Investiaging an article …

I am going to investigate the sources of an article I read last week. I will let you know how it comes out. Informed decisions are the best decisions.

More on Mudhouse Sabbath …

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago after finishing, Mudhouse Sabbath.

January 19 -

Just finished reading “Mudhouse Sabbath” by Lauren Winner. She takes a number of Jewish practices and considers ways they might enhance the practice of Christianity.

Several selections gain my attention. The chapter on prayer. The practice of liturgical prayer, though often “dull and boring” seems to keep one’s focus on God. Winner admits attempts at spontaneous prayer did not find her praying more but rather less.

I wonder if results from a sense of freedom from “form” which creates the environment for “less prayer.” My own prayer life at times could be described as “sporadic.” I wonder if the opposite - a regular liturgy/litany of prayer would make the habit of praying more indelible.

I also wonder if there is truth to a prayer liturgy offering a way outward. Winner suggests this spontaneous praying often left her feeling narcisstic - only praying for herself. Written prayers give us the possibility of thinking more widely about what to pray for/about.

We practice spontaneous prayer at church. Many times the same prayers are prayed by the same people - very little variety. We pray for forgiveness of sinss, the sick, the lost and for guidance. I suspect any attempt to marry the two would be difficult since we fear anything “liturgical” yet, we by our own habits, establish our own “liturgy.”

Written prayers are no less spiritual than spontaneous prayers. In fact, written prayers make us more thoughtful, engagin the mind with the heart.

I like the challenge of this little book - you might too.

Friends …

Solomon suggests the interaction we have with people sharpens us. We hope to be sharpened by people following God in the way of Christ. One friend who sharpens me blogs at Just Mark. Imitation is flattery and I confess to borrowing Mark’s title for my own blog. I don’t know why Mark chose that title. I know why I did. I face life on the same level as anyone. I wrestle with truth, life, faith, economics, relationships, the future “just” like anyone else. This is space where I can reflect theologically - with respect to my relationship with God - on those issues.

The Search to Belong …

Joe Meyers may have written one of those books that could arguably change our understanding of relationship, especially with regards to the Church. You’ll find a link in my book list to the left.

Joe took some thoughts on architecture written a number of years ago and offers some incredible insights into the ways people connect in space. He suggests there are four spaces in which people belong - Public, Social, Personal and Intimate.

We often convey to someone they could enjoy an “intimate” relationship with God. Meyer’s definition for intimate - “naked and unashamed.” Relationally that means you have a willingness to honest about who you are before God. Not many of us really want an intimate relationship with God. We want a personal God but not an intimate God. We want to keep God at just the right distance so I don’t have to change too much. For that matter not many of us want an inimate relationship with anyone. We are too fearful of what they might think or say about us.

How would this play into our expressions of hospitality? We have expectations of people that may be unrealistic. Think about it. Tell me what you think.

Message and method …

Debate goes on around the issue of the gospel and whether or not the message changes or just the methods change. In fact, a recent book was published where different authors presented their opinions on the matter and responded to each other as well. The subject is worth consideration. I will make some comments along the way …

One thing is for sure, we must be the church differently today than we were in the 1950’s. The height of the SBC statistically came after World War 2 in the 1950’s. I shared a conversation this afternoon in which the subject came up. One important point was made. In the 1950’s the church viewed itself as people serving it. We gave away social ministry to the Federal government. Today we decry the abuse and neglect fostered under that system. We now must come to rediscovering the church is the church for the glory of God and the sake/blessing of the world. The Church will need to capture a self-understanding which is characterized by serving its famlies and the community in which it is located not looking to be served …

more to come.

Mudhouse Sabbath …

I recently finished reading Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner. The book takes a look at eleven Jewish practices. Laurene explores these habits through the lens of one who practiced them as an Orthodox Jew and now seeks to integrate their significance into her journey with Jesus. The book holds a dual significance for the reader. First, one gains an appreciation for spiritual practices found in the Old Testament. Often we who follow Jesus summarily dismiss some of the things found in the Torah - Law - as having been superceded by grace. Yet, some of these practices understood through the lens Winner exposes us to cause us to consider the value of Old Testament practices as having import for today.

Second, the book serves as a great inspiration to study the Christian faith from its “whole” perspective. Rather than view ourselves as New Testament Christians - it would be better we view ourselves as the people of the God of the Bible - Yahweh! Instead of relegating the Old Testament to scant significance, we uncover beautiful gems exposing the wonderful work of God’s grace in redemption history.

I encourage you to get it and read it. You may find yourself longing to practice the significance of Sabbath in fresh new ways in hopes of intentionally encountering the presence of God without distractions of a normal day. Let me know what you think!

Bible reading …

A few years ago I picked up a copy of The Message by Eugene Peterson. It first came out in the New Testament and then some sections of the Old Testament were added. Once complete, you could purchase the entire Bible. Many found it uncomfortable to use as they were accumstomed to verse markings; a feature added in modern times. Others found it difficult to adjust to reading familiar passages with new expressions.

The Message has been “remixed.” This time you will find verse markers. The formal title for the work is, “The Message//Remix: The Bible in Contemporary Language.” In the introduction you will find these comments,

Accurate, But Readable.
The Message was paraphrased over a period of ten years from the Bible’s original languages (Greek and Hebrew). The idea of The Message isn’t to water down the Bible, making it easier to digest. The idea is to make it readable - to put those ancient words that their users spoke and wrote every day into words that you speak and write every day. (p.10)

The key word here is paraphrase; a process of taking words and putting them in “idioms” or expressions found in conversations today. There are a variety of translations and paraphrases available. Read from them all. They help get a sense of the “original” language underlying the translation. Remember, there were translations before the King James and as long as language evolves, there will be more.

Interesting reading …

I recently picked up a book titled, Six Questions of Socrates: A Modern-Day Journey of Discovery through World Philosophy, by Christopher Phillips. The intrigue resulted from the description, “he begins with “What is virtue?” in the remains of an ancient marketplace in Athens and moves on to a Navajo reservation in the Southwest, where it turns out that the Navajo conception of virtue, hozho, includes a sense of order and harmony with the natural world both similar to and distinct from the conceptin of the ancient Greeks.”

In college I wrote a paper on the “cardinal virtues.” I found it interesting that two cultures continents apart might share similar views on virtue. Will let you know how it comes out. I already find it interesting the dominant means for decision making we find today stem from the practices of the ancient Greeks.

The point of engagement comes in our talking about what it means to follow Christ and how that looks in what we do interacting with our world. I wonder if I will find that we don’t always necessarily follow Jesus in the way we make decision but instead follow a utilitarian pragmatism where the end justifies the means regardless if the means requires us to shade the truth a bit.

Huge implications for who we say we follow.

A lot of work, not a lot of food … but process is good.

Alden lives in Newport Beach, CA. He is one of my friends. He is six. His dad, Spencer, refers to their home as the “Beachshack.” The ocean is just a couple of blocks from the Beachshack. Alden has made friends with a man who has a fishing boat. Soon he will be going out on the boat to catch whatever the guide directs them to. He visited the pier the morning I arrived for a short visit. He brought home some goodies.

Boiling in a pot on the stove – crabs! Fresh crabs! Soon Alden was on the patio eager to get to some crabmeat. Tommie would be jealous. Crab meet is her favorite. She and Alden would work well together. At any rate, we sat out on the patio cracking crab legs and pinchers mining for some wonderfully tasty fresh crab.

Hard work for such a little bit of meat. Carefully and tediously Alden worked. Diligent to be sure no shell got into his bowl of crabmeat. He stayed after it. The mess would require a hose. The fun lay in the process. He knew we would have crabmeat. He knew it would not be much. The energy came from learning how to use his new special “crab” hammer. How would he keep from severely crushing the crab legs making it nearly impossible to mine any meat? How would he find the patience to crack the small legs when the big ones held much more hope? Would anyone participate and share in his small meal and mark the moment joyfully?

We often long to avoid the process of conversion. We sit comfortably knowing we have gained the end – Heaven! The Apostle Paul gives us a charge to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” We are not working to earn – that is an attitude. We are working to express what is at work in us. When we fail to work to express what is in us it calls into question just what is in us – if anything? Jesus describes this activity as “fruit bearing.” Bearing fruit brings us into full contact with the process.

I now wonder – examining our lives both individually and in community, what are we bearing? Are we celebrating the end without engaging the process of transformation and mission for the sake of the world? Are we creating a Christina ghetto?

Learning never ends …

People use different mantras that express their passions and values. I came across the “A Learned to Learner Litnay of Treansformation” by Leonard Sweet. One of my mantras for those following Jesus follows this same pattern. We never quit learning once we understand that to be a Christian is to be a disciple. Not an optional position in this relationship but rather the expression of that relationship. I want to follow Jesus everyday - learning to do life his way. Dallas Willard puts it this way, “learning how to live my life the way Jesus would live it were he me.”

in what ways are you learning … you haven’t stopped have you?

By the way, I will be on a plane in a couple of hours. Can you believe I hear lawn mowers in January as I sit outside working on some things in Spencer’s garage?

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