“Not my milk!”

It is enough that gasoline prices continue to rise. This morning I filled up the little pony and it nearly took $23. Way too much for my vintage ride. Now, I turn to the front page of the Daily Oklahoman to find the prices of a gallon of milk will be going up and that we might expect a gallon to cost from $3-4.

We drink milk around our place like it is water. Patty teased just last week that she might consider a milk cow since she learned how to do those kinds of things growing up. We have also considered “laying hens.” If you drive by the house over the next few months don’t be surprised at what you see. It may be cheaper for us to buy and cow and a few hens if things continue to go up and up and up and …

What to do when cultural practices portend absolute truth …

Growing up not far from Shepherd Mall in shallow north OKC, I recall many trips on my bicycle to the Mall. We would check out the latest toys in “T.G. & Y.” Sporting goods stores also capture the fancy of young boys looking for a new baseball glove or a new basketball for use in the driveway. Stone’s IGA anchored the east end of the Mall. We tagged along for countless “grocery shopping trips.”

In my early years I recall many stores being closed on Sunday. I later learned there were “blue laws” that dictated what could be open and what must be closed on Sundays. After all, Sunday was the new sabbath for many a Christian and we would need to help regulate activities so as not to defame the holy day.

Now many years later, Shepherd Mall more resembles a sprawling office complex rather than the home of JC Penny and Dillard’s as well as a movie theater. Were Shepherd Mall a normal Mall today, it would bustle on Sundays rather than simply provide walking space from the Cafeteria to the car.

What changed? Our culture changed. Did we Christians fail to hold the line and retreat into our homes and church buildings never to intersect the increased pace of life that now includes many a youth sporting event on a Sunday? Or, did we realize that Jesus said the “sabbath” was made for man and not man for the “sabbath?” Or did we realize the critical issue for sabbath observance was not “inactivity” as much as a change in the kind of “activity?” Are we less Christian today because we do not observe things on Sunday the way we once did? Are we less committed followers of Christ because we failed to maintain legislation once equated with what it was to live in a Christian Nation?

My musings about blue laws really grows from wrestling with what about our faith is more cultural than scriptural and what should win the day. Growing up in an extremely convservative Christian environment, do I now find that much of what I considered Scriptural really was preferential? If so, what do we learn and what do we teach?

I am thinking Scripture should win the day - regardless of what I once preferred, and still may prefer.

The Don married again?

I saw a spot on ET noting that after five years of “being together”, Donald Trump will marry again. Ivanna got him for a reported $23 million after 13 yeras. Marla got a paltry $2 million after five years. The question for many is what kind of “pre-nuptial” will this third marriage have.

One more illustration where marriage is under assault from normal heterosexual types. Marriage is not a social-relational contract. It is not a contract at all. To have a document aiding in the dissolution drawn up puts marriage squarely in a contractual framework.

Scripture describes marriage as a “covenant.” A man and woman make an oath/vow and are summarily bound by the covenant and should not search for the “loopholes” to negate the contract.

We should be watching out for marriage on all sides, not just from those we consider on the “sexual left.”

Remembering my little friend …

He often wore a leather “momo” jacket just his size. Occasionally his blond hair stood in a spike. He walked with determination - he knew where he was going.

Friends come in all shapes, sizes and yes ages. Many would suggest those so disparate in age could not be “friends.” He would want to talk to me when he rode by. Sometimes he would have a gift - a picture he drew, a picture of himself or a “hug.” He would shake my hand and flash a fond smile.

Three years old. Yes, he was my friend.

Two years later I still cannot give a good reason why. An older friend and I talked today and realized at our age we do think of our own mortality more often. Not for a three year old. We are left with “what” to do.

Cameron would suggest we live on. He might send us a signal we should not view life Platonically - we live in a world of shadows waiting for the realm of the ideal. He could suggest we live life the way he did. I look forward to the day when all is created new, Jesus completes what he began and we share life without the threat of death. He may tell us Jesus defeated death - our most significant enemy. My friendship may be renewed in the complete “new creation” we find Paul referring to in Romans 8.

I cannot stand at the west door of our foyer without seeing my little friend come to celebrate Jesus each week. I still remember.

Aaron and Kandi, we love you. We look forward to the little life awaiting entrance into this world. May God bless you with good remembrances that strengthen your hope.

Rhythm …

Listening in to Todd Hunter on a conference call this afternoon left me thinking about life in the church as rhythm. The question posed grew oout of viewing church life being geared around a schedule. What would it look like of church grew from the rhythms of life? It would not take us out of a schedule but instead church would not be an appendage to the schedule of life but a very real part of what goes on in life. I mean church not in the singular sense of a one-hour worship time, but in the sense of a community of followers of Christ. So, what goes on in the life of the church is the most important thing going on in life (Dallas Willard).

The facade of community …

In the editor’s note in my recent copy of the “Mars Hill Review“, Sarah Koops Vanderveen makes the following observation about current attempts at community,

“While people can’t be faulted for choosing to live where they like or for seeking out others whose interests mirror their own, the Christian faith calls us to a practice of community that goes beyond a cozy existence amongst others just like us. However, true to form, we tend to seek out other believers and churches on the basis of cultural affinity and comfort level - families with children go to churches where young families predominate; college students worship with their kind; and so on. In fact, in their well-intentioned attempts to make people feel welcome, churches may be doing believers a disservice by creating so many subcategories that members need only interact with those like themselves. In a sense, it’s individualism falsely advertised as “community.”

What blessing would we be to the world if …

I am intrigued by the earthy stories we find in the Scriptures. How often do we relegate the disciples to status of, “they just didn’t get it”? The implication from such a categorization is that surely we would have “gotten it” and therefore really do “get it” now. Could this be a bit of spiritual arrogance that further distances us from the opportunity to be a blessing to the world?

Jesus repeatedly told the disciples greatness comes in serving. On nearly every occasion the circumstance could be described as “normal” in that the disciples were wrestling with the very “violent” deconstructing/reconstructing Jesus was doing with their normal way of understanding reality.

So, when Jesus washes the disciples feet in John 13 the “teaching” moment comes when Jesus says do for each other what I did for you. How many times have we elevated ourselves via “egotism” (see Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy)? Such heightened positions of ourselves leaves us incapable of understanding the significance of serving others for we prefer to be served.

Now, what would the world look like if the people of God spent more time serving others (of course, practicing what this looks like in the life of his/her community of faith - church)? Would it express one of the conseqences of the covenant promise made to Abraham - through you all the world will be blessed?

What would we be to the world if our goal was blessing through service as opposed to being blessed by being served?

What is church?

Listening in to Dan Kimball this afternoon left me wrestling with some comments he made. Dan has been on staff at the Santa Cruz Bible Church for fifteen years. He led the youth, then the college ministry and then a “church within a church” called Graceland. He spent a year filling in as teaching pastor. He is in the process of starting another church. He asked those who attended Graceland, before it dissolved”, “What do you expect of the atmosphere at church?” A follow up question helped clarify. Is church really about what songs are sung, what style of music is played, if we get our three/four application points? Each of these make church out to be the one hour celebration service. Is it the case?

An interesting blog on giving …

My brother Paul, who just moved to Sapulpa, Oklahoma to pastor the Faith Baptist Church. He sat down to watch TV on his new cable service and read what he found there at Caught In the Middle.

Taking something apart and putting it back together …

Growing up I had an infautation with learning how things worked. Some suggest this is normal for young boys. I recall a transistor radio I took apart repeatedly to see if I could figure out how it worked. My parents bought me “an educational toy” giving me the opportunity to explore a number of “science” projects. One of the features was an electronics set which gave me the opportunity to learn how to wire a radio.

My ventures into taking something apart and putting it back together were more failure than success. Chances are if it worked before it would not after.

Now many years later I have learned there are some things you may take apart and put back together and gain some improvement. Other things still are better left alone.

Transitioning this into the life of a community of faith is quite interesting …
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