided that holidays such as Thanksgiving, where everyone was home, was to significant of an occasion to eat a food as bland as turkey. Therefore, we have usually cooked the family favorite, beef teriyaki.This year will be no exception as we will be dining not only on teriyaki but will also be feasting on mom's special hot wing recipe. I'm so excited about eating this thanksgiving. Rumor has it that mom has got a new recipe for General Tso's chicken up her sleeve and that we will be partaking of that glorious food at some point during the Thanksgiving holiday.
I'm looking forward to the holiday, and I wish you all the best and hope that your tables are long and full of your family favorites.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Ahab
I've been teaching on the book of Hosea at our church the last month. The book is raw, full of vivid imagery and has lots of language that you'd never dream of hearing or saying in church. So far I haven't been tossed out of the sanctuary yet. :)
The form of the writing is poetry-prophecy and the dominant imagery is that of Israel and God in a marriage relationship, but Israel, God's bride has been unfaithful and is "prostituting herself to other lovers" via the worship of the Canaanite god's. In spite of her unfaithfulness God continues to pursue his wife and call for her return.
I am struck by the way that God is portrayed in this compliation of poetry-sermons, because God is pictured as a husband that refuses to give up on his adulteress wife. It is like God's plan to love people cannot be thwarted in the slightest.
One of the Hebrew words that Hosea uses to speak of God's love is the word Ahab (some know this word as Ahava, if you've seen Rob Bell's Nooma video called Flame). Gary Smith defines ahab as "irrational power that is unexplainable and paradoxical, since it is undeserved. It is a free giving of one's self to another to care for, forgive, and protect that person--without strings or conditions. Another commentator writes saying, "love works irresistably as an original force in the nature of God. When he acts in love, God demonstrates no less than his proper character as the holy God. It nearly seems as if God's love is more powerful in its compelling force than he himself."
Several weeks ago, the headlines were replete with stories about the shooting at the Amish School. The Today Show did a story on the incident and on the community's decision to forgive the shooter. One of the experts that they brought on the show spoke about how forgiveness is an irrational act, yet powerful. I don't think she was using the word irrational in a pejorative way, rather I think she was saying that for most of us forgiveness doesn't come naturally. We would rather get revenge and we would rather hate our enemy.
Then a few days later I read an article about how half of the mourners at Charles Carl Roberts funeral were Amish and that their presence and actions were powerful displays of love and forgiveness. Most everyone attending the funeral was moved to tears.
Most of us look at that story and say, could I forgive like that? I'm not sure I could do that. Nevertheless, it is something that the amish have done and in my mind it is a very poweful story of love triumphing over evil intentions. This is a good story for our society to think and wrestle through. The buzz word and attitude of our society is "tolerance," while this can be a helpful concept properly defined, it is not enough.
There is nothing powerful, or motivational about tolerance; you are merely putting up with someone else. Tolerance is an inadequate posture for our society, rather I think our society needs to learn to love unconditionally. What if people from different social, political, ideological backgrounds actually saw the "person" behind all the other junk? What if we cared about people more than our own agenda? If we could truly learn to love our neighbor could we form a better society, neighborhood, or home?
The form of the writing is poetry-prophecy and the dominant imagery is that of Israel and God in a marriage relationship, but Israel, God's bride has been unfaithful and is "prostituting herself to other lovers" via the worship of the Canaanite god's. In spite of her unfaithfulness God continues to pursue his wife and call for her return.
I am struck by the way that God is portrayed in this compliation of poetry-sermons, because God is pictured as a husband that refuses to give up on his adulteress wife. It is like God's plan to love people cannot be thwarted in the slightest.
One of the Hebrew words that Hosea uses to speak of God's love is the word Ahab (some know this word as Ahava, if you've seen Rob Bell's Nooma video called Flame). Gary Smith defines ahab as "irrational power that is unexplainable and paradoxical, since it is undeserved. It is a free giving of one's self to another to care for, forgive, and protect that person--without strings or conditions. Another commentator writes saying, "love works irresistably as an original force in the nature of God. When he acts in love, God demonstrates no less than his proper character as the holy God. It nearly seems as if God's love is more powerful in its compelling force than he himself."
Several weeks ago, the headlines were replete with stories about the shooting at the Amish School. The Today Show did a story on the incident and on the community's decision to forgive the shooter. One of the experts that they brought on the show spoke about how forgiveness is an irrational act, yet powerful. I don't think she was using the word irrational in a pejorative way, rather I think she was saying that for most of us forgiveness doesn't come naturally. We would rather get revenge and we would rather hate our enemy.
Then a few days later I read an article about how half of the mourners at Charles Carl Roberts funeral were Amish and that their presence and actions were powerful displays of love and forgiveness. Most everyone attending the funeral was moved to tears.
Most of us look at that story and say, could I forgive like that? I'm not sure I could do that. Nevertheless, it is something that the amish have done and in my mind it is a very poweful story of love triumphing over evil intentions. This is a good story for our society to think and wrestle through. The buzz word and attitude of our society is "tolerance," while this can be a helpful concept properly defined, it is not enough.
There is nothing powerful, or motivational about tolerance; you are merely putting up with someone else. Tolerance is an inadequate posture for our society, rather I think our society needs to learn to love unconditionally. What if people from different social, political, ideological backgrounds actually saw the "person" behind all the other junk? What if we cared about people more than our own agenda? If we could truly learn to love our neighbor could we form a better society, neighborhood, or home?
Here Come The Chompers
Avery now has her first tooth; you can't see it here, but it has just pushed through. It will be interesting to see how fast and furious these teeth will come. If she is anything like her older brother she will start getting a lot of teeth all at once. By the time Xander was 8 months old he had 8 teeth.Around here we often joke about our mutant powers, i.e. my mutant power is clapping really loud as to annoy Lyndsay. I used to say that Xander's mutant power was shark tooth regeneration. I said that because, sharks have several rows of teeth and when they loose their teeth due to their frenzied attacks on ocean liners and motor boats, the lost teeth are replaced by new ones fairly quickly. And the way Xander grew teeth before he was 8 months old, the comparison was justified.
As for now, it seems that Avery's mutant power is smiling and laughing and basically getting tickles, hugs, and kisses from her daddy.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Ojowee Articles
I just found out that The Christian Standard is doing a two part series on Open Theism. From what I've seen from the online articles it looks to be a fair investigation on their part, which I am excited about because the point of my thesis is going to be that Stone-Campbell theologians, pastors, and churches should engage in fair, irenic discussion on this topic.
William Baker also offers a list of books to read on the subject. All five resources would be good to read for anyone wanting to famliliarize themselves with the subject. The book, "Does God Have a Future," would be a great book to read since it's the published emails of two friends that are theologians that are on different sides of the issue.
Check out the articles here:
Open Theism Articles
William Baker also offers a list of books to read on the subject. All five resources would be good to read for anyone wanting to famliliarize themselves with the subject. The book, "Does God Have a Future," would be a great book to read since it's the published emails of two friends that are theologians that are on different sides of the issue.
Check out the articles here:
Open Theism Articles
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