I don't know what to think about this, on one hand that's great! On the other hand why did it take so long?
The quote that "it's not a racial thing" seemed rather disengenuous to me... you know, seperating one's prom based on race isn't a racial thing... yeah.
Peace,
Chris
Monday, April 23, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Saturday, April 14, 2007
I'm back
Israel...Tons of things to write about, tons to say, but all of it scrambled around in a confused and jumbled mess of experiences that need untangling. A few flashed images to flash before you to give you an idea.
Good Friday, in the holy seplecure, kneeling at the stone where Jesus' body was prepared for burial, I touch the stone with my cross, people are wailing all around me, then I stand up, something hits the back of my head, everything goes black for a second, I step away, behind me stands a 12 foot tall candleabra with a stylized silver crown surrounding it. I ended up with a Holy Bump.
The Old City itself is filled with people doing their job. Their job is to take your money, either by begging, befriendment, or sale. The city is full, a crush of people.
The Kidron Valley should be called the Kidron dip.
The Mount of Olives and the Mount of Beatitudes, both or much more spiritual, you feel like they are places where Jesus would want to be, as opposed to Jerusalem, where he had to be.
More soon.
Peace,
Chris
Good Friday, in the holy seplecure, kneeling at the stone where Jesus' body was prepared for burial, I touch the stone with my cross, people are wailing all around me, then I stand up, something hits the back of my head, everything goes black for a second, I step away, behind me stands a 12 foot tall candleabra with a stylized silver crown surrounding it. I ended up with a Holy Bump.
The Old City itself is filled with people doing their job. Their job is to take your money, either by begging, befriendment, or sale. The city is full, a crush of people.
The Kidron Valley should be called the Kidron dip.
The Mount of Olives and the Mount of Beatitudes, both or much more spiritual, you feel like they are places where Jesus would want to be, as opposed to Jerusalem, where he had to be.
More soon.
Peace,
Chris
Monday, April 02, 2007
Off to the Holy Land
So, I just packed my sandals. I leave for Israel tomorrow. I likely won't blog until I'm back. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Short Story Sunday:Those Old Old Stories
“Then El went to sleep,” Abibal said to the children surrounding him. He tucked his hands underneath his chin, beneath his grizzly white beard, “And as he slept tears fell down his face, for his son was dead. Think of this little ones, the Great One, dead! The Son of El dead! So, with those tears darkness fell upon the earth. Mot had killed Ba’al.”
I turned away. He was going to focus on the battle. Their swords clashing, matching stroke for stroke, then Mot’s treachery, and the blade sinking into our god’s chest. The final breath leaving the mouth of our young god.
I once reveled in Abibal’s stories. But that was before the Invaders from Egypt came up from the south. Before they brought their garish tent containing their god, Change. Before they had drove us to the coast. I loved stories of blood and death, until I had experienced it. My mother and father had been put to the fires. Anat, my sister… her head had been beaten against a rock.
What Abibal spoke severed us in the old days. When we were at the height of power, when we inhabited our cities and our towns, we could afford to hear of Ba’al’s return. When we could spare the blood of our children, when we could throw the bones of the first born into pots for The King, then Abibal’s ways made sense. Now though we need all their blood, and flesh, and strength. These stories and rituals only fared us well before these strange Egyptians came.
I wonder how long we can hold out against them. Their host grows every day. The Mountain People have joined their cause. Some say El himself has. They say he has fled from us and declared himself Change’s brother.
I look one more time at the children near Abibal. He shouts, “Sword, sword,” yet he is of a generation who only had to use swords on sacrificial victims, children. He never had to face other men, other men with swords. What will these children see in their lifetime? What will these Strange Egyptians bring to our land? And what of their god, Change.
I turned away. He was going to focus on the battle. Their swords clashing, matching stroke for stroke, then Mot’s treachery, and the blade sinking into our god’s chest. The final breath leaving the mouth of our young god.
I once reveled in Abibal’s stories. But that was before the Invaders from Egypt came up from the south. Before they brought their garish tent containing their god, Change. Before they had drove us to the coast. I loved stories of blood and death, until I had experienced it. My mother and father had been put to the fires. Anat, my sister… her head had been beaten against a rock.
What Abibal spoke severed us in the old days. When we were at the height of power, when we inhabited our cities and our towns, we could afford to hear of Ba’al’s return. When we could spare the blood of our children, when we could throw the bones of the first born into pots for The King, then Abibal’s ways made sense. Now though we need all their blood, and flesh, and strength. These stories and rituals only fared us well before these strange Egyptians came.
I wonder how long we can hold out against them. Their host grows every day. The Mountain People have joined their cause. Some say El himself has. They say he has fled from us and declared himself Change’s brother.
I look one more time at the children near Abibal. He shouts, “Sword, sword,” yet he is of a generation who only had to use swords on sacrificial victims, children. He never had to face other men, other men with swords. What will these children see in their lifetime? What will these Strange Egyptians bring to our land? And what of their god, Change.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
The Zephyr hits a home run
I've always been a bit baffled by those who rail against the feminizing of the church. It isn't like we want Spartans running the church, or Crusaders for that matter.
The argument has been made that "feminization" of the church leads to an abandonment of absolute truth claims. I think instead what is being abandoned is the masculine propensity to assume one's own opinions and interpretations are cold hard fact, and the feeling that it is necessary to push forward these beliefs against real or percieved opponents in a cold hard Neitzchian will to power kind of way. It's the warrior ethos that feels a need to defend against real and percieved threats, barking every time someone says something, instead of only barking when a burglar is attempting to ransack the temple.
Not to say we should flop all the way to the other side and passively be molded by others and never taking a stand like some overrought woman in a bad victorian romance.
In short balance in all things.
Peace,
Chris
The argument has been made that "feminization" of the church leads to an abandonment of absolute truth claims. I think instead what is being abandoned is the masculine propensity to assume one's own opinions and interpretations are cold hard fact, and the feeling that it is necessary to push forward these beliefs against real or percieved opponents in a cold hard Neitzchian will to power kind of way. It's the warrior ethos that feels a need to defend against real and percieved threats, barking every time someone says something, instead of only barking when a burglar is attempting to ransack the temple.
Not to say we should flop all the way to the other side and passively be molded by others and never taking a stand like some overrought woman in a bad victorian romance.
In short balance in all things.
Peace,
Chris
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Deep Thought Thursday: Heresy is not always wrong belief, sometimes it is exclusive belief
Heresy isn’t always believing something that is incorrect. More often it is believing something that is correct too strongly. For example it’s fine to believe that Jesus is God, and its fine to believe that Jesus is man, but when you believe one to the exclusion of the other you have trouble. Likewise believing that humans are sinners is all right, and believing that we are in the image of God is all right, but when you believe one but not the other things get tricky.
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Sermon: The Cosmic Christ Creates doors where there were walls
So... here's the sermon as it was written, which didn't end up being as I delivered it. I ended up focusing more on our role as Saint and Sinner and how self-justification is anathema to Jesus.
Not the greatest sermon ever, but what is?
Peace,
Chris
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O LORD. Amen.
When we look at Jesus’ life’s work we see a widening of the Kingdom of God. He told the parable of the Marriage banquet, which you may have noticed echoed in my Children’s message. In this parable anyone and everyone was invited. The king’s men found people from the lanes and from the streets, from everywhere. I know you’ve all been told this a dozen times, but I’ll say it none the less. Our Lord was found with sinners and at the side of outcasts. Our Lord was among the tax collectors, the prostitutes, and the destitute. Whenever anyone makes a line in the sand and says, “anyone on the other side of this line is not of God” Jesus makes it his business to be on the other side of that line, standing there in solidarity with the sinner.
Jesus then turned his face to Jerusalem and headed to his death. Today, the 5th Sunday of Lent, is the day many Christians prepare, along with Jesus, for this, for his death.
This is reflected in our Gospel reading this morning. In Mary’s humble act of applying nard to Jesus’ feet with her own hair she is anointing him with the oil of burial. Off to the side Lazarus, literally a dead man walking, eats and watches his sister do this. Perhaps the burial perfume that is said to fill the whole house covered the stench of Lazarus, having been in the grave for four days at this point. Perhaps even the burial perfume Mary used had been left over from her brother’s death?
Lazarus is also a sign of what is in store for Jesus. His return from the dead points toward the coming resurrection of the Christ. The religious authorities’ intention to assassinate Lazarus points to the way in which Jesus will die. To further point out Christ’s rigorous intentions to widen the Kingdom, I will remind you that even as he died he included the thief who was being crucified beside him as part the Kingdom of God.
Then Jesus rose after three days. He came to the two Marys, to the Disciples, and to others. Finally, he came to Paul. Paul had never met Jesus before his death. Yet, one day on the road to Damascus, as Paul marched forward intent on persecuting followers of Jesus, Paul met Jesus.
Now it seems to me Paul met Jesus in a different way then Jesus’ disciples had met him. He was met with a voice that was blinding and a revelation. Paul met, I believe, Jesus as the Cosmic Christ. Paul met a Jesus Christ that was much bigger than Jesus of Nazareth, bigger even than Jesus the Resurrected. Paul met Jesus after He had ascended into heaven. He had met Jesus Transcendent. He met the Jesus who was raised up and crucified for the cosmos. A Christ nailed to the black of night, comets through his palms and galaxies piercing his side. He met the Christ for whom being 100 percent God is more obvious than 100 percent human. A Jesus big enough to embrace the whole human race, Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free. A Jesus big enough to eclipse all borders and erase all lines in the sand.
And in revealing himself to Paul, our Lord’s actions to widen the Kingdom were widened still more. Paul knew that God is doing a new thing in this Jesus the Christ. A thing comparable to the Exodus from Egypt or the Return from Babylon.
When God’s people were down in Egypt. When they were making bricks for Pharoah’s store-cities. When they were building the very walls that their oppressors used to hem them in. They cried to their LORD. And the LORD did a new thing; He came to their rescue. And the LORD knocked down Pharaoh’s walls, spitting a path through the mighty waters and led His people to the Promised Land.
Then when God’s people were held in Babylon. When they were captive to that foreign court. When they yearned for their far off home. The LORD did a new thing. He sent Cyrus the Persian who broke the gates of Babylon. And God made “a way in the wilderness” for the Exiles to return to the Promised Land.
And again the LORD is doing a new thing. This Jesus that was killed as a criminal. This Jesus who “Paul had been persecuting,” by persecuting his followers. This Jesus is the way that God lead Gentiles from their several millennia long captivity, exile, and exodus! This is how Jesus is further widening the Kingdom of God!
So Paul warns that there are some Christians who wish to make circumcision a prerequisite, a fulfillment of entry, or an initiation into, God’s Kingdom. And I have to admit that without Paul’s experience of the risen Christ he would have likely agreed with these fellow Jewish-Christians. After all that had always been the process for becoming part of God’s people. This had been the case from Abraham to Moses to David to what was the present time. In fact, the non-canonical Book of Jubilees lauds Circumcision to such an extent that it claims the highest class of angels, because of their holiness, were created circumcised.
Yet, for Paul, this kind of prerequisite is anathema. If trust in this Jesus is how we are made right before God then any addition to trust in Jesus is ridiculous!
Paul’s gives himself as an example of extreme piety, listing off his pedigree, “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law a Pharisee.” Then he adds a kicker, “as to zeal a persecutor of the church.” He is saying that those who wish to tie circumcision to membership in God’s Kingdom are acting like he did before he knew Christ. He is saying that like him they are guarding the doors to the Kingdom of God. And like him, when they do this they end up persecuting citizens of the Kingdom of God.
Then Paul goes on and disparages all the piety he had before. He goes so far as to call “all things are Skybala.” He calls all things refuse, rubbish. He calls all things, as the Authorized Version so distinctly renders it, “dung.”
Now, when we read this we have to be very careful to understand what Paul means here. I don’t believe he can mean to disparage all of creation. After all creation is of God, and while God created dung God’s creation is not dung.
Neither do I think Paul is disparaging the Law. This is a strange thing for a Lutheran to be saying. After all we tend to create distinct dichotomies between Law and Gospel, and faith and works. But no, I believe Paul is not attacking the Law or Judaism.
No, I think we have to take seriously that Paul is comparing all things with Jesus. And Jesus is the great new thing, and he’s pretty darn excited about it. And in building up this great new act of God in Christ he compares anything that could be an alternative to Christ as Skybala.
Notice also that considering all things Skybala leads to Paul gaining Christ. It is as if only in emptying ourselves of all self-justification that we can humble ourselves to the point of recognizing our utter dependence on God. It is only when we take a good hard look at ourselves and see inside us the sinner, the prostitute, the tax collector, the destitute, the outcast, that we can cling to God.
It is as if only when we are in the darkness of the night that we can see the stars. Only in Egypt do we dare cry to God. Only in Babylon can we trust that the might of that great Empire would be toppled. Only when we are in the tomb of Lazarus may we be brought back from the land of the dead by the power of God.
And when we reach this state, sharing in the suffering of Christ, forgetting our past and straining to the future, we can see, we can glimpse, we can experience at least as in a dream, the goal. That is God’s calling to us in Christ. The ultimate end to all the exiles. The final reconciliation of all things; the resurrection of the dead, the new heaven and the new earth, without dividing line or boundary marker. The Kingdom widened to fulfillment. The whole cosmos reflecting Christ and singing praises to God.
Know that we, like Paul, live in the already-not yet. We live in the time between Christ’s coming and his return. But strain and dream, for we have a God who creates doors where there are walls and calls all to Him.
Amen.
Not the greatest sermon ever, but what is?
Peace,
Chris
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O LORD. Amen.
When we look at Jesus’ life’s work we see a widening of the Kingdom of God. He told the parable of the Marriage banquet, which you may have noticed echoed in my Children’s message. In this parable anyone and everyone was invited. The king’s men found people from the lanes and from the streets, from everywhere. I know you’ve all been told this a dozen times, but I’ll say it none the less. Our Lord was found with sinners and at the side of outcasts. Our Lord was among the tax collectors, the prostitutes, and the destitute. Whenever anyone makes a line in the sand and says, “anyone on the other side of this line is not of God” Jesus makes it his business to be on the other side of that line, standing there in solidarity with the sinner.
Jesus then turned his face to Jerusalem and headed to his death. Today, the 5th Sunday of Lent, is the day many Christians prepare, along with Jesus, for this, for his death.
This is reflected in our Gospel reading this morning. In Mary’s humble act of applying nard to Jesus’ feet with her own hair she is anointing him with the oil of burial. Off to the side Lazarus, literally a dead man walking, eats and watches his sister do this. Perhaps the burial perfume that is said to fill the whole house covered the stench of Lazarus, having been in the grave for four days at this point. Perhaps even the burial perfume Mary used had been left over from her brother’s death?
Lazarus is also a sign of what is in store for Jesus. His return from the dead points toward the coming resurrection of the Christ. The religious authorities’ intention to assassinate Lazarus points to the way in which Jesus will die. To further point out Christ’s rigorous intentions to widen the Kingdom, I will remind you that even as he died he included the thief who was being crucified beside him as part the Kingdom of God.
Then Jesus rose after three days. He came to the two Marys, to the Disciples, and to others. Finally, he came to Paul. Paul had never met Jesus before his death. Yet, one day on the road to Damascus, as Paul marched forward intent on persecuting followers of Jesus, Paul met Jesus.
Now it seems to me Paul met Jesus in a different way then Jesus’ disciples had met him. He was met with a voice that was blinding and a revelation. Paul met, I believe, Jesus as the Cosmic Christ. Paul met a Jesus Christ that was much bigger than Jesus of Nazareth, bigger even than Jesus the Resurrected. Paul met Jesus after He had ascended into heaven. He had met Jesus Transcendent. He met the Jesus who was raised up and crucified for the cosmos. A Christ nailed to the black of night, comets through his palms and galaxies piercing his side. He met the Christ for whom being 100 percent God is more obvious than 100 percent human. A Jesus big enough to embrace the whole human race, Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free. A Jesus big enough to eclipse all borders and erase all lines in the sand.
And in revealing himself to Paul, our Lord’s actions to widen the Kingdom were widened still more. Paul knew that God is doing a new thing in this Jesus the Christ. A thing comparable to the Exodus from Egypt or the Return from Babylon.
When God’s people were down in Egypt. When they were making bricks for Pharoah’s store-cities. When they were building the very walls that their oppressors used to hem them in. They cried to their LORD. And the LORD did a new thing; He came to their rescue. And the LORD knocked down Pharaoh’s walls, spitting a path through the mighty waters and led His people to the Promised Land.
Then when God’s people were held in Babylon. When they were captive to that foreign court. When they yearned for their far off home. The LORD did a new thing. He sent Cyrus the Persian who broke the gates of Babylon. And God made “a way in the wilderness” for the Exiles to return to the Promised Land.
And again the LORD is doing a new thing. This Jesus that was killed as a criminal. This Jesus who “Paul had been persecuting,” by persecuting his followers. This Jesus is the way that God lead Gentiles from their several millennia long captivity, exile, and exodus! This is how Jesus is further widening the Kingdom of God!
So Paul warns that there are some Christians who wish to make circumcision a prerequisite, a fulfillment of entry, or an initiation into, God’s Kingdom. And I have to admit that without Paul’s experience of the risen Christ he would have likely agreed with these fellow Jewish-Christians. After all that had always been the process for becoming part of God’s people. This had been the case from Abraham to Moses to David to what was the present time. In fact, the non-canonical Book of Jubilees lauds Circumcision to such an extent that it claims the highest class of angels, because of their holiness, were created circumcised.
Yet, for Paul, this kind of prerequisite is anathema. If trust in this Jesus is how we are made right before God then any addition to trust in Jesus is ridiculous!
Paul’s gives himself as an example of extreme piety, listing off his pedigree, “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law a Pharisee.” Then he adds a kicker, “as to zeal a persecutor of the church.” He is saying that those who wish to tie circumcision to membership in God’s Kingdom are acting like he did before he knew Christ. He is saying that like him they are guarding the doors to the Kingdom of God. And like him, when they do this they end up persecuting citizens of the Kingdom of God.
Then Paul goes on and disparages all the piety he had before. He goes so far as to call “all things are Skybala.” He calls all things refuse, rubbish. He calls all things, as the Authorized Version so distinctly renders it, “dung.”
Now, when we read this we have to be very careful to understand what Paul means here. I don’t believe he can mean to disparage all of creation. After all creation is of God, and while God created dung God’s creation is not dung.
Neither do I think Paul is disparaging the Law. This is a strange thing for a Lutheran to be saying. After all we tend to create distinct dichotomies between Law and Gospel, and faith and works. But no, I believe Paul is not attacking the Law or Judaism.
No, I think we have to take seriously that Paul is comparing all things with Jesus. And Jesus is the great new thing, and he’s pretty darn excited about it. And in building up this great new act of God in Christ he compares anything that could be an alternative to Christ as Skybala.
Notice also that considering all things Skybala leads to Paul gaining Christ. It is as if only in emptying ourselves of all self-justification that we can humble ourselves to the point of recognizing our utter dependence on God. It is only when we take a good hard look at ourselves and see inside us the sinner, the prostitute, the tax collector, the destitute, the outcast, that we can cling to God.
It is as if only when we are in the darkness of the night that we can see the stars. Only in Egypt do we dare cry to God. Only in Babylon can we trust that the might of that great Empire would be toppled. Only when we are in the tomb of Lazarus may we be brought back from the land of the dead by the power of God.
And when we reach this state, sharing in the suffering of Christ, forgetting our past and straining to the future, we can see, we can glimpse, we can experience at least as in a dream, the goal. That is God’s calling to us in Christ. The ultimate end to all the exiles. The final reconciliation of all things; the resurrection of the dead, the new heaven and the new earth, without dividing line or boundary marker. The Kingdom widened to fulfillment. The whole cosmos reflecting Christ and singing praises to God.
Know that we, like Paul, live in the already-not yet. We live in the time between Christ’s coming and his return. But strain and dream, for we have a God who creates doors where there are walls and calls all to Him.
Amen.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Colorblind God
Thomas and Rebecca were brother and sister. Rebecca was the older of the two. They lived in a small village in the East of England. It was a quiet place. Not much happened there. Their Mother would drive in to London to work and their father would drive out into the countryside to paint. They would often complain that nothing exciting ever happened.
Then one day in the summer, after their parents had left, the mail came. Thomas brought the mail in from the mailbox, and noticed something interesting! Two letters were rolled up like scrolls, and kept closed with wax.
“Rebecca,” he said.
“Yeah?” she replied, putting down the book she was reading. It was the last Harry Potter book.
“Could you read this for me?”
She really wanted to finish her book, but she got up anyway, saying, “okay.”
So she looked at the first scroll. Her name was scrawled in big old letters, with ink so thick that it stood off the page. She looked, and on the other was her brother’s name!
“They’re for us!” she said, forgetting The Deathly Hollows, and pulling off the red wax seal from her scroll. Thomas did the same to the green seal on his.
“Dear Rebecca… that’s me,” she read absently, “This letter has been sent to inform you that after 16 centuries Arthur, the Bear of England, the Holder of Excalibur, Eagle of the Shores, and the King of the Britons, is returning, and you are cordially invited to the welcoming ceremony. Tea and biscuits will be served.”
“This is exciting!” said Thomas.
“Yeah… but… what does one wear to see a king?” thought Rebecca.
“Well,” said Thomas innocently, “probably something that is the King’s favorite color.”
“Which would be red,” said Rebecca.
“Why?” asked Thomas.
“Because the wax is red of course,” said Rebecca.
“But mine is green,” said Thomas… and then added, “So I’ll wear green.”
“No,” said Rebecca, “Arthur’s favorite color is red.”
And so it went until the day of the return, Thomas saying green, Rebecca insisting on red. After a time Rebecca decided Thomas would be thrown out for wearing green, and Thomas decided Rebecca would be thrown out for wearing red.
And then the day itself came. Rebecca wore her very best red dress, and matching red shoes. And Thomas wore a green waistcoat with matching green tie.
Their parents drove them to the party and let them off. “We’ll be back to pick you up at 8,” said father.
“Have a good time,” added mother.
“We will,” they said.
And so they went to the gate and presented their scrolls to the doorman, whose name was Lancelot.
The building was packed.
“Look,” said Thomas, “William Shakespeare is wearing green tights, I was right! Arthur likes green.”
“But look,” reposted Rebecca, “Princess Diana is wearing red.”
And on it went Thomas pointed to Cromwell, Queen Victoria, and John Lennon . Rebecca pointed to Churchhill, Darwin, and Isaac Newton.
“One of us has to be wrong,” said Rebecca.
“Yeah,” agreed Thomas.
“About what?” asked King Arthur in his deep old voice, cracking with centuries of absense. He had stood behind them, unnoticed.
“What’s your favorite color?” asked Rebecca.
“You’re going to throw her out aren’t you?” chimed in Thomas.
“You are wearing different colors?” Arthur asked, astonished, “I am color blind. You both look the same to me. You are both equally invited to this party.”
Then one day in the summer, after their parents had left, the mail came. Thomas brought the mail in from the mailbox, and noticed something interesting! Two letters were rolled up like scrolls, and kept closed with wax.
“Rebecca,” he said.
“Yeah?” she replied, putting down the book she was reading. It was the last Harry Potter book.
“Could you read this for me?”
She really wanted to finish her book, but she got up anyway, saying, “okay.”
So she looked at the first scroll. Her name was scrawled in big old letters, with ink so thick that it stood off the page. She looked, and on the other was her brother’s name!
“They’re for us!” she said, forgetting The Deathly Hollows, and pulling off the red wax seal from her scroll. Thomas did the same to the green seal on his.
“Dear Rebecca… that’s me,” she read absently, “This letter has been sent to inform you that after 16 centuries Arthur, the Bear of England, the Holder of Excalibur, Eagle of the Shores, and the King of the Britons, is returning, and you are cordially invited to the welcoming ceremony. Tea and biscuits will be served.”
“This is exciting!” said Thomas.
“Yeah… but… what does one wear to see a king?” thought Rebecca.
“Well,” said Thomas innocently, “probably something that is the King’s favorite color.”
“Which would be red,” said Rebecca.
“Why?” asked Thomas.
“Because the wax is red of course,” said Rebecca.
“But mine is green,” said Thomas… and then added, “So I’ll wear green.”
“No,” said Rebecca, “Arthur’s favorite color is red.”
And so it went until the day of the return, Thomas saying green, Rebecca insisting on red. After a time Rebecca decided Thomas would be thrown out for wearing green, and Thomas decided Rebecca would be thrown out for wearing red.
And then the day itself came. Rebecca wore her very best red dress, and matching red shoes. And Thomas wore a green waistcoat with matching green tie.
Their parents drove them to the party and let them off. “We’ll be back to pick you up at 8,” said father.
“Have a good time,” added mother.
“We will,” they said.
And so they went to the gate and presented their scrolls to the doorman, whose name was Lancelot.
The building was packed.
“Look,” said Thomas, “William Shakespeare is wearing green tights, I was right! Arthur likes green.”
“But look,” reposted Rebecca, “Princess Diana is wearing red.”
And on it went Thomas pointed to Cromwell, Queen Victoria, and John Lennon . Rebecca pointed to Churchhill, Darwin, and Isaac Newton.
“One of us has to be wrong,” said Rebecca.
“Yeah,” agreed Thomas.
“About what?” asked King Arthur in his deep old voice, cracking with centuries of absense. He had stood behind them, unnoticed.
“What’s your favorite color?” asked Rebecca.
“You’re going to throw her out aren’t you?” chimed in Thomas.
“You are wearing different colors?” Arthur asked, astonished, “I am color blind. You both look the same to me. You are both equally invited to this party.”
Friday, March 23, 2007
Philippians 3:4-14
So, I'm trying to write a sermon for this Sunday, it's tough going. Part of this is contemplating that all is shit other than Christ, and also I'm trying to figure out what I believe about the New Perspective issue.
So here is what's come out of my thoughts.
Philippians 3:4b-14
An Old Perspective-
I was a follower of the Law, like those who may come and tempt you to be too. But the comfort I gained through the Law is loss once redeemed by Christ. All works are loss, only believing Christ Jesus to be LORD matters. I realize all the righteousness I stored up was shit; in this realization I gained Christ, righteous by faith alone, not by any works on my part.
Only then, stripped of all self-justifying pretention may I know Christ and live into his life, death, and resurrection.
I’ve fallen short of sanctification, but in Christ I soldier on, carried by him, to sanctification in the next life.
A New Perspective-
If people tell you inclusion in the Kingdom requires outward signs don’t listen to them. I say this as one who has these outward signs… lots of them. These circumcisers might take a lesson from me! In guarding the doors of the Kingdom of God I persecuted citizens of the Kingdom!
All these outward things matter not, because of what Christ did to widen the Kingdom of God. I count everything as loss in comparison to knowing Christ’s full kingdom.
For my radical understanding of inclusively I’ve given up a lot. Yet all that was shit anyway, for I have gained Christ! I have found myself a rightful citizen because of his Lordship over both Jews like myself and Gentiles such as you. We are citizens of the Kingdom because we trust Christ as resurrected King.
Because of this understanding I have I follow him in suffering, death, and perchance in resurrection too.
I’m not conformed to Christ, but attempt such an audacious act because I am a citizen of Christ’s Kingdom.
Fellow citizens, lend me your ears. I say this, press forward to God’s calling to us in Christ Jesus our Lord!
So here is what's come out of my thoughts.
Philippians 3:4b-14
An Old Perspective-
I was a follower of the Law, like those who may come and tempt you to be too. But the comfort I gained through the Law is loss once redeemed by Christ. All works are loss, only believing Christ Jesus to be LORD matters. I realize all the righteousness I stored up was shit; in this realization I gained Christ, righteous by faith alone, not by any works on my part.
Only then, stripped of all self-justifying pretention may I know Christ and live into his life, death, and resurrection.
I’ve fallen short of sanctification, but in Christ I soldier on, carried by him, to sanctification in the next life.
A New Perspective-
If people tell you inclusion in the Kingdom requires outward signs don’t listen to them. I say this as one who has these outward signs… lots of them. These circumcisers might take a lesson from me! In guarding the doors of the Kingdom of God I persecuted citizens of the Kingdom!
All these outward things matter not, because of what Christ did to widen the Kingdom of God. I count everything as loss in comparison to knowing Christ’s full kingdom.
For my radical understanding of inclusively I’ve given up a lot. Yet all that was shit anyway, for I have gained Christ! I have found myself a rightful citizen because of his Lordship over both Jews like myself and Gentiles such as you. We are citizens of the Kingdom because we trust Christ as resurrected King.
Because of this understanding I have I follow him in suffering, death, and perchance in resurrection too.
I’m not conformed to Christ, but attempt such an audacious act because I am a citizen of Christ’s Kingdom.
Fellow citizens, lend me your ears. I say this, press forward to God’s calling to us in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Deep Thought Friday: If you can’t describe it while playing pool…
A few days ago I knew exactly what I was going to say about Philippians 3:4b-14. I’d read a whole bunch of commentaries, I was going to talk about how all things must become “skybala,” that is shit, that we might gain Christ. It all made good sense in my head, then I went to St. Ed’s to play a game of pool. As per usual I started talking about what I was up to, and talked about the Cloud of Unknowing and how covering the physical with said cloud leads to the cloud above parting. It makes no real discernable sense outside a monastic context, yet I was going to preach it on a Sunday.
So, word up, if you can’t preach something authentically while shooting pool you can’t preach something authentically.
Peace,
Chris
So, word up, if you can’t preach something authentically while shooting pool you can’t preach something authentically.
Peace,
Chris
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