Things I Think…
1. I think this quote from Wendell Berry should be made part of the canon…“When we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.”…
2. You will either believe that all of life is a religious experience or you will spend your life seeking one…
3. Most of what passes for charismata in the church today is utterly trivial and self centered…spiritual masturbation without the decency to seek privacy…
4. Much of what I hear when people speak of “praying for revival” is a prayer for “people to think like us”… if and when revival comes it will offend most of those praying for it and they will commence to pray against it…
5. I’ve started to be encouraged by the reports of a decline in religion…I choose to see it as Jesus cleaning the chalkboard…
6. Saeed Abedini was arrested again...having just returned from an overseas trip to attempt to free his (alleged) long time mistress. He’s not worth writing a full article on…allegedly…
7. The revelation of God in nature is a companion to His revelation in scripture and both are components of His full revelation in Christ…instead of arguing about revelation, I think it better to simply recognize it…
8. According to a “literal” reading of Genesis, animals were created for companionship…so your pets are really more in sync with the kingdom than the people who criticize how much you care about your pets…
9. Few things bring me more comfort than a fire in the fireplace on a cold morning…
10. I think the church calendar should include the start of baseball season as a feast day…
#3 I almost spit out my coffee. LOLOLOL
#7 I totally agree. Some theologians have called nature “God’s second Book.” I like that!
Thanks Bob1…and sorry about the coffee… 🙂
#7.- I was listening to a discussion on the plans to send humans to Mars and one person observed that he’d rather take his chances here on earth and leave outer space to God… Amen to that…. God gave us one beautiful planet and it takes a foolish mind to think we’d do better elsewhere…. To not see the hand of the Creator here, to think we can do better somewhere else is …. ? …. duuno? twisted and rebellious?. IMNSHO. ?
Hair plugs!
The hair plugs are an interesting twist…a source very close to Abedini told me a couple of months ago that he was basically penniless…some money came in from somewhere…
I wish hair regrew like that, but sadly, it just doesn’t.
The problems of stewarding the charismata occupies a large portion of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. No one who allows the operation of these gifts in public does it without moments of embarrassment and even regret. Therefore most churches suppress these moments. People have certainly left my church over these things and walked out during them.
Yesterday was potentially that kind of day for us. Long ago I counted the cost and deemed it worthwhile. However, I am always open to those who can share with me how to steward these things with more dignity, grace and care. When people tell me that tongues or prophecy or other manifestations were out of order I always ask them how they do it in their church. We want to learn how to lead these things with greater care.
I had 25 years of public worship without any unusual events other than the time when I had a mental breakdown in the pulpit. That of course was never spoken of again unless I brought it up.
This is not written to justify every neurotic or narcissistic expression in church. Those are not wanted by any of us. Neither is self-centered nonsense. Still, I pray for the Spirit to intervene and change the order of things.
BD,
I have many questions about all of this…I may need to submit them in writing.
People send me stuff purporting to be God moving in their churches…and if that’s the best God can do we’re all in deep weeds.
It makes no sense to me…and I’m often accused of being a “mystic”…a charge I embrace.
#3
I’m part of a weekly spiritual community that begins with a 10 minute time of silent meditation seeking and focused on Jesus. I’ve been given the privilege of bringing some sort of instrumental music and sonic texture. It’s about serving the community, not calling attention to myself, just praying that I am rustling leaves lifted by the breath of The Spirit.
@9
You would be playing during the time of silence?
pstrmike,
…yes, as I have been asked to do so by leadership, so technically it’s no longer “silent”.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The community has overwhelmingly welcomed it so as long as I don’t accidentally play InAGaddaDaVida… 😉
#3 – All of it…particularly the mundane.
#7 – Amen. If one is paying attention you will see God everywhere. Even in the smallest creature in one’s backyard.
#8 – Speaking of revelations of God… Animals
#9 – Amen
#10.- There’s something about opening day that’s like New Year’s or something…
Oops! The top one should’ve been for #2!
I’d love to go to a church with long periods of silence. Or maybe just receive communion in silence. That would be nice.
JoelG,
It’s a contrast to other gatherings where I wear earplugs just to survive.
!!O_o!!
lol G-Man I had to give in and go with the plugs at our previous church. I still have traumatic memories of going forward to receive communion right in front of the worship band. I couldn’t here myself think.
Wendell Berry is a valuable source whose one foot is inside the camp and the other out. I suppose in some (very tight) circles that would be luke-warm and spit-worthy. I find it honest, fresh, insightful, and wonderfully non-critical.
#2 is perfect follow-up to Berry’s words.
#3 the moving of the Spirit is like the wind, blowing where and when it wishes–defying the typical and predicable, expected and safe.
#6 Abedini is leaving a trail of burnt bridges smoldering behind him…
#9 fireplaces & fire pits–two sacred places the saints should frequent more often.
Gman,
Would you play the long version of Ina-Gada if you did play it?
🙂
@11
I find this interesting. I don’t have any issue with what you are doing, but I am curious as to the change.
Most communities are not comfortable with silence, and there is often the need for some type of background music to fill what some would consider to be a void. Silence is itself a spiritual discipline, something that I practice personally and that I lead our community in, albeit for a very short period of time. I’m teaching my congregation the value of silence. When we first started doing it, I could feel the tension rise in the room. 😉
I prefer silence pretty much everywhere. But I’m an oddball, not spiritually disciplined. Loud noise causes anxiety and can make church a rather unpleasant experience. I wonder, though, if we pew-sitters might be able to pray and listen for God better in the silence. I think the there is tension because in our culture we have noise in our ears all times of the day through headphones, computers, television, radio, etc.
Long ago in a big old Presbyterian church on Sundays folk would slowly and quietly file in – soft unobtrusive organ music playing and carved into the woodwork at the front in large letters were the words: “The Lord is in His holy temple Let all the earth keep silent before Him”
Were we in a holy temple? I guess not, but it felt that way. ?
If you wanted to chat you stayed out in the busy narthex until the last minute ?
“The Lord is in His holy temple Let all the earth keep silent before Him”
There is a reverence here that is missing in Evangelical Churches. At least the ones I’ve been to.
I visited a place called The Grotto in Portland, Oregon with a Catholic friend of mine once. There was reverence and silence in the church that I’ve not experienced before or since. I wish all churches could be like that.
#3
Who hurt you?
What did you witness?
Did you watch or hear a report of something?
#6
Do I need to apologize for making that custom creation for the Freed Saeed campaign?
Should i be more careful next time?
JTK,
I’m not hurt…but I should probably fill out my thoughts on this at some point.
As to Abedini…we all did what we thought was right…
Pertaining to several of these, it’s odd how if 1 or 2 Mexicans hurt someone (physically or otherwise), almost all of us won’t justify dismissing all Mexicans as being guilty of the same, wouldn’t dismiss all of them.
Yet as Christians, the devil fires up the conflagrations to do just that when someone is offended by one or two of them. We all get written off. I see it weekly.
Perhaps even amongst “sects” in the Body of Christ.
Are you suggesting that it was the Mexicans who hurt Michael?
Michael hurts for Mexicans.
But it was an analogy.
Michael, I just used “El Sicario” to minister to someone. It’s your fault.
Or to your credit.