Living Is Easy With Your Eyes Closed.....

Um, I don't use this blog any more....

2008-09-11T12:46:00.001-07:00

Should I Smite them?

2008-04-15T11:29:00.001-07:00

I'm reading through Jesus for President and stumbled upon this:

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Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from you, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination - end of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's law and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may posses slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans but not to Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is: how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor to the Lord (Lev. 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are their degrees of abomination?

7. Leviticus 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Leviticus 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Leviticus 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Leviticus 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton-polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them (Lev. 24:10-16)? Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws (Lev. 20:14)?

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Garry Wills, What Jesus Really Meant (New York: Penguine, 2006). 34-35.

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May this be a reminder that we are limited in our understanding (as well as our epistemology) and should approach scripture with humility, gentleness, and love.

stories of the Story

2008-04-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a good article from Christianity today reflecting on how different versions or faces of the gospel not only represent different salvation experiences but also represent Jesus' approach to spreading the Good News; rarely saying the same thing twice and using a world of metaphors and explanations to communicate the reality of the Kingdom of God.

I think my next pick up is going to be The Hauerwas Reader. I've been reading a little Hauerwas lately and I think I need some more. He is blunt and humble and those are two very difficult things to balance. Here is a quote of Hauerwas that I've been milling over for the past few days:

“I don’t have any faith in myself of living a virtuous life; but if I am surrounded by other people who are also formed by the same commitments, then we’ve got a better chance. We need one another to live up to the wonderful invitation we’ve been given to be other than we are.”

I've been thinking of a few commitments that I would like to make this next year as I plow through the ridiculous task of youth ministry.

Find ways to be invested in. I've been horrible at this so far. My church doesn't offer a young adult ministry and I have no idea where to go to learn and worship without having to lead something. I hope to spend the next few months praying about a mentor because I've never had one.
Communicate. I've fallen short here for two reasons: one, I am unorganized and two, I didn't know I wasn't doing it well until recently. I have a lot to learn in ministry but I think this would help me and those whom I work with in significant ways.

I'm not one for New Years Resolutions or anything like that so I thought I would make this list short and achievable. I just hope it is the latter.

Peace and good things to you all.....

New Life....

2008-04-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

So I've never tried to garden before. I know nothing about it but I thought I would give it a shot. It is something I've been interested in for a little over a year. I bought a book to help me in my new endeavor.

I've read about 60 or so pages so far and it gives me confidence that I can do it. I only have enough room for about one row of vegetables so I've been mulling over what I might like to grow. So far I think I'll try cucumbers, brocolli, beans of some sort, and maybe some spinach. I might do some potted herbs as well.

I look forward to learning about the fruits of the earth first hand; To be more connected to the fruits that God has given us; Natural, lovely, fruits - little bits of mercy.

Also, I took this picture tonight that I liked so I thought I would share.

Peace to you!

Part of Something Big; smallitude

2008-02-12T11:17:00.000-08:00

I keep running into this pastor from a church plant who has a very specific language surrounding his new church. He uses lots of buzzwords that I'm convinced more and more don't mean anything. Now don't get me wrong, he's a good guy and his church is in the more progressive camp of the Church of God, Anderson "movement" (we aren't a denomination, apparently) which I like. My only problem is with the jargon that he, and many other church planters, is using. "At "insert church name here" we have this saying that....." is a pretty common way for him to start a sentence.

I'm 24. If you know anything about 24 year olds it's that most of us just got out of college where we thought everything should be a movement and that if we weren't a part of some revolution we probably weren't good people or didn't love Jesus enough or cared too little about poverty. We now are, for the most part, out of college and having to figure out what it means to live out our convictions while working 40+ hours a week and most of us are finding that it isn't easy. You can't just join a movement. We're finding that going to a benefit concert, no matter how well intentioned, doesn't change the world and that signing up for an email from Sojourners or World Vision doesn't actually propel us to do much more than ignore emails.

We are an entire generation of people who want to be part of something big. I think churches tend to prey on this. They use language that makes people feel that something more significant than paying bills will happen in your life if you become part of their church. You will join a movement, so to speak. So they buy cool screens that count down the minutes until the sermon on Sundays and drink elite brands of fair trade coffee. They watch all the right videos and sing all the right songs and highlight the few people that have a relationship with the church who are actually living gospel centered lives somewhere in the world. They see a generation thirsting for something beyond themselves and they offer them mediocrity packaged as revolution.

I remember reading an article a few years ago by an African scholar. He was criticizing hyped up Western events to raise awareness or money(One Campaign, concerts, etc.), saying that aren't actually helpful (most of the money goes to corrupt officials and such) and serve mostly to make American's feel good about themselves. I think something that my generation has yet to realize is that big doesn't necessarily mean better. I think something that the church has failed to do is help young adults to understand this and have instead reinforced the notion that all good Christians are a part of something big that you can point to and make billboards about.

As I read Acts and as I read about the early church I'm always surprised by how upside down their revolution seemed. People were coming to the faith daily. Real disciples, many of whom died for it; thousands of people picking up their crosses and spending the rest of their lives pleading the case of the widows, the fatherless, and the immigrants. But there was no hype. They didn't throw concerts, they didn't have commercials with celebrities and they didn't even have cool videos to watch. They met in secret. They would paint a fish on a wall so people would know where to meet. Women would open up their homes and they would share a meal and worship God. Every day they had to reevaluate where they met so they didn't draw too much attention to themselves and every day more of their neighbors would come and see what it meant to be a people of God's Kingdom.

I say all of this to point out one thing: God's Kingdom is unassuming. Kingdom people are not people of hype because hype doesn't represent God's Kingdom. Kingdom people know their neighbors and serve in their local communities. Their revolution is one of love, and not some esoteric and unattached emotion but real, concrete, burden carrying, empathetic, difficult messy love. And it isn't big. It isn't something you feel towards people in Africa and it isn't a cause that you can sign up for an email update about. It is small. Very small. It is doing the dishes. It is babysitting for free or voting against unjust laws. It is making cookies for your neighbors or teaching somebody how to read. It is eating together and hurting together and more importantly rejoicing together.

I'm just tired of people trying to sell me a revolution. I want somebody to model for me what it means to love and I want their jargon and their lifestyle to be about that.

"Anyone who does not love remains in death."
-John, the apostle-

Dan and Amber are amazing. So is Ron Paul.

2008-01-30T07:57:00.001-08:00

This made my morning.

Philosophical Decunstructionism

2007-12-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

This is what I've looked like for a few months now......

Then this happened......

Then this..........awesome.

Angry Mustache Man!!!!

Almost done......

This is me.......

And I'm spent.....

An interesting perspective on world population

2007-12-17T20:17:00.000-08:00

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following. There would be:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both North and South America
8 Africans

52 would be female
48 would be male

70 would be nonwhite
30 would be white

70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian

89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual

6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would
be from the United States
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death
1 would be near birth (ready to deliver)
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer

"When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for both acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent."

Philip M Harter, MD, FACEP
Stanford University, School of Medicine

I have a camera?

2007-10-24T19:46:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures that I've taken over the past couple of months....

These are buffalo. I saw buffalo! In Huntington! It was awesome.

This is a sunset that I took outside of my church. It was a pretty rare sight!

And another picture of the sunset.....

Some leaves from a tree outside of my house....

And soccer......

The end.

Monday

2007-09-19T21:00:00.001-07:00

I woke up late. 7:40. I was supposed to be there at 8. I threw my clothes on and ran out the door without doing my hair or brushing my teeth. Awesome. I was about 45 minutes late and felt really bad but when I pulled into the long gravel drive way I saw two men smiling as if caring weren't worth there time. Jeff and Fred. Jeff greeted me and started explaining his philosophy to me. He said that farming, working with a flock, is like leading a church. He said that today we would learn about the slow processes of pastoring.

We walked through a field of high grass towards a mobile chicken coop. Jeff told me that he and Fred had already collected the eggs but when we got there more had been laid. We picked up the eggs, gave the chickens water and feed and moved on to the turkeys. The turkeys just needed their coop moved over a fresh patch of grass.

People started showing up slowly after that. One by one they would mosey (quite literally) onto the field; one holding a cat, the next telling jokes from afar. After a while we went and looked at the pigs while Jeff hypothesized about the best way to move the turkey fence. Fred whistled and all of the turkeys ran under a coop. They had no idea what the noise was and instinctually hid. We moved the fence so the turkeys would have new grazing grass. All of the animals were free-range. It was beautiful.

We had tea and shared a morning devotional. The pastors joked about swear words and wine (most of them were Lutheran) and we ate homemade muffins and prayed brief but wonderful prayers.

A tractor was pulled near the house and we all jumped on the trailer. We ended up at a large garden cleaning up rotten and near rotten produce, sampling the romaine and banana peppers along the way. We loaded gourds and cucumbers and tomatoes and squash onto the trailer and took it back to the pigs. They lovingly accepted our offering and feasted until it was gone.

In the afternoon we had quiet time and then met together. We discussed a Wendell Berry article about the necessity of home and farmings dependence on new and exhaustible resources. Jeff encouraged us to replace the word "farm" with the word "church" in the Berry essay. It worked quite well. We talked about what home meant to us and what it might mean to have a church home.

My favorite memory of the day was during lunch. We were eating a wonderful beef stew when one of the pastors asked, in jest, "So Jeff, who are we eating." Jeff looked off in the distance for a moment. He turned his head, smiled and said, "Bruno." He wasn't joking. He had raised Bruno. He'd given him a name, knew his identity, and was now using Bruno to sustain his own life and to share with others so that they, too, can partake in the blessing of his flesh. We thanked God for Bruno.

Tending the soul....

2007-09-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I still wonder what I want to do when I grow up. Then I remember that I'm mostly considered grown up now and I'm a youth pastor. Right now, I'm where I am supposed to be.

A challenge that comes with working in a church is finding time for reflection and prayer. Paul says that people who teach within the church are held to a higher moral standard. I think that also means that people who teach within the church need to be intentional about taking opportunities to grow and learn, to find people to invest in them.

A few weeks ago my pastor put a newsletter on my desk that I didn't read. I picked it up today and started reading through it. It's from a teaching ministry in North Manchester called Hope CSA that offers a course on experiential learning and academic study through the context of a small diversified farm. They focus on both theology and ecology. Essentially, those who participate learn about God through His creation -- through farming, and gardening, and study.

They are offering a mini-session this year that meets once a month for four months and only costs $10 a month. I think I'm going to do it.

I've always wanted to learn how to garden. There is something special and meaningful about eating food you have planted and nurtured. There is something spiritual about being so intimately connected with the things that you consume. Maybe this will be an opportunity for me to learn more about that.

Here is what the back of their newsletter tells me:

The mission of HOPE CSA, Inc. is to provide a ministry of continuing education and vocational renewal to clergy and other church leaders, using the resources of the Christian faith and of Creation in the context of a small, diversified family farm.

The purpose of this ministry is to teach clergy and other church leaders new ways of thinking and function as leaders living in interlocking family, congregational, collegial and natural systems.

The goal of this hands-on teaching ministry is to promote the well-being, and leadership skills of glergy and other church leaders by promoting "holy health," which is health in all seven dimensions: physical, emotional, intellectual, social, vocational, environmental, and spiritual.

The vision of this ministry is to involve clergy and other church leaders in the natural "household" of a healthy, small, diversified family farm as a natural system that functions according to the same natural process as their family, congregation, and collegial systems. As clergy are led to function healthily in the natural system of the farm and are guided to reflect on the natural processes that work toward life and health in that setting, they are instructed and shaped to function healthily in their other systems as well.

What do you all think?

Sojourners

2007-06-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to see Jim Wallis, author of God's Politics (New York Times Best Seller) and The Call to Conversion, speak on two different occasions yesterday. The first was a panel discussion where four pastors and professors from the Church of God (Anderson) responded to chapters out of Rev. Wallis' book The Call to Conversion. There was a pretty small Audience of no more than 50 or so for this discussion.

The second time was when he presented the sermon for the Church of God's national convention service. This was a much larger setting, probably before some 2,000-4,000 people.

I haven't read any of Wallis' books, though I have both of them sitting on my desk now. He had some wonderful things to say about Christianity, partisanship, politics, the right, the left, and living the Christian life but I won't bore you with those. He did, though, say something about the nature of evangelism that struck a chord with me. He pointed out that Christians in the west are answering questions that aren't being asked.

The first century church lived a radically different lifestyle than the society of their time. They lived a radically different lifestyle than Christians today live. Their life was marked by their commitment to one another, their commitment to the poor and the oppressed, and their willingness to share everything so that all needs were met. They were known for preaching "good news to the poor" with both their mouths and their lifestyles and numbers were added to them daily. People were asking questions.

"Why would you live this way? What's in it for you? Who is this Jesus character you keep talking about? Is he the reason you are living so differently? Is he the reason you sold all you had? Is he the reason you won't join the army? Is he the reason you would rather be killed than fight back?"

These are the questions being asked in the Bible. These are the questions Peter urged his fellow believers to always be ready to answer. Today we try to sell something we don't have. We advertise a lifestyle of passion, hope, change, conversion, radicalism but what we sell is dramatically different. We sell moralism. We sell suburban hopes and dreams. We sell 401Ks and stewardship. We sell political agendas that are too narrow to encapsulate all of the things that God loves and cares about. We sell Christian alternatives to every conceivable form of recreation and it just isn't working. It isn't working because all it is is a cleaned up substitute for what people already have. It isn't working because we're selling a re-packaged version of the materialism that our society is already trapped in. It isn't working because what we are selling isn't good news to anybody, especially the poor.

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
-Jesus-

Pointing to Heaven....

2007-06-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

Richard and Jenna got married
Just a few shots....I don't want to post too many until the couple gets to see them!

Peace

speaking with color...

2007-06-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

More photos
and...
and...
and...
and...

Worth 1,000 Words....

2007-06-01T08:47:00.001-07:00

I got a new camera. It's a Canon Rebel XT. I don't really know how to use it well yet. Practice!

A few photos....

I couldn't think of anything to shoot other than flowers....

more flower....

I'll post more here as I get better and practice.

Thought for the day.....

2007-05-22T06:18:00.000-07:00

It's difficult to love somebody you've never met.

Thought for the day.....

2007-05-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Christians didn't do service projects in the Bible.

Missional Church

2007-05-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me know that I have a slight obsession with church structure and church worship. To most people these things are about as interesting as mustard but I can talk for hours about them. I love seeing people connect to God and to each other and I love how worship gatherings and communities of faith facilitate this connection.

My friend Bob has been given a vision. God has led him to Huntington, Indiana to hang out with goth kids and skater kids. So that is what he does. He hopes that a community of believers will emerge from within this unique community of God's children and you can see the foundation of that community starting to form. It's quite wonderful. Bob is attached to this group called Missio that is passionate about birthing communities of faith where none exist right now. Not too unique an idea when you consider the popular world of church planting that has swept the nation, that is until you consider their "method." Most churches send small communities of people to a location that they are fairly unfamiliar with to start a new church. Sometimes these church plants don't work. Other times they grow quite rapidly but are mostly fed by transfer growth (people leaving churches for other, more cool, churches). Missio, on the other hand takes principles from missiology (the study of missions) and applies them to unchurched contexts. Novel idea, huh?

Really, Missio and it's participants desire to go into certain contexts and allow church to happen as a natural response to faith and relationship rather than bringing church into those contexts. They allow church to form within a community rather than taking a certain model of church and trying to get people from a unique culture to fit inside a church model made by people from another unique culture.

If you are unfamiliar with missiology or how it can be applied to western culture check out Alan Hirsch's website The Forgotten Ways or his book:

Goodbye Jerry

2007-05-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

So Jerry Falwell died today. It's hard to be indifferent isn't it? Either you loved him or you just wished he would shut up. In his later years even the news got tired of reporting some of the outlandish things ol' Jerry had to say: the tsunami was the fault of the homosexuals, as was 9/11, etc.

I've known plenty of students from Liberty, Falwell's university, that defend him tenaciously. I've met others that are relatively indifferent. Either way death is always a hard subject to write about. On one hand it is sad that his family and friends have to go through the mourning process and on the other death can be a very gracious thing. Perhaps Jerry had completed the tasks that God had for him in this life. I may have disagreed with you Jerry but I hope we can sit down to some tea in heaven, maybe even some wine.

Rest in Peace

A Baby Pastor

2007-05-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

If you were to ask me how I spend my days I'm not sure I could give you a good answer. A week ago, today, I became a pastor. I have an office and volunteers and drawers full of curriculum and a key that gets me into a relatively expensive building from which I'm to operate. All of these are great but they don't really have much to do with being a pastor. My job can be described in pretty basic terms: Love God and love neighbor; teach others to do the same. My questions, then, is how do I spend my time most effectively to accomplish this two in one love? I'm really just writing this post to see if the html on my new blog works. We'll see! Peace.