Sock Lovers

I like new socks. I like how cushioned my feet feel when I walk in them and I'm always sad when I have to wash them because I know they'll never be the same again. I got some new socks for Christmas this year and I'm thrilled. I suppose most people wouldn't be so excited about getting socks as a gift, but I am and so is Tim. Tim actually received more socks than I did. That's fine with me too, considering the guy loves socks even more than I do. Tim and I have happy feet now.....but you won't see us dancing like the penguin on the movie. ;)

Are there any other sock people out there like Tim and me?

Communities

The weekend is nearly here. I wanted to leave a couple of links in hopes of stimulating further creative and imaginitive thinking about Christian living.

These links reference a couple of Christian communities. They are examples of the radical, counter-cultural steps some have taken in an effort to be faithful to Christ's call. I am not advocating for either group. Frankly, they are simply what surfaced in a quick search.

Northumbria Community

Bruderhof Community

What are your thoughts? Could you ever see yourself living in such a manner?

Creativity and Imagination

I ran out of time last night while leading the discussion in our Bible class. I made reference to the need for a good use of creativity and imagination with regards to our self-understanding as the present-day people of God. I would like to elaborate on these ideas.

When studying the OT narratives, as we are in the book of 1 Kings, we are in essence reading an interpretation of the history of Israel. We know this great story builds upon great promises to Abram, it is furthered by great promises to David, and ultimate leads to the salvation of mankind. We understand the God's work is progressive and purposeful - He has the end always in mind, like any great strategic planner. The OT is not the account of a failed experiment, ultimately replaced by the new and improved NT plan of salvation. Rather, God has always had things under control. Even when punishing and destroying, He is still building to an ultimate goal. No plan of God's can be thwarted (Proverbs).

So, when we read OT passages, assuming the ultimate goal of our study is to grow in our understanding of God and His plan for our lives, we should study as if for a test! The test we should be preparing for is not of the multiple-choice variety, but is in fact the dreaded essay test. You all should remember from your school days that there is are critical differences in studying for multiple-choice type exams as opposed to open-ended essay exams. In other words, after all the years of studying Scripture, do we know more than superficial facts and associations; can we speak with some sense of reason and intelligence about the point of all things. Essay tests are harder because they demand we express a genuine understanding of the matter being tested. As a Christian, who has been carrying Bibles around for decades, I would like to think that I am at least striving to get the point of all things. As a member of a brotherhood of believers who have frequently touted our insistence on strict adherence to the Bible, I would hope I am among a people who get the point of all things.

It seems reasonable for me to conclude the following: If we are dealing with an Almighty, Wonderful God that is the great strategic planner of mankind; and His plans have and are coming to their glorious fruition; THEN, I can expect in my walk with Christ to be apart of something of monumental significance and of a fundamentally different nature the general flow of humanity. The Church of Christ should be monumental in significance and fundamentally different than non-church life.

Here's where I struggle:

There are two great commodities in Western hemisphere, American, middle-class life -- TIME & MONEY. Time and money dictate our lives. Most of our time is spent working to make money to pay for the cost of living. The basic standard of success is to make enough money to meet our expenses. If we can accomplish that, we are a productive citizen, furthering the economy of our community. The standard dream-- to get sufficiently ahead in time and money to engage in activities that are not essential but desired (travel, leisure, hobbies, luxuries, etc).

This entrenchment within the economies of time and money is so natural (normal) and so pervasive that we fail to ever think outside of it. It will take creativity and imagination to even begin to see something outside of this economic prison in which we live. POINT OF POST-> When we routinely live out our days entrenched in the ways of this world, we prove to be no better than the Israelites of long ago who continued to turn to the ways of their world rather than to cling to the God who led them out of Egypt and was leading them onward to a glorious future.

Stop and consider the magnanimous implications of for our lives of what Jesus said, "The thing you should want most is God's kingdom and doing what God wants. Then all these other things you need will be given to you" (Matt. 6:33 NCV).

The Christian walk cannot be conceived in the simple terms of pious morality and holy ethics. Jesus did not die on a cross, so that I might be a little nicer as I carry out my otherwise meaningless existence. There is far more to it than that. There has to be!

For me, it has come to this: I pray for God's power to concretely work in my life so that I might see a fundamental change in the way I manage the two great commodities of my existence, time and money. Anything short of a fundamental change leaves me wondering if the passage from the book of James doesn't capture me --"having a form of godliness, but denying its power."

[I realize this post is not sufficiently developed in some key areas and is a bit disjointed--for that I apologize. These ideas are unstable in my mind, plus, I drank a cup of coffee on an empty stomach--bad combination. Nevertheless, I trust that I am tinkering with a truth with which we all need to wrestle. I am very interested in your input.]

Can We Upgrade?

So, how do you Administrators feel about upgrading this blog to "The New Blogger" now that they're "out of beta"? I'm interested in doing this!

Jennifer

'Twas a confusing old story

Okay, so I am just putting this out there purely for entertainment. Dad sent this to me and I had to pass it along. Enjoy trying to make it through it ;-)


Twas The Night Before Christmas

'Twas the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period preceding the annual Yuletide celebration, and throughout our place of residence, kinetic activity was not in evidence among the possessors of this potential, including that species of domestic rodent known as Mus musculus. Hosiery was meticulously suspended from the forward edge of the wood burning caloric apparatus, pursuant to our anticipatory pleasure regarding an imminent visitation from an eccentric philanthropist among whose folkloric appellations is the honorific title of St. Nicholas.

The prepubescent siblings, comfortably ensconced in their respective accommodations of repose, were experiencing subconscious visual hallucinations of variegated fruit confections moving rhythmically through their cerebrums. My conjugal partner and I, attired in our nocturnal head coverings, were about to take slumberous advantage of the hibernal darkness when upon the avenaceous exterior portion of the grounds there ascended such a cacophony of dissonance that I felt compelled to arise with alacrity from my place of repose for the purpose of ascertaining the precise source thereof.

Hastening to the casement, I forthwith opened the barriers sealing this fenestration, noting thereupon that the lunar brilliance without, reflected as it was on the surface of a recent crystalline precipitation, might be said to rival that of the solar meridian itself - thus permitting my incredulous optical sensory organs to behold a miniature airborne runnered conveyance drawn by eight diminutive specimens of the genus Rangifer, piloted by a minuscule, aged chauffeur so ebullient and nimble that it became instantly apparent to me that he was indeed our anticipated caller. With his ungulate motive power travelling at what may possibly have been more vertiginous velocity than patriotic alar predators, he vociferated loudly, expelled breath musically through contracted labia, and addressed each of the octet by his or her respective cognomen - "Now Dasher, now Dancer..." et al. - guiding them to the uppermost exterior level of our abode, through which structure I could readily distinguish the concatenations of each of the 32 cloven pedal extremities.

As I retracted my cranium from its erstwhile location, and was performing a 180-degree pivot, our distinguished visitant achieved - with utmost celerity and via a downward leap - entry by way of the smoke passage. He was clad entirely in animal pelts soiled by the ebony residue from oxidations of carboniferous fuels which had accumulated on the walls thereof. His resemblance to a street vendor I attributed largely to the plethora of assorted playthings which he bore dorsally in a commodious cloth receptacle.

His orbs were scintillant with reflected luminosity, while his submaxillary dermal indentations gave every evidence of engaging amiability. The capillaries of his malar regions and nasal appurtenance were engorged with blood which suffused the subcutaneous layers, the former approximating the coloration of Albion's floral emblem, the latter that of the Prunus avium, or sweet cherry. His amusing sub- and supralabials resembled nothing so much as a common loop knot, and their ambient hirsute facial adornment appeared like small, tabular and columnar crystals of frozen water.

Clenched firmly between his incisors was a smoking piece whose grey fumes, forming a tenuous ellipse about his occiput, were suggestive of a decorative seasonal circlet of holly. His visage was wider than it was high, and when he waxed audibly mirthful, his corpulent abdominal region undulated in the manner of impectinated fruit syrup in a hemispherical container. He was, in short, neither more nor less than an obese, jocund, multigenarian gnome, the optical perception of whom rendered me visibly frolicsome despite every effort to refrain from so being. By rapidly lowering and then elevating one eyelid and rotating his head slightly to one side, he indicated that trepidation on my part was groundless.

Without utterance and with dispatch, he commenced filling the aforementioned appended hosiery with various of the aforementioned articles of merchandise extracted from his aforementioned previously dorsally transported cloth receptacle. Upon completion of this task, he executed an abrupt about- face, placed a single manual digit in lateral juxtaposition to his olfactory organ, inclined his cranium forward in a gesture of leave-taking, and forthwith effected his egress by renegotiating (in reverse) the smoke passage. He then propelled himself in a short vector onto his conveyance, directed a musical expulsion of air through his contracted oral sphincter to the antlered quadrupeds of burden, and proceeded to soar aloft in a movement hitherto observable chiefly among the seed-bearing portions of a common weed. But I overheard his parting exclamation, audible immediately prior to his vehiculation beyond the limits of visibility:

"Ecstatic Yuletide to the planetary constituency, and to that self same assemblage, my sincerest wishes for a salubriously beneficial and gratifyingly pleasurable period between sunset and dawn".


.......so what do you think? HA! HA! HA!

A long drive, some thoughts, etc...

The students here at Rio Grande are gone for Christmas break, so I took a few days off to hang out with some friends in Vermont this weekend. During the trip, I passed many villages and small towns all centered around a town hall, old school building, and large church buildings - the mammoth clapboard buildings with insanely tall steeples. This is the stuff postcards, calendars, and paintings are made of - the quintessential ideal of early American life: God, family, community & education. The problem is that looks are very deceiving. These communities are increasingly lacking the one key element - God. Most of those church buildings are empty. Many only have services in the summer. Others serve as town offices. There are some, however, who have scant crowds and are thoroughly apostate in doctrine. In other words, don't expect to hear the Gospel preached from their pulpits. It's really sad when you think what an impact these congregations had on the formation of this nation. At one time, their message helped our country to emulate the verse from Proverbs - "righteousness exalteth a nation..." Presently, these buildings are nothing more than monuments to a "Truth that has been exchanged for a lie." Their presence serves only aesthetic purposes - sort of like a beautiful model with no personality. You know the type...lights are on but nobody's home!

Now, I realize this isn't the most inspiring post as we tumble head first into Christmas. But there is a point. (At least for me there's a point). It just strikes me as strange that these classic Currier & Ive's towns - inspiration for many a fruitcake tin and Christmas card- have so little in common with what Christmas really is about - faith. To me, it's regional evidence of a national culture that has lost it's way. Vermonters, and folks from New England in general, are incredibly self-reliant; very good people, although somewhat cool and distant. Independence and free thinking seem to rule supreme. (but aren't the latter two the case all over the country?) And for some ever-increasing reason, Biblical faith doesn't have much room in their lives or their churches anymore. I suspect that it just might have something to do with the independence and free thinking business. As humans, we all (in some way) want to be masters of our own universe - at least until we come to faith. We all possess some degree of human desire to be "sovereign" in our own little corners of the world. Ironically, the more in control we declare ourselves to be, the less power we feel like we have. Does this make any sense? It seems that in New England particularly, the desire for individual human sovereignty has been erroneously endorsed by many churches, and has sort of led people away from God to make their own way. In the end, though, surrender of ourselves to the sovereignty of Christ is what gives us the most freedom, independence, and personal power. I reckon that's just how man's wisdom stacks up to God's wisdom.

Some thoughts from a very long 950 mile drive.

CofC on Wikipedia

I have made some references to historical factors that have shaped our identity as Churches of Christ. Such issues arose out of our discussion of the recent decision of the Richland Hills CofC to hold instrumental services. In the end, I called for us to value and seek a greater degree of insight with regard to our personal convictions and congregational identity.

I received some warm and encouraging comments during the time of that discussion. There has also been some negative feedback. So, I want to move forward in such discussions, but do so with caution and sensitivity.

Here is the "Church of Christ" article on Wikipedia. For those with little exposure to our history, here is a place to start. [Note: Wikipedia is an online user-generated resource-anyone can submit and/or edit articles, the material does not experience the editorial scrutiny of a standard scholastic journal or commercial encyclopedia]

For those who have no interest in such discussions, I do beg your pardon! I will attempt to keep it to a minimum. I do not want to inhibit any other posts. This is something to run along the side of other posts, so long as there is an interest. So, please carry on!

News!

I just went to Josh Gampp's blog to see what was new and found out some wonderful news! Here is the link:

http://www.gampp.com/2006/11/ptarmigan-is-now-all-lando-all-time.html#comments


Jennifer

45 Years of Misery

An elderly man in Phoenix calls his son in New York and says, "I hate to ruin your day but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough."

"Pop, what are you talking about?" the son screams. "We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the old man says. "We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her," and he hangs up.

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck, they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this." She calls Phoenix, immediately, and screams at the old man, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing. DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "They're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own fares... Now what?"

All original contents © 2005 Mark Lowry Productions, Inc.

Didn't Know I Had It In Me....

This morning while I was reading stuff on, you guessed it, the David Phelps message board, I discovered that the Administrator of the website had done something while I was asleep last night. What a greeting I had when I logged on to the website and clicked on this :

http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=84729014629752ccad31ad4G06121420


Hahahaha!

Jennifer

40 People

Here is something to think about: In Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Church, he details a concept called The Circles of Commitment. This model involves 5 concentric circles. The outermost circle is Community. Community is all those folks within reasonable driving distance of our congregation. Next is Crowd. These are the regular attenders. Next, Congregation -- These are those who would be considered members. Committed -- The Commited is made up of members who actively pursue the work of the congregation. Finally, the Core -- these could be described as lay ministers.

Here's the interesting part: the numbers. At the time of the book's writing, the Saddleback Church is known to have upwards of 10,000 in attendance. Rick Warren breaks the numbers down like this:

Saddleback Church-----
Community: 31,000
Crowd: 10,000
Congregation: 5,000
Committed: 3,500
Core: 1,500

Using Rick's percentages as normative (and no one is suggesting that they are), here is how Sunshine might breakdown:

Sunshine Church ----
Community: 800
Crowd: 260
Congregation: 130
Committed: 90
Core: 40

The backbone of the Sunshine congregation might be made up of about 40 folks. Does this seem reasonable or far-fetched?

What are your thoughts?

Christian Music

I have been a regular listener to contemporary Christian music for a couple of years now. I couldn't pick a favorite song. There are many that are favorites. There is one song that stands out to me. I love it for the lyrics.

The One Thing --- Paul Colman

Here I am
In a river of questions
Can I pour my heart out to a listening ear?
I see this life
Its valley's and mountains
And I think of all the roads that brought me here
I've questioned my reasons
The life I'm living
I've questioned my ability
To judge wrong from right
I've questioned all the things that I've ever called certain
My race, my religion, my country, my mind
But the one thing I don't question is you
You really love me like you say you do
You really love me like you say you do
Hold me Hold me
I've questioned significance
Meaning and relevance
Does the work I'm doing really matter at all?
Well I've questioned my friendships
Alliance, dependence
Who will still be here when I fall?
Only one thing doesn't change
Only one thing stays the same
All I know at the end of the day is your love remains

What are your favorite music lyrics?

Nobody likes an elitist

In our discussion of the last post, I called for us (referring to my CofC family and friends) to strive for insight. Even as I write this, I know many of the usual readers of this blog are turned-off. It's not that you are just disinterested, but actually peeved that the conversation won't go away. Please understand, it is not my desire to try your patience.

Finally it hit me! Nobody likes an elitist. Conversations of this nature involve terminology and historical references with which most folks are not familiar. Therefore, many folks feel blocked out, and nobody likes that. When a point is made that involves expressions like hermeneutics, theological presuppositions, and historical references; too much is expected of the average participant. It is not normal to know what all these words mean and be well-versed in the history of the Stone-Campbell Movement.

Nevertheless, it still seems important for us to grow in our self-understanding as followers of Christ. I am so confident that the rewards will greatly outpace the pain of the effort. The burden needs to be on the leaders of such discussions to avoid rapid-fire terminology and obscure historical references (I do realize that I am guilty of both). The goal MUST be the betterment of the whole congregation (or blogging community).

So, to borrow a line from Joan Rivers, "Can we talk here?" Can we strive for insight? When I began the study of therapy, like all therapy programs, I was required to undergo treatment. If I am unable or unwilling to deal with my own issues, how will I successfully help another deal with theirs? It seems obvious in the realm of counseling, yet in regard to our own religious issues we do not typically demand such self-analysis. The end result here is not doubt and a weakening of faith, but rather freedom and a deeper appreciation for the mighty power of God.

INSIGHT: an understanding of the motivational forces behind one's actions, thoughts, or behavior; self-knowledge.

For those of us raised in C'sofC, this involves a growing understanding of the Stone-Campbell history (nothing terribly extensive, the basic gist will suffice). Out of that comes an awareness of our historical emphasis on imitating the forms and structures of the early Christians. Campbell referred to it as "the ancient order of things" and I have used the phrase "pattern theology". Once that is mentally digested, it is then helpful to compare/contrast our ways with the ways of other Christian denominations. It is here that one begins to see him/herself in a new light.

Again, the goal of all this religious self-reflection is freedom. Freedom to look at our congregational activities, our mission, even Jesus afresh. Freedom to march deliberately ahead in a quest to be in full capacities the people God has called us to be. This cannot be accomplished by a select few, it must be a community-wide exercise.

That is why I give so much attention to this blog. I believe it is worth the effort.

A brave new world

The Richland Hills Church of Christ (Dallas, TX area) has decided to incorporate instrumental music in their services. I hope you follow this link to Mike Cope's blog where he has posted an essay pertaining to the situation. HERE

The essay grapples with not only acappella vs. instrumental issue, but looks at baptism and communion as well. You and I are living in a time when the traditional CofC, as we have known it, is negotiating an identity crisis (the word "crisis" might be an overstatement). I think in many ways we are negotiating it well and in other ways, not so well. For me, Richland Hills is an example of successful negotiation. I am curious as to how you see it. You are genuinely welcome to disagree with me on this point. It would make for a productive discussion, even if we never see it the same way.

I think we need to look at flagship congregations like Richland Hills, and discuss trends like this, because we are, in all actuality, looking into our own future. It may take several years, but what goes on in these CofC centers, eventually trickles down to us. Of course, we are not determined by what other congregations do, but if you look back over history, I think my point could be validated.

Please take time to read this essay and post a comment expressing your reaction.

One more thing...most contemporary thinkers of our day, informed by postmodern developments, would assert that objectivity is an impossibility. In other words, no one is or ever can be completely impartial about anything. I tend to agree with that assertion. What do you think?

Check this stuff out! (2 Bibles and a sex link)

In the shopping area outside of the "Abraham to Jesus" exhibit, I came across two study bibles: the TNIV Study Bible and the NIV Archeological Study Bible, both published by Zondervan. I linked both titles to their respective Amazon.com pages, if you would like to see them.

Most of you would probably enjoy the Archeological study bible the most. It is full of pictures and related materials, interesting articles that fall within the purview of archeology. It's a lot of fun simply flipping through the pages just to see what there.

I really want to commend to all the merits of the TNIV Study Bible. It is a tremendous resource in a single volume. It's built around the TNIV (which frankly is the best text currently available). It has over 20,000 study notes (which are very helpful). It has an abundance of maps and diagrams. It contains the largest concordance ever bound with an English bible. AND, it contains superb introductions to each book of the bible. The intro's are easy to read and quickly move the reader beyond the surface of the text to the deeper theological issues at hand. If you are stagnate in your quest to know and understand the words of Scripture, this will help you immensely!

You can buy this thing for $30 on Amazon.com. If you don't have an account or for any reason cannot order online, let me know. I'll make it happen for you, I really want you to have one.

**************
Want to contemplate sex while meditating on Scripture? Now you can! All you need to do is click here -> Toward a Theology of Orgasm . Really, I'm serious, you should click it.