A drawing of GK Chesterton
Monday, February 28, 2005
G. K. Chesterton quotes
"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die."
"I would rather a boy learnt in the roughest school the courage to hit a politician, or gained in the hardest school the learning to refute him - rather than that he should gain in the most enlightened school the cunning to copy him."
"There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there." (Introduction. The Everlasting Man)
"There are in this world of ours only two kinds of speakers. The first is the man who is making a good speech and won't finish. The second is the man who is making a bad speech and can't finish. The latter is the longer."
"Even in an empire of atheists the dead man is always sacred."
"No sceptical philosopher can ask any questions that may not equally be asked by a tired child on a hot afternoon."
"Religious unity can look like a carnival and religious liberty can look like a funeral."
"What is called matriarchy is simply moral anarchy, in which the mother alone remains fixed because all the fathers are fugitive and irresponsible."
"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere."
"The aim of good prose words is to mean what they say. The aim of good poetical words is to mean what they do not say."
"It's not that we don't have enough scoundrels to curse; it's that we don't have enough good men to curse them."
"The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people." --MY FAVORITE SO FAR
"There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions."
"Love means loving the unlovable - or it is no virtue at all."
"The first two facts which a healthy boy or girl feels about sex are these: first that it is beautiful and then that it is dangerous."
"I would rather a boy learnt in the roughest school the courage to hit a politician, or gained in the hardest school the learning to refute him - rather than that he should gain in the most enlightened school the cunning to copy him."
"There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there." (Introduction. The Everlasting Man)
"There are in this world of ours only two kinds of speakers. The first is the man who is making a good speech and won't finish. The second is the man who is making a bad speech and can't finish. The latter is the longer."
"Even in an empire of atheists the dead man is always sacred."
"No sceptical philosopher can ask any questions that may not equally be asked by a tired child on a hot afternoon."
"Religious unity can look like a carnival and religious liberty can look like a funeral."
"What is called matriarchy is simply moral anarchy, in which the mother alone remains fixed because all the fathers are fugitive and irresponsible."
"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere."
"The aim of good prose words is to mean what they say. The aim of good poetical words is to mean what they do not say."
"It's not that we don't have enough scoundrels to curse; it's that we don't have enough good men to curse them."
"The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people." --MY FAVORITE SO FAR
"There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions."
"Love means loving the unlovable - or it is no virtue at all."
"The first two facts which a healthy boy or girl feels about sex are these: first that it is beautiful and then that it is dangerous."
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Tupac gets a bad rap
I am in the process of storing my CDs in my real player. I listen to Tupac's greatest hits in the process, and realized once again how far and above he is of any rappers before or since.
Have any of you ever heard "Brendas got a Baby". What brilliant social commentary, and how true of so many young inner city girls that I had met. I could my own face from my youth group to "Brenda" and it haunts me.
"Changes" is also a wonderful piece of work. No other work of popular music describes racial inequity quite as coherently.
And what about "Dear Momma"? A well-written ode to his mom, which shares how "love overcomes a multitude of sins" (Bible).
And "California Love" is just a fun song. Everytime I drive with a youth group and enter California, the first song in the stereo is "California Love".
Yet Tupac gets labeled as just being a "gangsta rapper". Compare his work with the shallowness of 50 cent or Missy Elliot. Tupac gets a bad rap. And it is a sad thing, because he has a lot to say.
Have any of you ever heard "Brendas got a Baby". What brilliant social commentary, and how true of so many young inner city girls that I had met. I could my own face from my youth group to "Brenda" and it haunts me.
"Changes" is also a wonderful piece of work. No other work of popular music describes racial inequity quite as coherently.
And what about "Dear Momma"? A well-written ode to his mom, which shares how "love overcomes a multitude of sins" (Bible).
And "California Love" is just a fun song. Everytime I drive with a youth group and enter California, the first song in the stereo is "California Love".
Yet Tupac gets labeled as just being a "gangsta rapper". Compare his work with the shallowness of 50 cent or Missy Elliot. Tupac gets a bad rap. And it is a sad thing, because he has a lot to say.
In honor of the Academy Awards....
PLEASE VOTE FOR YOUR CHOICE
BEST RAPPER TURNED ACTOR
a. Will Smith
b. Shaquille O'Neal
c. LL Cool J
d. P. Diddy
e. Tupac Shaqur
f. Ice Cube
g. Ton Loc
BEST ATHLETE TURNED ACTOR
a. Arnold
b. Jim Brown
c. OJ Simpson
d. Kareem Abdul Jabbar
e. Fred Dryer (Hunter)
f. Merlin Olsen
g. Other???
BEST ACTOR TURNED POLITICIAN
a. Clint Eastwood
b. Ronald Reagan
c. Arnold
d. that guy from the Love Boat
BEST ATHLETE TURNED POLITICIAN
a. Bill Bradley
b. Jack Kemp
c. JC Watts
d. Steve Largent
e. Tom Osbourne
BEST RAPPER TURNED ACTOR
a. Will Smith
b. Shaquille O'Neal
c. LL Cool J
d. P. Diddy
e. Tupac Shaqur
f. Ice Cube
g. Ton Loc
BEST ATHLETE TURNED ACTOR
a. Arnold
b. Jim Brown
c. OJ Simpson
d. Kareem Abdul Jabbar
e. Fred Dryer (Hunter)
f. Merlin Olsen
g. Other???
BEST ACTOR TURNED POLITICIAN
a. Clint Eastwood
b. Ronald Reagan
c. Arnold
d. that guy from the Love Boat
BEST ATHLETE TURNED POLITICIAN
a. Bill Bradley
b. Jack Kemp
c. JC Watts
d. Steve Largent
e. Tom Osbourne
Change quotes
Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly.
Francis Bacon
It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
C. S. Lewis
None of us knows what the next change is going to be, what unexpected opportunity is just around the corner, waiting a few months or a few years to change all the tenor of our lives.
Kathleen Norris
We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.
Harrison Ford
Christians are supposed not merely to endure change, nor even to profit by it, but to cause it.
Harry Emerson Fosdick
Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.
Carl Gustav Jung
Francis Bacon
It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
C. S. Lewis
None of us knows what the next change is going to be, what unexpected opportunity is just around the corner, waiting a few months or a few years to change all the tenor of our lives.
Kathleen Norris
We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.
Harrison Ford
Christians are supposed not merely to endure change, nor even to profit by it, but to cause it.
Harry Emerson Fosdick
Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.
Carl Gustav Jung
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Lack of Faith Lament
I am beginning to think that for many of us, it is harder to believe that God can change hearts than to think that God can change water to wine.
Can God change the church into something powerful and meaningful like the church in Acts. The churches that we are in? I want to believe he can...but so often I doubt it. I write of churches, denominations, etc as hopeless and begin to disregard them. Why is that? So often I associate churches with words like Godforsaken. Lord forgive me.
I think in churches we also doubt the ability of God to change individual lives, except for of course, our own. Or do we doubt that too?
Can God change the angry bitter person that nit picks everything we do? Can God change the boss that drives us nutty? Can God change the brat that seems to never listen or follow instructions? Of course he can. But for some reason I think that healing the blind man was a little easier.
Can God change the church into something powerful and meaningful like the church in Acts. The churches that we are in? I want to believe he can...but so often I doubt it. I write of churches, denominations, etc as hopeless and begin to disregard them. Why is that? So often I associate churches with words like Godforsaken. Lord forgive me.
I think in churches we also doubt the ability of God to change individual lives, except for of course, our own. Or do we doubt that too?
Can God change the angry bitter person that nit picks everything we do? Can God change the boss that drives us nutty? Can God change the brat that seems to never listen or follow instructions? Of course he can. But for some reason I think that healing the blind man was a little easier.
Friday, February 25, 2005
EHarmony
I skimmed the book "Falling in Love for all the Right Reasons" today. Of course it was just so I would be a little more knowledgable when doing premarital counseling. (Wink, Wink). In the premarital counseling I am doing I have also used the Kiersey Temprament Sorter. The interesting thing is.....
Kiersey says that people should find other people that compliment them. Neil Clark Warren says you should find people that are as similar to you as possible. Which do you all out there think is better?
Kiersey says that people should find other people that compliment them. Neil Clark Warren says you should find people that are as similar to you as possible. Which do you all out there think is better?
Calvin quote
"You ask me concerning the precepts of the Christian religion, first, second and third I would always answer, 'Humility'".--Institutes of the Christian Religion
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Shelf Beliefs
In the book on Calvinism I am reading, Richard Mouw recounts his conversation with a Mormon friend who said he was falling in love with the book of Romans. He said that he liked it because it discussed salvation by grace, the full atonement of sins, expressed how utterly dependent on grace we are, and the utter dependence on the work of God for his salvation. Mouw then asks, well what do you do with this belief that God started out as a finite human being, and that as humans who are good Mormons we can be diefied. The man responded that those were "shelf beliefs". Things that he agreed with to a point, but did not effect his everyday experience of life and faith. Mouw uses this to express that his belief in limited atonement is very similar, that he holds the belief loosely.
What are the shelf beliefs in your life? Ideas and theology that may be unpopular, and maybe not all that relevant to everyday life and faith, but once in a while they apply, and if pushed you will defend them as what you believe. Do you have any?
What are the shelf beliefs in your life? Ideas and theology that may be unpopular, and maybe not all that relevant to everyday life and faith, but once in a while they apply, and if pushed you will defend them as what you believe. Do you have any?
Spurgeon quote
If anyone should ask what I mean by a Calvinist, I should reply, he who says, "Salvation is of the Lord"--(p. 27-28 CLVA)
Detachment, Relinquishment, and Surrender
Yesterday I was in the Barnes and Noble reading. The book I was interested in was Zen and the Art of Throwing the Elephant by Stanley Bing. It is about "managing up". A lot of the things he said made a LOT of sense. In the introduction he commented that this Zen philosophy was compatable with any faith.
That in turn got me to thinking....what are the similarities and differences between Zen, the Muslim concept of surrender, and the Christian discipline of relinquishment or submission. Obviously one difference in the undergirding theology behind each of these. But on a practical level, how are they the same and how are they different? What can Christians learn about submission and relinquishment from Zen? What can we learn from the Muslim attitude of surrender that informs our faith?
That in turn got me to thinking....what are the similarities and differences between Zen, the Muslim concept of surrender, and the Christian discipline of relinquishment or submission. Obviously one difference in the undergirding theology behind each of these. But on a practical level, how are they the same and how are they different? What can Christians learn about submission and relinquishment from Zen? What can we learn from the Muslim attitude of surrender that informs our faith?
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Quotes from Comedians
WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE??
Do you know what the good side of crack is? If you're up at the right hour, you can get a VCR for $1.50. You can furnish your whole house for $10.95.
Chris Rock
You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon'.
Chris Rock
Actually, I think all addiction starts with soda. Every junkie did soda first. But no one counts that. Maybe they should. The soda connection is clear. Why isn't a presidential commission looking into this? Or at least some guys from the National Carbonation Council.
Chris Rock
At a formal dinner party, the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom.
George Carlin
A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.
Jerry Seinfeld
There's very little advice in men's magazines, because men don't think there's a lot they don't know. Women do. Women want to learn. Men think, "I know what I'm doing, just show me somebody naked."
Jerry Seinfeld
I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw that my bath toys were a toaster and a radio.
Joan Rivers
Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.
Bill Cosby
Gray hair is God's graffiti.
Bill Cosby
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
Bill Cosby
There is hope for the future because God has a sense of humor and we are funny to God.
Bill Cosby
There is no labor a person does that is undignified; if they do it right.
Bill Cosby
When you become senile, you won't know it.
Bill Cosby
I found there was only one way to look thin, hang out with fat people.
Rodney Dangerfield
I met the surgeon general - he offered me a cigarette.
Rodney Dangerfield
If it wasn't for pick-pockets I'd have no sex life at all.
Rodney Dangerfield
One year they asked me to be poster boy - for birth control.
Rodney Dangerfield
Watching a baby being born is a little like watching a wet St. Bernard coming in through the cat door.
Jeff Foxworthy
Suicide is man's way of telling God, "You can't fire me - I quit."
Bill Maher
Women cannot complain about men anymore until they start getting better taste in them.
Bill Maher
Never ever discount the idea of marriage. Sure, someone might tell you that marriage is just a piece of paper. Well, so is money, and what's more life-affirming than cold, hard cash?
Dennis Miller
Now, I don't want to get off on a rant here, but guilt is simply God's way of letting you know that you're having too good a time.
Dennis Miller
The radical right is so homophobic that they're blaming global warming on the AIDS quilt.
Dennis Miller
What is guilt? Guilt is the pledge drive constantly hammering in our heads that keeps us from fully enjoying the show. Guilt is the reason they put the articles in Playboy.
Dennis Miller
If it's the Psychic Network why do they need a phone number?
Robin Williams
Do you know what the good side of crack is? If you're up at the right hour, you can get a VCR for $1.50. You can furnish your whole house for $10.95.
Chris Rock
You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon'.
Chris Rock
Actually, I think all addiction starts with soda. Every junkie did soda first. But no one counts that. Maybe they should. The soda connection is clear. Why isn't a presidential commission looking into this? Or at least some guys from the National Carbonation Council.
Chris Rock
At a formal dinner party, the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom.
George Carlin
A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.
Jerry Seinfeld
There's very little advice in men's magazines, because men don't think there's a lot they don't know. Women do. Women want to learn. Men think, "I know what I'm doing, just show me somebody naked."
Jerry Seinfeld
I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw that my bath toys were a toaster and a radio.
Joan Rivers
Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.
Bill Cosby
Gray hair is God's graffiti.
Bill Cosby
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
Bill Cosby
There is hope for the future because God has a sense of humor and we are funny to God.
Bill Cosby
There is no labor a person does that is undignified; if they do it right.
Bill Cosby
When you become senile, you won't know it.
Bill Cosby
I found there was only one way to look thin, hang out with fat people.
Rodney Dangerfield
I met the surgeon general - he offered me a cigarette.
Rodney Dangerfield
If it wasn't for pick-pockets I'd have no sex life at all.
Rodney Dangerfield
One year they asked me to be poster boy - for birth control.
Rodney Dangerfield
Watching a baby being born is a little like watching a wet St. Bernard coming in through the cat door.
Jeff Foxworthy
Suicide is man's way of telling God, "You can't fire me - I quit."
Bill Maher
Women cannot complain about men anymore until they start getting better taste in them.
Bill Maher
Never ever discount the idea of marriage. Sure, someone might tell you that marriage is just a piece of paper. Well, so is money, and what's more life-affirming than cold, hard cash?
Dennis Miller
Now, I don't want to get off on a rant here, but guilt is simply God's way of letting you know that you're having too good a time.
Dennis Miller
The radical right is so homophobic that they're blaming global warming on the AIDS quilt.
Dennis Miller
What is guilt? Guilt is the pledge drive constantly hammering in our heads that keeps us from fully enjoying the show. Guilt is the reason they put the articles in Playboy.
Dennis Miller
If it's the Psychic Network why do they need a phone number?
Robin Williams
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Faith quotes
Faith is a passionate intuition.
William Wordsworth
Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reason is our soul's left hand, Faith her right.
John Donne
Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.
Henry Ward Beecher
In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.
Blaise Pascal
As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.
Emmanuel Teney
William Wordsworth
Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reason is our soul's left hand, Faith her right.
John Donne
Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.
Henry Ward Beecher
In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.
Blaise Pascal
As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.
Emmanuel Teney
Repressed Memories
Today I am reading a short book called Living Reminder. It is a book about the healing power of remembering. Living Reminder is a book by Henri Nouwen. Nouwen states that we can not be whole until we take the wounds that we have, and "let them be available".
All of this makes me think about repressed memories. Most scientific research on repressed memories tells us that more often than not repressed memories are planted memories. What I mean by this is that the patient of the psychologist is under considerable influence, and more often than not the therapist creates memories by leading impressionable persons in certain directions.
On the other hand, there are things in my childhood, and in the childhood of people I know, that are lost to conscious memory. I remember very little about the few years after my parents got divorced. My uncle has several years of his childhood, and events in his childhood he does not remember at all either. Most of those are after his father died. (He was about the same age when his father died as I was when my parents broke up). So, are these memories lingering in the subconscious and need to be brought out to be healed? Or is it part of the healthy functioning of the human brain that some events or periods of time are not committed to memory? My mother with my uncle seems to think the latter is the case...that it is God's way of healing a time in his life that others percieved as difficult or painful.
Another caveat to this repressed memory discussion is a conviction of a Catholic priest of molestation some 30 years after the fact, based on repressed memories. Are these memories reliable? If they are not isnt that a scary thing for some kid who is mad they got disciplined at youth group some 20-30 years ago. What is the criterion for establishing the reliability of repressed memory, and when should it be brought to the surface?
All of this makes me think about repressed memories. Most scientific research on repressed memories tells us that more often than not repressed memories are planted memories. What I mean by this is that the patient of the psychologist is under considerable influence, and more often than not the therapist creates memories by leading impressionable persons in certain directions.
On the other hand, there are things in my childhood, and in the childhood of people I know, that are lost to conscious memory. I remember very little about the few years after my parents got divorced. My uncle has several years of his childhood, and events in his childhood he does not remember at all either. Most of those are after his father died. (He was about the same age when his father died as I was when my parents broke up). So, are these memories lingering in the subconscious and need to be brought out to be healed? Or is it part of the healthy functioning of the human brain that some events or periods of time are not committed to memory? My mother with my uncle seems to think the latter is the case...that it is God's way of healing a time in his life that others percieved as difficult or painful.
Another caveat to this repressed memory discussion is a conviction of a Catholic priest of molestation some 30 years after the fact, based on repressed memories. Are these memories reliable? If they are not isnt that a scary thing for some kid who is mad they got disciplined at youth group some 20-30 years ago. What is the criterion for establishing the reliability of repressed memory, and when should it be brought to the surface?
Monday, February 21, 2005
Quotes on Dreams
God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.
William Faulkner
Dreams are the touchstones of our character
Henry David Thoreau
Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.
Tupac Shakur
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.
Anais Nin
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.
Langston Hughes
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake.
Rene Descartes
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.
William Faulkner
Dreams are the touchstones of our character
Henry David Thoreau
Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.
Tupac Shakur
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.
Anais Nin
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.
Langston Hughes
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake.
Rene Descartes
Quotes on Thinking and Intelligence
Wit is educated insolence.
Aristotle
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
Albert Einstein
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.
Albert Einstein
(did Einstein have self-esteem issues? :) )
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.
Sigmund Freud
I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb... and I also know that I'm not blonde.
Dolly Parton
(you will have to ask me about my one good blonde joke--warning it is a little off color)
The course of every intellectual, if he pursues his journey long and unflinchingly enough, ends in the obvious, from which the non-intellectuals have never stirred.
Aldous Huxley
Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.
E. B. White
Common sense is not so common.
Voltaire
Aristotle
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
Albert Einstein
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.
Albert Einstein
(did Einstein have self-esteem issues? :) )
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.
Sigmund Freud
I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb... and I also know that I'm not blonde.
Dolly Parton
(you will have to ask me about my one good blonde joke--warning it is a little off color)
The course of every intellectual, if he pursues his journey long and unflinchingly enough, ends in the obvious, from which the non-intellectuals have never stirred.
Aldous Huxley
Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.
E. B. White
Common sense is not so common.
Voltaire
There is still hope
Due to the recent Bush revelations, and the most recent Simpson episode, I chose to lead our youth group in a discussion on homosexuality via a case study. Many of you may think I am fixated on this issue due to recent blogs. The truth is that my blogs, and what is in the news, led me to believe it would be an appropriate time to have this discussion. In part this is also do to my regular encounters with different people that seem to be a part of, or close to, the homosexual community in Colorado Springs (which is larger than you might expect. Anyway, I digress....back to the kids......
It was interesting. Now, our youth group here is urban, and although many do not like to think for themselves yet, they are surprising sophisticated in dealing with this issue.
Probably most encouraging was that they were able to listen to one another's differing opinions. And I mean really listen, without judging one another for seeing the situation differently. And, most of them held a good balance between loving homosexuals without necessarily condoning their behavior. How that works out socially and politically is radically different for each kid, but it was good to see that they could come to agreement on the basics.
Another interesting thing is that the most politically conservative people in the church's children were the most vocal for tolerance. (one exception)
It was very interesting, because it seems like a major shift in how youth are dealing this issue. My young adult group is such a contrast even, with people being violently passionate about their opinions with this issue. With the youth I deal with right now, it is much more of a "yeah dealing with this is part of life, and we need to find a way to love people without changing what we believe". I wish our mainline denominations could discuss things so calmly. Or even the older folks in our church. Maybe it will be up to emerging generations to find a way to approach this issue organically and naturally without compromising convictions...much like we deal with divorced persons in church today.
It was interesting. Now, our youth group here is urban, and although many do not like to think for themselves yet, they are surprising sophisticated in dealing with this issue.
Probably most encouraging was that they were able to listen to one another's differing opinions. And I mean really listen, without judging one another for seeing the situation differently. And, most of them held a good balance between loving homosexuals without necessarily condoning their behavior. How that works out socially and politically is radically different for each kid, but it was good to see that they could come to agreement on the basics.
Another interesting thing is that the most politically conservative people in the church's children were the most vocal for tolerance. (one exception)
It was very interesting, because it seems like a major shift in how youth are dealing this issue. My young adult group is such a contrast even, with people being violently passionate about their opinions with this issue. With the youth I deal with right now, it is much more of a "yeah dealing with this is part of life, and we need to find a way to love people without changing what we believe". I wish our mainline denominations could discuss things so calmly. Or even the older folks in our church. Maybe it will be up to emerging generations to find a way to approach this issue organically and naturally without compromising convictions...much like we deal with divorced persons in church today.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Love quotes
Doubt that the stars are fire, doubt that the sun doth move, doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love.
William Shakespeare
Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Who so loves believes the impossible.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.'
Erich Fromm
Love does not dominate; it cultivates.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Life is the flower for which love is the honey.
Victor Hugo
Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I was about half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty... you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are.
J. D. Salinger
The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
Mother Teresa
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Mother Teresa
A man falls in love through his eyes, a woman through her ears.
Woodrow Wyatt
William Shakespeare
Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Who so loves believes the impossible.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.'
Erich Fromm
Love does not dominate; it cultivates.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Life is the flower for which love is the honey.
Victor Hugo
Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I was about half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty... you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are.
J. D. Salinger
The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
Mother Teresa
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Mother Teresa
A man falls in love through his eyes, a woman through her ears.
Woodrow Wyatt
Masturbation Sermon Series
A couple of years ago a met a pastor from Livingston who was going to do a colon sermon series:
Get your head out of your butt and look at the world around you
Pull your thumb out of your butt and get to work for the kingdom
Pull your nose out of each others butt and begin to be real with one another.
I have a sermon series to rival that: The masturbation sermon series:
WARINING: Theological Masturbation may make you go blind.--
A sermon about how if we don't relate theological ideas to real life then what we believe is pointless and fruitless and will never produce new life.
WARNING: Ecclesiastical circle jerks are no substitute for being the church.
A sermon about how for many of us in churches, church is about a spiritual equivalent of mutual masturbation. We church as a place we come on Sunday morning where we make each other feel good. We dont care about spiritual reproduction, just getting one another off.
what other colon or masturbation sermons would you add?
Get your head out of your butt and look at the world around you
Pull your thumb out of your butt and get to work for the kingdom
Pull your nose out of each others butt and begin to be real with one another.
I have a sermon series to rival that: The masturbation sermon series:
WARINING: Theological Masturbation may make you go blind.--
A sermon about how if we don't relate theological ideas to real life then what we believe is pointless and fruitless and will never produce new life.
WARNING: Ecclesiastical circle jerks are no substitute for being the church.
A sermon about how for many of us in churches, church is about a spiritual equivalent of mutual masturbation. We church as a place we come on Sunday morning where we make each other feel good. We dont care about spiritual reproduction, just getting one another off.
what other colon or masturbation sermons would you add?
Saturday, February 19, 2005
"Homey"sexuality and the Simpsons (and SpongeBob and the Bunny and Teletubbies and......)
Thank God for gay marriage.
I never thought I would say that, but I say it now. Why?
Because it signals the end of an era that has been fading for a long time. Regardless of how you feel about the issue, it is about time that the church learns that it does not run the World, or the USA, or even Springfield, USA.
We in the church have become embedded in our culture. Like reporters embedded with truth, when we become embedded we become enmeshed. We think we should run the country, legistlate appropriate lifestyles, and set the pace for the world around us. Jesus never intended any such thing. He ran from political and military power in order to become a teacher and a healer in some backwoods province in a politically weak third world country. Homosexuals get in bed with people of the same gender. The evangelical church gets embedded with military might, materialism, and the lust for power. Which is worse?
When did Christians get so invested with cartoons? Wouldn't the potential for an alternative lifestyle be evident for SpongeBob when you first meet him? If a bunny talking to a family with two mommies is going to effect who they screw when they get older, then maybe Daddy is spending too much time at the hardware store, and not enough time telling Bible stories to his little girl before she goes to bed.
If Christians are so invested in reaching children, why don't they put more money into making cartoons that make a difference?
Now the Simpsons. What are the Simpsons doing. Making fun of the whole situation. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Infact, the Simpsons are in fact prophetic. Because the longer followers of Jesus fixate on the sexual orientation of dolls, or the sexual message of cartoons, the more irrelevant it will become. More and more the church will be known for what it is for than what it is against.
Is homosexual behavior a sin? Yes. Are homosexual people worse people than I am? Of course not. Look at it this way: In counselor training we were once challenged with a question. Is it more important to you and to God that you are right or that you are loving? Although I desprately want to be both, when I leave this earth I would rather have a legacy that says, "he loved" than "I told you so".
I never thought I would say that, but I say it now. Why?
Because it signals the end of an era that has been fading for a long time. Regardless of how you feel about the issue, it is about time that the church learns that it does not run the World, or the USA, or even Springfield, USA.
We in the church have become embedded in our culture. Like reporters embedded with truth, when we become embedded we become enmeshed. We think we should run the country, legistlate appropriate lifestyles, and set the pace for the world around us. Jesus never intended any such thing. He ran from political and military power in order to become a teacher and a healer in some backwoods province in a politically weak third world country. Homosexuals get in bed with people of the same gender. The evangelical church gets embedded with military might, materialism, and the lust for power. Which is worse?
When did Christians get so invested with cartoons? Wouldn't the potential for an alternative lifestyle be evident for SpongeBob when you first meet him? If a bunny talking to a family with two mommies is going to effect who they screw when they get older, then maybe Daddy is spending too much time at the hardware store, and not enough time telling Bible stories to his little girl before she goes to bed.
If Christians are so invested in reaching children, why don't they put more money into making cartoons that make a difference?
Now the Simpsons. What are the Simpsons doing. Making fun of the whole situation. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Infact, the Simpsons are in fact prophetic. Because the longer followers of Jesus fixate on the sexual orientation of dolls, or the sexual message of cartoons, the more irrelevant it will become. More and more the church will be known for what it is for than what it is against.
Is homosexual behavior a sin? Yes. Are homosexual people worse people than I am? Of course not. Look at it this way: In counselor training we were once challenged with a question. Is it more important to you and to God that you are right or that you are loving? Although I desprately want to be both, when I leave this earth I would rather have a legacy that says, "he loved" than "I told you so".
Friday, February 18, 2005
Life in Singleton: Single Christian Minister Dating Woes
Spurred on by an email to Becca, I thought I would blog about Life in Singleton again. Before I write this a disclaimer: I am not desprate and dateless. But I thought it would be fun to share a few dating woes.
I just wish I could morph the Christian women I know with some of the qualities of non-Christian women.
It seems to me Christian women are sweet, and I share many things with them, but they are not ornery enough for my taste. And they cant handle my not being the ideal Christian man, with my liking to smoke a cigar occasionally, drink once in a while, and say things like "sometimes you just have to say 'fuck it'" This scares Christian women off. Infact, I dated a Christian gal in Bozeman that got really upset at me, and called me at 7am because she was upset that I put an arm around her at the movie theatre. I "violated" her she said. Please, I put my arm around my momma when she is cooking something I like and give her a kiss on the cheek and say thanks. Am I violating my mother too? Hell, NO. I am just an affectionate person. Hell, I put my arm around my guys in youth group once in a while (though not for an extended period of time.)
Then there are all these "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" types, which is always a result of some jerk/player from the past--a form of withdrawl for protection. This Victorian dating bull must die.
On the other hand there are people which I have went out on dates with to get to know. The first date we go out she acts all conservative--not even a kiss. Invariably the second or third date she wants to hop in the sack. I say no. She says she has needs, and what kind of man am I to not want to meet them. Then we try to move to friend mode. It never works either. Not that I am pursuing non-Christian women mind you, but sometimes you get a different impression on the first date (seems genuinely interested in your work, talks about her church and faith experiences) than you do later on. But this gal is fun because she talks like a normal human being, she is willing to have a drink with you, she tolerates goofiness and humor, she touches you on the arm while she is talking to you, she doesnt freak out when you say "Damn It" when you are cut off in traffic etc. etc. But inevitably it goes the way of the Thornbirds.
In other words,I like to hang out with non-Christian women more, but their values are different. But Christian gals I have spent time with are so polite, boring, and frigid. And most Christian girls are into that whole headship thing instead of a partnership, and that is a big turnoff too.
I want an intelligent, passionate, affectionate, earthy woman that loves Jesus, and has honest Christian convictions. And someone who can tolerate all my shortcomings. Perhaps I am looking for too much. Anyway.....
What does everyone else think?
I just wish I could morph the Christian women I know with some of the qualities of non-Christian women.
It seems to me Christian women are sweet, and I share many things with them, but they are not ornery enough for my taste. And they cant handle my not being the ideal Christian man, with my liking to smoke a cigar occasionally, drink once in a while, and say things like "sometimes you just have to say 'fuck it'" This scares Christian women off. Infact, I dated a Christian gal in Bozeman that got really upset at me, and called me at 7am because she was upset that I put an arm around her at the movie theatre. I "violated" her she said. Please, I put my arm around my momma when she is cooking something I like and give her a kiss on the cheek and say thanks. Am I violating my mother too? Hell, NO. I am just an affectionate person. Hell, I put my arm around my guys in youth group once in a while (though not for an extended period of time.)
Then there are all these "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" types, which is always a result of some jerk/player from the past--a form of withdrawl for protection. This Victorian dating bull must die.
On the other hand there are people which I have went out on dates with to get to know. The first date we go out she acts all conservative--not even a kiss. Invariably the second or third date she wants to hop in the sack. I say no. She says she has needs, and what kind of man am I to not want to meet them. Then we try to move to friend mode. It never works either. Not that I am pursuing non-Christian women mind you, but sometimes you get a different impression on the first date (seems genuinely interested in your work, talks about her church and faith experiences) than you do later on. But this gal is fun because she talks like a normal human being, she is willing to have a drink with you, she tolerates goofiness and humor, she touches you on the arm while she is talking to you, she doesnt freak out when you say "Damn It" when you are cut off in traffic etc. etc. But inevitably it goes the way of the Thornbirds.
In other words,I like to hang out with non-Christian women more, but their values are different. But Christian gals I have spent time with are so polite, boring, and frigid. And most Christian girls are into that whole headship thing instead of a partnership, and that is a big turnoff too.
I want an intelligent, passionate, affectionate, earthy woman that loves Jesus, and has honest Christian convictions. And someone who can tolerate all my shortcomings. Perhaps I am looking for too much. Anyway.....
What does everyone else think?
A Few Thoughts from....
A is for Abductive
Children laugh about four hundred times a day, while the average adult laughs 15.
We are not what we know, we are what we are willing to learn.
Beauty will save the world--Dosteovesky
The limits of my language are the limits of my world--Wittgenstein
If the good news is in your heart, please notify your face--Tony Campolo
Concepts create idols. Only wonder understands--Gregory of Nyssa
I am astonished at the people who are not astonished--Chesterton
Religion is what happens when the Spirit has left the building--Bono
A finite point has no meaning unless it has an infinite reference point--Sarte
The church should be full of people who seek questions rather than answers, mystery instead of solutions, wonder instead of explanations--Michael Yaconelli
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts--Einstein
The old paradigm taught that if you have the right teaching, you will experience God. The new paradigm says that if you experience God, you will have the right teaching--Leith Anderson
Writing is a sacred calling--but so are gardening, dentistry, and plumbing--so don't put on airs--Garrison Keillor
Better to doubt what is obscure, that dispute about things uncertain--Augustine
In everyone's life there is one big "but"--Pee Wee Herman in Pee Wees Big Adventure
Children laugh about four hundred times a day, while the average adult laughs 15.
We are not what we know, we are what we are willing to learn.
Beauty will save the world--Dosteovesky
The limits of my language are the limits of my world--Wittgenstein
If the good news is in your heart, please notify your face--Tony Campolo
Concepts create idols. Only wonder understands--Gregory of Nyssa
I am astonished at the people who are not astonished--Chesterton
Religion is what happens when the Spirit has left the building--Bono
A finite point has no meaning unless it has an infinite reference point--Sarte
The church should be full of people who seek questions rather than answers, mystery instead of solutions, wonder instead of explanations--Michael Yaconelli
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts--Einstein
The old paradigm taught that if you have the right teaching, you will experience God. The new paradigm says that if you experience God, you will have the right teaching--Leith Anderson
Writing is a sacred calling--but so are gardening, dentistry, and plumbing--so don't put on airs--Garrison Keillor
Better to doubt what is obscure, that dispute about things uncertain--Augustine
In everyone's life there is one big "but"--Pee Wee Herman in Pee Wees Big Adventure
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Friendships
I just finished reading LEADERSHIP FROM UNLIKELY VOICES. Very cool book.
At the end it talked about the way that friendship develops. It makes me think about what it means to have a friend, and to be a friend as well.
I am thinking about this in part because of the way our society is deveoping, and the church will be emerging. I think it is going to be more and more central to the church to have a biblical theology of friendship. What it means and what it does not.
My friendships have developed in many different ways. With some of my friendships, our relationship took a while to develop. I remember one friend in particular, and I was better friends with his wife than him to begin with. After a while, both by natural process and conscious decision, I became closer to my friend than his wife. Now when we talk on the phone, I talk to her for two or three minutes, and then ask where her husband is, and we talk for an hour or so.
Another friend went to a Christian conference where they were told to adopt a single person as a friend and as someone to support. My name came to both of their minds simultaneously. Our relationship started with me as their mission project. Then we became friends.
Other friendships of mine have developed through meaningful shared experiences, such as my friendship with my buddy Dan here in the Springs. We got along ok before we took a van to St. Louis. Once we returned our friendship was cemented.
Yet, I think that there are certain foundations for authentic, healthy friendships.
A sense of mutuality and equity--
This is what is so amazing about Jesus saying something to the effect of "You used to call me Teacher....now call me Friend". In this moment, Jesus takes of the role of authortity for a relationship of equity, even though he is the Lord of the Universe.
The same thing is true of real friendships. Power dynamics are lost when people relate as friends, even if at other moments they must play other roles. At the point of friendship there is an openness to mutual learning and support.
One thing I try to communicate to students as they grow older is where they were once students that I strove to love and lead, they are now friends that add a lot to my life. Some people would disagree, but I think there is something healthy about that.
A sense of committment--
This may sound corny, but I think that a true friendship has to have some sense of commitment to ongoing relationship. A close aquaintence that you cannot trust to stay in relationship with you through conflict, difficulty etc. is really no friendship at all. The levels and frequency of relation may change, but a friend is a friend for the indefinite future.
Nearly every friendship I have had has come to a point where the new wears off. Where the friendship at that moment seems more trouble than it is worth. In true friendships I press on through the difficulty of annoyance. It is there that the true rewards of friendship begin.
Medieval clerics took this concept seriously. They often, knowing they were not going to get married, drew up covenants of lifelong friendship with one another. Lately, the homosexual activist theologians have tried to use these covenants as evidence of homosexual marriage in the church. Thus, they hypersexualize these documents. These were about people intentionally committing to love one another as friends. Whether spoken or written, or quietly assumed, real friendships do the same.
A sense of sacrifice--
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friend," said Jesus. Friendship is about having to listen to your friend whine about the same thing over and over again because you love them. It is talking with them instead of watching your favorite TV show. It allowing your friend to have the last french fry when you are sharing a Value Meal.
I remember Pastor Ben Moor looking down at his book, and then giving it to me. It is a book about Bonhoeffer called A Testament to Freedom. He said, "It is not really a gift if it does not cost me anything." Then he insisted I take the book. I have the book. Even more I have repeated the lesson. In the same way, the gift of friendship is not real until it costs me something. The blessing of friendship is that both friends are working in that direction.
Does anyone else have anything to add?
At the end it talked about the way that friendship develops. It makes me think about what it means to have a friend, and to be a friend as well.
I am thinking about this in part because of the way our society is deveoping, and the church will be emerging. I think it is going to be more and more central to the church to have a biblical theology of friendship. What it means and what it does not.
My friendships have developed in many different ways. With some of my friendships, our relationship took a while to develop. I remember one friend in particular, and I was better friends with his wife than him to begin with. After a while, both by natural process and conscious decision, I became closer to my friend than his wife. Now when we talk on the phone, I talk to her for two or three minutes, and then ask where her husband is, and we talk for an hour or so.
Another friend went to a Christian conference where they were told to adopt a single person as a friend and as someone to support. My name came to both of their minds simultaneously. Our relationship started with me as their mission project. Then we became friends.
Other friendships of mine have developed through meaningful shared experiences, such as my friendship with my buddy Dan here in the Springs. We got along ok before we took a van to St. Louis. Once we returned our friendship was cemented.
Yet, I think that there are certain foundations for authentic, healthy friendships.
A sense of mutuality and equity--
This is what is so amazing about Jesus saying something to the effect of "You used to call me Teacher....now call me Friend". In this moment, Jesus takes of the role of authortity for a relationship of equity, even though he is the Lord of the Universe.
The same thing is true of real friendships. Power dynamics are lost when people relate as friends, even if at other moments they must play other roles. At the point of friendship there is an openness to mutual learning and support.
One thing I try to communicate to students as they grow older is where they were once students that I strove to love and lead, they are now friends that add a lot to my life. Some people would disagree, but I think there is something healthy about that.
A sense of committment--
This may sound corny, but I think that a true friendship has to have some sense of commitment to ongoing relationship. A close aquaintence that you cannot trust to stay in relationship with you through conflict, difficulty etc. is really no friendship at all. The levels and frequency of relation may change, but a friend is a friend for the indefinite future.
Nearly every friendship I have had has come to a point where the new wears off. Where the friendship at that moment seems more trouble than it is worth. In true friendships I press on through the difficulty of annoyance. It is there that the true rewards of friendship begin.
Medieval clerics took this concept seriously. They often, knowing they were not going to get married, drew up covenants of lifelong friendship with one another. Lately, the homosexual activist theologians have tried to use these covenants as evidence of homosexual marriage in the church. Thus, they hypersexualize these documents. These were about people intentionally committing to love one another as friends. Whether spoken or written, or quietly assumed, real friendships do the same.
A sense of sacrifice--
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friend," said Jesus. Friendship is about having to listen to your friend whine about the same thing over and over again because you love them. It is talking with them instead of watching your favorite TV show. It allowing your friend to have the last french fry when you are sharing a Value Meal.
I remember Pastor Ben Moor looking down at his book, and then giving it to me. It is a book about Bonhoeffer called A Testament to Freedom. He said, "It is not really a gift if it does not cost me anything." Then he insisted I take the book. I have the book. Even more I have repeated the lesson. In the same way, the gift of friendship is not real until it costs me something. The blessing of friendship is that both friends are working in that direction.
Does anyone else have anything to add?
When I Grow Up
Where do you want to live when you grow up?
I have been thinking about this a little. Here are a few of the places I want to live when I grow up.
Philadephia, PA--my favorite east coast city. I want to be a member of First Quaker Church in America.
Cave Junction, OR--On the Illinois River about 45 minutes from Crescent City, about a half of an hour from the Redwoods, and along the Illinois River in Oregon.
Homer, Alaska--I still miss it!!
Elkton, OR--a town in between Roseburg, OR and Reedsport, OR on the Umpqua river. Close to where I was born. (About 45 minutes away) Close to my favorite golf course in the world in Sutherlin OR, and not to far from Rice Hill--best Ice Cream Stand in the World.
Livingston, MT--In the middle of one of the most beautiful valleys in the world. Sorry Bozeman and Belgrade, Livingston has ya beat hands down for beauty. Along the Yellowstone River.
Globe, AZ--about half way between Fort Apache and Phoenix. Not a pretty place, but lots of beauty around it.
Spokane, WA or Couer d'Aleine, ID--My dream area to live. Rivers, lakes, mountains, and a medium size city all nearby.
What about all of you?
If you need a little guidance from a cool website click here
I have been thinking about this a little. Here are a few of the places I want to live when I grow up.
Philadephia, PA--my favorite east coast city. I want to be a member of First Quaker Church in America.
Cave Junction, OR--On the Illinois River about 45 minutes from Crescent City, about a half of an hour from the Redwoods, and along the Illinois River in Oregon.
Homer, Alaska--I still miss it!!
Elkton, OR--a town in between Roseburg, OR and Reedsport, OR on the Umpqua river. Close to where I was born. (About 45 minutes away) Close to my favorite golf course in the world in Sutherlin OR, and not to far from Rice Hill--best Ice Cream Stand in the World.
Livingston, MT--In the middle of one of the most beautiful valleys in the world. Sorry Bozeman and Belgrade, Livingston has ya beat hands down for beauty. Along the Yellowstone River.
Globe, AZ--about half way between Fort Apache and Phoenix. Not a pretty place, but lots of beauty around it.
Spokane, WA or Couer d'Aleine, ID--My dream area to live. Rivers, lakes, mountains, and a medium size city all nearby.
What about all of you?
If you need a little guidance from a cool website click here
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Seizing your divine moment quotes
It is important to note what God does and does not promise and what he does not. He promises we can be certain about who he is, and we can be certain about our relationship to Him, but how the journey plays out is full of uncertainties. (70)
The need is not to work up our faith in God, but to deepen our confidence in God (72).
Whenever we take on a God-sized challenge, self-sufficiency is not longer an option (80).
Our wealth and abundance of human resources has positioned us to believe that provision precedes vision (65).
The courage and willingness that bred success is endangered after success is obtained (39).
We are always one choice away from a different life. At our worst, good is only one decision away. (24)
The need is not to work up our faith in God, but to deepen our confidence in God (72).
Whenever we take on a God-sized challenge, self-sufficiency is not longer an option (80).
Our wealth and abundance of human resources has positioned us to believe that provision precedes vision (65).
The courage and willingness that bred success is endangered after success is obtained (39).
We are always one choice away from a different life. At our worst, good is only one decision away. (24)
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Quotes for today
from THE BARBARIAN WAY by Erwin McManus
Our redemption will only comeif we find the courage to escape the prison we have created for ourselves (p. 17)
Jesus is being lost in a religion bearing his name. (17)
The closer you walk to Christ, the greater the faith required. (53)
God's intent was never to domesticate us, but to liberate us (64)
You are a jungle where the Spirit roams wild and free in your life. You are the recipient of the God who cannot be tamed, and of the faith that MUST not be tamed (66)
People who are fully alive look out of their minds to those who simply exist (69).
While Jesus can make you wonderfully healthy, he has no ambition to make you normal. (70)
You can put a suit on me, but underneath there will always be a savage (77)
Our goal must NOT be to populate the Christian religion but to bring people into a genuine relationship with God (91)
Domesticated Christians are far to willing to abdicate the battle for the soul of the world. (108)
We build churches that are nothing more than hiding places for the faithful while pretending that our actions are for the good of the world. (109)
Every citizen of the kingdom of God is brought into the heat of the battle between good and evil.
(124)
When we are born again we are not dropped into a maternity ward, but a war zone. (126)
Our redemption will only comeif we find the courage to escape the prison we have created for ourselves (p. 17)
Jesus is being lost in a religion bearing his name. (17)
The closer you walk to Christ, the greater the faith required. (53)
God's intent was never to domesticate us, but to liberate us (64)
You are a jungle where the Spirit roams wild and free in your life. You are the recipient of the God who cannot be tamed, and of the faith that MUST not be tamed (66)
People who are fully alive look out of their minds to those who simply exist (69).
While Jesus can make you wonderfully healthy, he has no ambition to make you normal. (70)
You can put a suit on me, but underneath there will always be a savage (77)
Our goal must NOT be to populate the Christian religion but to bring people into a genuine relationship with God (91)
Domesticated Christians are far to willing to abdicate the battle for the soul of the world. (108)
We build churches that are nothing more than hiding places for the faithful while pretending that our actions are for the good of the world. (109)
Every citizen of the kingdom of God is brought into the heat of the battle between good and evil.
(124)
When we are born again we are not dropped into a maternity ward, but a war zone. (126)
You neck might be a little red if......
1./ You have ever stolen your Christmas tree from public land.
2./ You have ever stolen your Christmas tree from land owned by your local municipality.
3/ You have ever been so broke that you "borrowed" toliet paper from the supply at work.
4./ Your family gets in farting contests after dinner, and seems disappointed that the dog always wins.
5./ You have ever used duct tape to hold together any part of your home or vehicle.
6./ Your family really believes that FOX NEWS is "fair and balanced"
7./ You add an R to your pronunciation of WASH and you think two Es make an I sound in the word "creek".
8./ You have considered bloody marys or screwdrivers to be breakfast foods
9./ You belong to a church where when asked who has access to a pick-up truck, everyone raises their hands.
10./ You have gotten excited as some point in your life about doing your school shopping at KMART.
11./ You're family enters a crisis because it has two members referred to as BUBBA.
12./ Every once in a while you have a hankering for government cheese.
13./ People you know confuse the terms lesbian and thespian on a regular basis.
FYI--most of this list was made from the personal experience of Clint Walker
2./ You have ever stolen your Christmas tree from land owned by your local municipality.
3/ You have ever been so broke that you "borrowed" toliet paper from the supply at work.
4./ Your family gets in farting contests after dinner, and seems disappointed that the dog always wins.
5./ You have ever used duct tape to hold together any part of your home or vehicle.
6./ Your family really believes that FOX NEWS is "fair and balanced"
7./ You add an R to your pronunciation of WASH and you think two Es make an I sound in the word "creek".
8./ You have considered bloody marys or screwdrivers to be breakfast foods
9./ You belong to a church where when asked who has access to a pick-up truck, everyone raises their hands.
10./ You have gotten excited as some point in your life about doing your school shopping at KMART.
11./ You're family enters a crisis because it has two members referred to as BUBBA.
12./ Every once in a while you have a hankering for government cheese.
13./ People you know confuse the terms lesbian and thespian on a regular basis.
FYI--most of this list was made from the personal experience of Clint Walker
Sunday, February 13, 2005
On Valentines Day I Wear Black
Ok, so wearing black on valentines day can be a little overdramatic. But now it is tradition.
But the coming of Valentines Day gives me the opportunity to rant on the worship of romantic love in our society, and the oversexualization of love in our society in general.
PART ONE
I remember being in college and our professor was talking about professional boundaries in psychology, especially the boundary between counselee and counselor, and the danger of transference. One of the people in class spoke up because she thought at certain moments this boundary was unfair (I think this was at the same time Prince of Tides had come out), because what if two people were both single and consenting and it was "just love". My comment was that the most loving thing in that situation was having the convictions to stick to your boundaries and your commitment to that persons mental health.
People get their loves confused all the time. I am convinced that part of a child molesters struggle is getting erotic love and affection conflated. So when they have feelings that many of us call affection for children, the person with their loves confused goes straight to the erotic. Of course some people are also sadists and otherwise psychotically imbalanced, but I think part of the struggle with confusion about the type of love relationship you have with people.
This confusion is becoming more and more prevalent in colleges and high schools with sexual boundaries dropping now. Lets take this friends with benefits thing for instance. Does not this very phraseology betray a confusion between what it means to have just friend love, but include erotic behavior.
Now when erotic or romantic love is appropriate, it should include friend love and affection love and all that too. But when that is inverted, when friend love has erotic love without the neccesary attachments and commitments, then probability of problems is multiplied.
Right now everything called love in our society is driven by desire. We say we love our children and we say we love taco bell. We love what makes us feel good. And although love by nature wants to be reciprocated, much of what we say we love in our society are really things that we enjoy and we find pleasurable. And that kind of love is not really love at all, in my opinion. It may be a part of a love relationship at times. But it has little to do with I Corithians 13.
PART TWO
Now in our society, we also have this romantic love idolotry. And the worship of this idea leads to all sorts of problems.
First of all, what happens when you "lose that loving feeling". I know of a couple that got divorced because the husband said, "If a relationship is going to take work, then it is just not worth it." LIE OF ROMANTIC LOVE #1--If its not easy then it is not true love. THE TRUTH--True love is proven by the willingness to really work at it.
I have always said that soap operas and romance novels serve the same function for women as pornography does for men. They both hold up an ideal that nobody can meet in a real relationship. Romance novels imply and romantic love says that true love means that someone can be everyone for you. Not true. LIE OF ROMANTIC LOVE #2--If it is true love, then that person can meet all your wants and desires. THE TRUTH--True love is choosing to still love someone even when they cant meet your desires or expectations.
Now before you think I am this bitter, pathetic anti-romance person take a breathe. Because if I am truly honest there are times I can be a real sap.
Let me tell you a story. I went to a funeral this week for one of the older couples in the church that seems to like me a lot. George died this week, and his wife Bea shared at the end of the service. She shared that she and her husband were engaged for two years before they got married. He was in the millitary. He sent correspondence to her that she could now come and meet him, and they could get married. He sold his guitar and his watch (about all he owned) to the local pawn shop to get her a ticket to come to him. When her mother heard of his sending for her, she must of had a hard time leaving home. Bea said her mother looked at her square in the eye and said, "You better go to that man and marry him, because he is a good man and he will always put you first." Then she said, "I have been married to the man for 60 years, and I am here to tell you that my mom was right. Sometimes we had money, and sometimes we didnt. But he was a good man. He always put me first. He always put the kids first. And now he died and I miss him, and still love him so much." I am not the type of man that likes to cry, but there were tears running down my face as she shared that. Earlier in the service they shared love notes they wrote to each other when they were first in love, but also poems they wrote to each other on their 40th anniversary that were as tender as when they were courting. I was a mess. A Kleenex grabbing, sniffling, tears running down my face mess. Infact my throat is burning and my eyes are getting misty as write this. Because although it sounds very romantic, their love was more than a romance novel. It was a thing of beauty.
But the coming of Valentines Day gives me the opportunity to rant on the worship of romantic love in our society, and the oversexualization of love in our society in general.
PART ONE
I remember being in college and our professor was talking about professional boundaries in psychology, especially the boundary between counselee and counselor, and the danger of transference. One of the people in class spoke up because she thought at certain moments this boundary was unfair (I think this was at the same time Prince of Tides had come out), because what if two people were both single and consenting and it was "just love". My comment was that the most loving thing in that situation was having the convictions to stick to your boundaries and your commitment to that persons mental health.
People get their loves confused all the time. I am convinced that part of a child molesters struggle is getting erotic love and affection conflated. So when they have feelings that many of us call affection for children, the person with their loves confused goes straight to the erotic. Of course some people are also sadists and otherwise psychotically imbalanced, but I think part of the struggle with confusion about the type of love relationship you have with people.
This confusion is becoming more and more prevalent in colleges and high schools with sexual boundaries dropping now. Lets take this friends with benefits thing for instance. Does not this very phraseology betray a confusion between what it means to have just friend love, but include erotic behavior.
Now when erotic or romantic love is appropriate, it should include friend love and affection love and all that too. But when that is inverted, when friend love has erotic love without the neccesary attachments and commitments, then probability of problems is multiplied.
Right now everything called love in our society is driven by desire. We say we love our children and we say we love taco bell. We love what makes us feel good. And although love by nature wants to be reciprocated, much of what we say we love in our society are really things that we enjoy and we find pleasurable. And that kind of love is not really love at all, in my opinion. It may be a part of a love relationship at times. But it has little to do with I Corithians 13.
PART TWO
Now in our society, we also have this romantic love idolotry. And the worship of this idea leads to all sorts of problems.
First of all, what happens when you "lose that loving feeling". I know of a couple that got divorced because the husband said, "If a relationship is going to take work, then it is just not worth it." LIE OF ROMANTIC LOVE #1--If its not easy then it is not true love. THE TRUTH--True love is proven by the willingness to really work at it.
I have always said that soap operas and romance novels serve the same function for women as pornography does for men. They both hold up an ideal that nobody can meet in a real relationship. Romance novels imply and romantic love says that true love means that someone can be everyone for you. Not true. LIE OF ROMANTIC LOVE #2--If it is true love, then that person can meet all your wants and desires. THE TRUTH--True love is choosing to still love someone even when they cant meet your desires or expectations.
Now before you think I am this bitter, pathetic anti-romance person take a breathe. Because if I am truly honest there are times I can be a real sap.
Let me tell you a story. I went to a funeral this week for one of the older couples in the church that seems to like me a lot. George died this week, and his wife Bea shared at the end of the service. She shared that she and her husband were engaged for two years before they got married. He was in the millitary. He sent correspondence to her that she could now come and meet him, and they could get married. He sold his guitar and his watch (about all he owned) to the local pawn shop to get her a ticket to come to him. When her mother heard of his sending for her, she must of had a hard time leaving home. Bea said her mother looked at her square in the eye and said, "You better go to that man and marry him, because he is a good man and he will always put you first." Then she said, "I have been married to the man for 60 years, and I am here to tell you that my mom was right. Sometimes we had money, and sometimes we didnt. But he was a good man. He always put me first. He always put the kids first. And now he died and I miss him, and still love him so much." I am not the type of man that likes to cry, but there were tears running down my face as she shared that. Earlier in the service they shared love notes they wrote to each other when they were first in love, but also poems they wrote to each other on their 40th anniversary that were as tender as when they were courting. I was a mess. A Kleenex grabbing, sniffling, tears running down my face mess. Infact my throat is burning and my eyes are getting misty as write this. Because although it sounds very romantic, their love was more than a romance novel. It was a thing of beauty.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
More quotes for today
If your faith does not work at home, dont export it.--
Howard Hendricks
If you dont come apart and rest a while, you will simply come apart--
AW Tozer
Nondiscipleship is the elephant in the church--
Dallas Willard
Those who are really serious about their religion and really want to do what God wants them to do are the ones most in danger--
John Claypool
I was never young because I never dared to be young--
George Bernanos
In every mind there is an enormous store of not-knowing, of being puzzled, of wonder, of radical amazement--
Abraham Heschel
Howard Hendricks
If you dont come apart and rest a while, you will simply come apart--
AW Tozer
Nondiscipleship is the elephant in the church--
Dallas Willard
Those who are really serious about their religion and really want to do what God wants them to do are the ones most in danger--
John Claypool
I was never young because I never dared to be young--
George Bernanos
In every mind there is an enormous store of not-knowing, of being puzzled, of wonder, of radical amazement--
Abraham Heschel
Friday, February 11, 2005
A little rant
I was once young and now I am old.
And in my years I have discovered a drastic change in the way that used bookstores work. In the old days, all people needed was a cover price on the dust jacket or a guess to price their used books. Now the book buying world has turned topsy-turvy. With the proliferation of the internet, any book dealer can look up their books on websites right away and know how much those books are worth.
Gone are the days of sneaky little bargains in used bookstores. Gone are the days where you could find a $100 book for $5 because nobody recognized it, and only I knew its value. What a travesty!
And in my years I have discovered a drastic change in the way that used bookstores work. In the old days, all people needed was a cover price on the dust jacket or a guess to price their used books. Now the book buying world has turned topsy-turvy. With the proliferation of the internet, any book dealer can look up their books on websites right away and know how much those books are worth.
Gone are the days of sneaky little bargains in used bookstores. Gone are the days where you could find a $100 book for $5 because nobody recognized it, and only I knew its value. What a travesty!
Quotes for today
I have done many things that conflicted with the great aims I had set for myself--something has always set me on the right path again.--
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
If I, even for a moment, accept my culture's definition of me, I am rendered useless--
Eugene Peterson
We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are.--
Anais Nin
There is nothing so whole as a broken heart.--
Hassidic saying
True spirituality is not a diversion from life. It is essentially subversive, and the test of its genuineness is practical--
Kenneth Leech
The Christians who did the most for the present world were the ones that thought the most about the next.--
CS Lewis
In my experience nothing tortures us so much as longing.....
Bonhoeffer
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
If I, even for a moment, accept my culture's definition of me, I am rendered useless--
Eugene Peterson
We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are.--
Anais Nin
There is nothing so whole as a broken heart.--
Hassidic saying
True spirituality is not a diversion from life. It is essentially subversive, and the test of its genuineness is practical--
Kenneth Leech
The Christians who did the most for the present world were the ones that thought the most about the next.--
CS Lewis
In my experience nothing tortures us so much as longing.....
Bonhoeffer
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Creepy Christians
A few years ago I attended a church for a pre-interview that later turned into an interview for a church that I considered pastoring. My aunt, who never went to church, came with me. While she was there, she cried almost unceasingly. When I asked her what was going on, she later told me, "Churches are just scary and creepy to me." Churches are scary, creepy places for lots of people. Even more creepy are the mysterious strange sounding creatures that inhabit these places, Christians.
Becca, in her blog, talked about how she was offended by the portrayal of Christians in the media, particularly the reality show Wife Swap. Yet, the emotion I identified with in her blog was grief. Grief is carrying around the name Christian.
You see, although the portrayal of the Christian on the show that Becca watched is not kind and may have been edited to be that way, it is also very truthful. (Maybe the editing was infact "fractal") Many Christians are really as creepy as they appear on TV. Some even more so. Especially American Christians, because we have created a narrative that says that this country is a Christian nation, and it is our destiny to rule it, and through it bully the rest of the world into being just like us. In doing so, we betray the name of Christ we profess as Christians, and settle for a poor substitute for the way of Jesus. So WE ARE as creepy as people think we are, and the prejudices toward Christians are often well deserved.
This struggle is natural. Why? Because there are so many people out there who call themselves Christians, but are really creepy. Like walking horror shows. I don't say this to be judgemental but discerning. Lord knows there are lots of times where I am more of a pain in the ass to the kingdom than I am a help. The thing is, most of us do not realize it.
Last summer I walked through the Gay Pride celebration a couple of blocks from our church. Across from the park they were gathered in were people holding signs telling them how evil they are and how they are all going to hell. The Christians were red-faced and screaming. Of course my tempation was to turn and yell back at them. But I did not. The kids from Iowa were promoting for the VBS block party we were having. When they found out that the people there were gay and lesbian, they ran the other way. Our church members and their leadership affirmed them in their decision. We would not want to have people LIKE THAT around, or the people in power in the church might get mad.
We buy into so many lies of the world. One is that a person is completely defined and understood by their sexual behavior. In our hatred of sexual sin, we have become as overobscessed by sexuality as the rest of the world. We add rules to our rules until our unique moral stance on sexuality becomes a funk instead of a fragrance.
Another lie is that faith is about power. Wrong. The way of Jesus is the way of a servant, and the one that would be great among us must be the servant of each one he meets. A movement that claims the name of Christ, but chooses to bully, control, and rule is no Christianity at all. A faith that does not trust God to change people, but instead forces them to change or be less than honest when they do not share Christian belief, is not a faith at all, for it is not about trust and mystery but power and control.
So where does that put me? In a place where on one hand my faith makes me different from the world, and yet on the other hand where my relationship with Jesus leaves me in a much different place from much of the "Christian" folks around. Yet something tells me, as creepy as that seems, that is where I am supposed to be.
Becca, in her blog, talked about how she was offended by the portrayal of Christians in the media, particularly the reality show Wife Swap. Yet, the emotion I identified with in her blog was grief. Grief is carrying around the name Christian.
You see, although the portrayal of the Christian on the show that Becca watched is not kind and may have been edited to be that way, it is also very truthful. (Maybe the editing was infact "fractal") Many Christians are really as creepy as they appear on TV. Some even more so. Especially American Christians, because we have created a narrative that says that this country is a Christian nation, and it is our destiny to rule it, and through it bully the rest of the world into being just like us. In doing so, we betray the name of Christ we profess as Christians, and settle for a poor substitute for the way of Jesus. So WE ARE as creepy as people think we are, and the prejudices toward Christians are often well deserved.
This struggle is natural. Why? Because there are so many people out there who call themselves Christians, but are really creepy. Like walking horror shows. I don't say this to be judgemental but discerning. Lord knows there are lots of times where I am more of a pain in the ass to the kingdom than I am a help. The thing is, most of us do not realize it.
Last summer I walked through the Gay Pride celebration a couple of blocks from our church. Across from the park they were gathered in were people holding signs telling them how evil they are and how they are all going to hell. The Christians were red-faced and screaming. Of course my tempation was to turn and yell back at them. But I did not. The kids from Iowa were promoting for the VBS block party we were having. When they found out that the people there were gay and lesbian, they ran the other way. Our church members and their leadership affirmed them in their decision. We would not want to have people LIKE THAT around, or the people in power in the church might get mad.
We buy into so many lies of the world. One is that a person is completely defined and understood by their sexual behavior. In our hatred of sexual sin, we have become as overobscessed by sexuality as the rest of the world. We add rules to our rules until our unique moral stance on sexuality becomes a funk instead of a fragrance.
Another lie is that faith is about power. Wrong. The way of Jesus is the way of a servant, and the one that would be great among us must be the servant of each one he meets. A movement that claims the name of Christ, but chooses to bully, control, and rule is no Christianity at all. A faith that does not trust God to change people, but instead forces them to change or be less than honest when they do not share Christian belief, is not a faith at all, for it is not about trust and mystery but power and control.
So where does that put me? In a place where on one hand my faith makes me different from the world, and yet on the other hand where my relationship with Jesus leaves me in a much different place from much of the "Christian" folks around. Yet something tells me, as creepy as that seems, that is where I am supposed to be.
More quotes for today
FROM THE 17 INDISPUTABLE LAWS OF TEAMWORK by John Maxwell
There are no problems that we cannot solve together and very few that we can solve by ourselves--
LBJ
Everyone on a championship team does not get publicity, but everyone can say he is a champion--
Magic Johnson
No one of us is more important than the rest of us--
Ray Kroc
Nearly all men can stand adversity. If you want to test a man's character give him power.--
Abe Lincoln
There are no victories at bargain prices--
Eisenhower
You can do what I cannot do. I can do what you cannot do. Together we can do great things--
Mother Teresa
Leaders are dealers in hope--
Napolean Bonaparte
I can live for two months on one good compliment--
Mark Twain
There are no problems that we cannot solve together and very few that we can solve by ourselves--
LBJ
Everyone on a championship team does not get publicity, but everyone can say he is a champion--
Magic Johnson
No one of us is more important than the rest of us--
Ray Kroc
Nearly all men can stand adversity. If you want to test a man's character give him power.--
Abe Lincoln
There are no victories at bargain prices--
Eisenhower
You can do what I cannot do. I can do what you cannot do. Together we can do great things--
Mother Teresa
Leaders are dealers in hope--
Napolean Bonaparte
I can live for two months on one good compliment--
Mark Twain
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.--
Theodore Roosevelt
(probably immediately before he entered office or after he left office)
Theodore Roosevelt
(probably immediately before he entered office or after he left office)
Clint's Blog Friends and Faves
In light of the recent EVANGELICAL UNDERGROUND BLOG AWARDS I wanted to share a few links to friend's blogs and fave blogs
FRIENDS
Phil Teintze--a college man in touch with his feelings in Butte, Montana
Michelle Grabbe--For a courageous struggle of faith with long-term illness
William Hale--for another college man in touch with his inner poet in Seattle
Timothy Yenter--the cultured philosopher-theologian
Traci Mertens--The thoughtful college student/soon to be teacher in Sioux Falls
Becca Syme--The brilliant sage and writer
FAVE BLOGS FROM EMERGENT CHURCH MOVEMENT
Doug Pagitt from Solomons Porch in MSP
Tony Jones author of Postmodern Youth Ministry among other books
Tim Keel from Jacob's Well Church in KCMO
Karen Ward from Apostle's Church in Seattle (Freemont)
FRIENDS
Phil Teintze--a college man in touch with his feelings in Butte, Montana
Michelle Grabbe--For a courageous struggle of faith with long-term illness
William Hale--for another college man in touch with his inner poet in Seattle
Timothy Yenter--the cultured philosopher-theologian
Traci Mertens--The thoughtful college student/soon to be teacher in Sioux Falls
Becca Syme--The brilliant sage and writer
FAVE BLOGS FROM EMERGENT CHURCH MOVEMENT
Doug Pagitt from Solomons Porch in MSP
Tony Jones author of Postmodern Youth Ministry among other books
Tim Keel from Jacob's Well Church in KCMO
Karen Ward from Apostle's Church in Seattle (Freemont)
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
More quotes for today
From FAILING FORWARD by John Maxwell
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up--
Thomas Edison
Fear makes that come true which one is afraid of.--
Viktor Frankl
Life is not simply holding a good hand. Life is playing a poor hand well.--
Danish Saying
Generous people are rarely mentally ill people--
Karl Menninger
I do not believe a fate that falls on men however they act; I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act--
G. K. Chesterton
The thing that hurt, instruct--
Benjamin Franklin
Lord deliver me from the man who never makes a mistake, and from the man who makes a mistake twice.--
Dr. William Mayo
Always bear in mind that the resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing--
Abe Lincoln
Experience is not what happens to you. Experience is what you do with what happens to you.--
Aldous Huxley
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up--
Thomas Edison
Fear makes that come true which one is afraid of.--
Viktor Frankl
Life is not simply holding a good hand. Life is playing a poor hand well.--
Danish Saying
Generous people are rarely mentally ill people--
Karl Menninger
I do not believe a fate that falls on men however they act; I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act--
G. K. Chesterton
The thing that hurt, instruct--
Benjamin Franklin
Lord deliver me from the man who never makes a mistake, and from the man who makes a mistake twice.--
Dr. William Mayo
Always bear in mind that the resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing--
Abe Lincoln
Experience is not what happens to you. Experience is what you do with what happens to you.--
Aldous Huxley
Monday, February 07, 2005
More quotes for today
FROM SECRETS FROM THE MOUNTAIN BY PAT WILLIAMS
Impossibilities vanish when a man and his God confront a mountain.--
Robert Schuller
The one thing that will guarantee the successful conclusion of a doubtful undertaking is fatih, in the beginning, that you can do it.--
William James
If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves--
Thomas Edison
To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first--
William Shakespeare
In any contest between patience and power, bet on patience.--
WB Prescott
Until you value yourself, you wont value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it--
M. Scott Peck
Once you begin to think in terms of what should have happened, instead of concentrating upon the situation that confronts you, you're in terrible danger of letting down--
Sandy Koufax
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself--
Leo Tolstoy
Enthusiasm is everything. It must be as taut and vibrating as a guitar string.--
Pele
Most of us are about as happy as we make up our minds to be--
Lincoln
Never let yesterday use up too much of today--
Will Rogers
The future is something that everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.--
CS Lewis
Never measure the height of a mountian until you get to the top, then you will see how low it was--
Dag Hammarskjold
Impossibilities vanish when a man and his God confront a mountain.--
Robert Schuller
The one thing that will guarantee the successful conclusion of a doubtful undertaking is fatih, in the beginning, that you can do it.--
William James
If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves--
Thomas Edison
To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first--
William Shakespeare
In any contest between patience and power, bet on patience.--
WB Prescott
Until you value yourself, you wont value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it--
M. Scott Peck
Once you begin to think in terms of what should have happened, instead of concentrating upon the situation that confronts you, you're in terrible danger of letting down--
Sandy Koufax
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself--
Leo Tolstoy
Enthusiasm is everything. It must be as taut and vibrating as a guitar string.--
Pele
Most of us are about as happy as we make up our minds to be--
Lincoln
Never let yesterday use up too much of today--
Will Rogers
The future is something that everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.--
CS Lewis
Never measure the height of a mountian until you get to the top, then you will see how low it was--
Dag Hammarskjold
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Quotes for today
FROM EMERGENT CHURCH BY DAN KIMBALL
It is one thing to talk about God. It is quite another thing to experience God.--
Leonard Sweet
Suring the last decade, many have discovered the limits of the intellect. More and more people have realized that what they need is much more than interesting sermons and prayers. They wonder how they might experience God--
Henri Nouwen
The problem is we are living in a culture that breeds spectators...Spectator worship always has been and always will be an oxymoron.--
Sally Morganthaler
If you can't go to church and at least for a moment be given transcendence, if you can't briefly pass from this life into the next, then I can't see why anyone should go. Just a brief moment of transcendence causes you to come out a changed person.--
Garrison Keillor
No single church can possibly reach everyone, it takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people.--
Rick Warren
It is one thing to talk about God. It is quite another thing to experience God.--
Leonard Sweet
Suring the last decade, many have discovered the limits of the intellect. More and more people have realized that what they need is much more than interesting sermons and prayers. They wonder how they might experience God--
Henri Nouwen
The problem is we are living in a culture that breeds spectators...Spectator worship always has been and always will be an oxymoron.--
Sally Morganthaler
If you can't go to church and at least for a moment be given transcendence, if you can't briefly pass from this life into the next, then I can't see why anyone should go. Just a brief moment of transcendence causes you to come out a changed person.--
Garrison Keillor
No single church can possibly reach everyone, it takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people.--
Rick Warren
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Fractal
Fractal Imagery in a Fractal World
Most of us have seen it. Fractal imagery is everywhere. Fractal imagery is the high-tech video version of a collage. A bunch of video images are screened together in rapid succession, often to evoke an emotion or a memory. For instance, there is a car commercial that is out now, and when the person touches the car all sorts of images flash through the persons mind instantaneously.
The word fractal comes from the same root as the word fraction. The idea being that we are only getting a part of something if something is fractal. Fractal imagery can often just be a fraction of a second of a movie. But in our culture, it is not only pictures that are fractal. It is our whole world that is cut into little pieces. Especially the world that our teens live in.
Think about it. Many of our teens live in families that might seem fractal in nature. Mom and Dad have split. Mom has remarried to Stepdad. Stepdad had two kids from a previous marriage. Mom and Stepdad then have another child together. Dad was a little older than Mom. He had a child out of wedlock before the teen we are speaking of was born. He is now living with another woman, but is scared to jump into marriage again. Mom's house is fairly structured and discipline is important to her and Stepdad, but at Dad's place about anything goes. This is the fractal family that many teenagers live in. Situations are only likely to become more prevalent in the future.
A teen's social life and world is also becoming more fractal. It used to be that each school had one popular crowd, and everyone wanted to be connected to that crowd. As a youth minister, if you reached the "cool" people, everyone would follow. High schools are much more fragmented today. There may be some folks that are more popular than others, but it is much more important to belong to "your group" of 10-12 people, and to be loyal to them. The deal is, that often you have to move in and out of different groups during your time at school. For instance, lets imagine a teen who is an churchgoing honor student, and he plays soccer. That student has to move through his AP classes with one crowd, his soccer team with another, and probably half of his other classes with another. Then, he has to decide who to eat with at lunch. Now, think what it would be like if the student in the social situation that we are describing here was also in the family described above. Imagine then, that this student comes to the First Church downtown where students come from at least 4 different high schools. Yet another group to move through.
This fractal world would be a lot for an adult to move through, much less a 16 year old boy. In his brilliant book "All Grown Up and No Place to Go" David Elkind describes a phenonmenon called the "Patchwork Self". He defines the Patchwork Self as "a sense of self constructed from the simple compilation of feelings,thoughts, and beliefs appropriated from others" (p.21). How can teenager avoid this when she has to take on so many roles, and put on so many masks just to survive emotionally and socially? Is it any wonder that young adults are either staying at home or returning to home until their mid to late twenties to figure everything out? Our fractal society has created a fractal world full of teens that have fractal identities.
Now what??
Most of us have seen it. Fractal imagery is everywhere. Fractal imagery is the high-tech video version of a collage. A bunch of video images are screened together in rapid succession, often to evoke an emotion or a memory. For instance, there is a car commercial that is out now, and when the person touches the car all sorts of images flash through the persons mind instantaneously.
The word fractal comes from the same root as the word fraction. The idea being that we are only getting a part of something if something is fractal. Fractal imagery can often just be a fraction of a second of a movie. But in our culture, it is not only pictures that are fractal. It is our whole world that is cut into little pieces. Especially the world that our teens live in.
Think about it. Many of our teens live in families that might seem fractal in nature. Mom and Dad have split. Mom has remarried to Stepdad. Stepdad had two kids from a previous marriage. Mom and Stepdad then have another child together. Dad was a little older than Mom. He had a child out of wedlock before the teen we are speaking of was born. He is now living with another woman, but is scared to jump into marriage again. Mom's house is fairly structured and discipline is important to her and Stepdad, but at Dad's place about anything goes. This is the fractal family that many teenagers live in. Situations are only likely to become more prevalent in the future.
A teen's social life and world is also becoming more fractal. It used to be that each school had one popular crowd, and everyone wanted to be connected to that crowd. As a youth minister, if you reached the "cool" people, everyone would follow. High schools are much more fragmented today. There may be some folks that are more popular than others, but it is much more important to belong to "your group" of 10-12 people, and to be loyal to them. The deal is, that often you have to move in and out of different groups during your time at school. For instance, lets imagine a teen who is an churchgoing honor student, and he plays soccer. That student has to move through his AP classes with one crowd, his soccer team with another, and probably half of his other classes with another. Then, he has to decide who to eat with at lunch. Now, think what it would be like if the student in the social situation that we are describing here was also in the family described above. Imagine then, that this student comes to the First Church downtown where students come from at least 4 different high schools. Yet another group to move through.
This fractal world would be a lot for an adult to move through, much less a 16 year old boy. In his brilliant book "All Grown Up and No Place to Go" David Elkind describes a phenonmenon called the "Patchwork Self". He defines the Patchwork Self as "a sense of self constructed from the simple compilation of feelings,thoughts, and beliefs appropriated from others" (p.21). How can teenager avoid this when she has to take on so many roles, and put on so many masks just to survive emotionally and socially? Is it any wonder that young adults are either staying at home or returning to home until their mid to late twenties to figure everything out? Our fractal society has created a fractal world full of teens that have fractal identities.
Now what??
Friday, February 04, 2005
Quotes for today
FROM POSTMODERN PILGRIMS BY LEONARD SWEET
You are worse off than you ever imagined, but God loves you more than you could ever hope.--
Manhattan church planter Tim Keller
At what else does the touching of lips aim but at the junction of souls.--
Favorinus of Arles
We somehow think that the church is here for us; we forget that we are the church, and we are here for the world--
Erwin McManus
Christ does not give himself the name "custom" but "truth".--
Augustine
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug--
Mark Twain
Not to be encompassed by the greatest, but to let oneself be encompassed by the smallest--that is divine.--
St. Ignatius
Holy Ground is never private terf but always communal space.
Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster
Many of us love religion all too much and God all too little. We love ourselves too much and the world too little.--
Erwin McManus
We do not see things as they are, but as we are.--
Jewish proverb
You are worse off than you ever imagined, but God loves you more than you could ever hope.--
Manhattan church planter Tim Keller
At what else does the touching of lips aim but at the junction of souls.--
Favorinus of Arles
We somehow think that the church is here for us; we forget that we are the church, and we are here for the world--
Erwin McManus
Christ does not give himself the name "custom" but "truth".--
Augustine
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug--
Mark Twain
Not to be encompassed by the greatest, but to let oneself be encompassed by the smallest--that is divine.--
St. Ignatius
Holy Ground is never private terf but always communal space.
Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster
Many of us love religion all too much and God all too little. We love ourselves too much and the world too little.--
Erwin McManus
We do not see things as they are, but as we are.--
Jewish proverb
Thursday, February 03, 2005
On the Nature of Spritual Transformation
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BEING AND DOING
Yesterday in our CHOW group (Young Adult Bible Study) we had a brief discussion while discussing the background of James about what the difference was between intellectual assent and authentic faith.
The dicussion circled around whether the two actions were opposite, or could they be the same thing. In an explanation, someone commented that intellectual assent is the natural precursor to authentic faith, and thus is a part of having authentic faith. The conversation then went to, can we have authentic faith without intellectual assent.
It is an interesting question. Must I agree with the words and ideas of faith to live by faith.
My answer is no. That authentic faith is often trusting relationally and with our actions even when we do not intellectually assent. For instance, during my freshman year I had serious doubts about the validity of the resurrection testimony. At times, the gospels read to much like self-serving propoganda (which they are--they happen to be true as well though). My beliefs were in crisis. Did that mean I did notlive in authentic faith? Quite the contrary. I lived day by day faithfully following, trusting, and communicating with God even though I could not completely intellectually assent to all the essential historical facts that the faith is based upon. The same thing happens when I am called to love my enemies. Do I agree with Jesus on this. Not always. Sometimes I think Jesus is tremendously unrealistic. Do I follow, trust, and connect with God in faith despite the fact I have a hard time intellectually assenting anyway? When I do I believe I am living with authentic faith, possibly even more authentic faith than when I do intellectually assent. Intellectual assent is based on ideas. Faith is based upon relationship
Yesterday in our CHOW group (Young Adult Bible Study) we had a brief discussion while discussing the background of James about what the difference was between intellectual assent and authentic faith.
The dicussion circled around whether the two actions were opposite, or could they be the same thing. In an explanation, someone commented that intellectual assent is the natural precursor to authentic faith, and thus is a part of having authentic faith. The conversation then went to, can we have authentic faith without intellectual assent.
It is an interesting question. Must I agree with the words and ideas of faith to live by faith.
My answer is no. That authentic faith is often trusting relationally and with our actions even when we do not intellectually assent. For instance, during my freshman year I had serious doubts about the validity of the resurrection testimony. At times, the gospels read to much like self-serving propoganda (which they are--they happen to be true as well though). My beliefs were in crisis. Did that mean I did notlive in authentic faith? Quite the contrary. I lived day by day faithfully following, trusting, and communicating with God even though I could not completely intellectually assent to all the essential historical facts that the faith is based upon. The same thing happens when I am called to love my enemies. Do I agree with Jesus on this. Not always. Sometimes I think Jesus is tremendously unrealistic. Do I follow, trust, and connect with God in faith despite the fact I have a hard time intellectually assenting anyway? When I do I believe I am living with authentic faith, possibly even more authentic faith than when I do intellectually assent. Intellectual assent is based on ideas. Faith is based upon relationship
Quotes on Singleness
There is increasing evidence that bachelorhood is symptomatic of psychopathology--
Irving Bieber in Time Magazine 1967
Woman without a man is like a field without seed--
Ethiopian Saying
The most threatened group in human society, as in animal societies, is the unmated male: the unmated male is more likely to wind up in prison or in an asylum or dead than his mated counterpart. He is less likely to be promoted at work, and he is considered a poor credit risk--
Germaine Greer in Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility
I've always held a bachelor is someone who never makes the same mistake once--
Gary Cooper in a 1940 film
Marriage has many pains, but celebacy has no pleasures--
Samuel Johnson
A smart bachelor stops up his ears when a womans voice has a ring in it--
Unknown
Marriage is neither heaven nor hell. It is simply purgatory--
Abraham Lincoln
When a man's friend marries, all is over between them--
French proverb
I gravely doubt women were ever married by capture. I think they pretended to be, as they still do.
GK Chesterton
Second Marriage: Another instance of the triumph of hope over experience.
Samuel Johnson
A bachelor's life is a fine breakfast, a flat lunch, and a miserable dinner.--
Francis Bacon
Irving Bieber in Time Magazine 1967
Woman without a man is like a field without seed--
Ethiopian Saying
The most threatened group in human society, as in animal societies, is the unmated male: the unmated male is more likely to wind up in prison or in an asylum or dead than his mated counterpart. He is less likely to be promoted at work, and he is considered a poor credit risk--
Germaine Greer in Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility
I've always held a bachelor is someone who never makes the same mistake once--
Gary Cooper in a 1940 film
Marriage has many pains, but celebacy has no pleasures--
Samuel Johnson
A smart bachelor stops up his ears when a womans voice has a ring in it--
Unknown
Marriage is neither heaven nor hell. It is simply purgatory--
Abraham Lincoln
When a man's friend marries, all is over between them--
French proverb
I gravely doubt women were ever married by capture. I think they pretended to be, as they still do.
GK Chesterton
Second Marriage: Another instance of the triumph of hope over experience.
Samuel Johnson
A bachelor's life is a fine breakfast, a flat lunch, and a miserable dinner.--
Francis Bacon
The Roundup Connection
It seems that half the people I communicate with in the blogosphere have a Roundup, MT connection. I find that interesting. What is it about being from Roundup that makes blogland so inviting.
You may be tempted to think I do not have a Roundup connection, but this is not true! My great-grandmother lived on land between Roundup and Livina (sp?) for much of her growing up years in the 1920s. She went to boarding school at Billings Polytechnic School (I dont think that even exists any more, but it was there--I have a toy they gave her to prove it.) until she dropped out and got married at 16 or 17.
You may be tempted to think I do not have a Roundup connection, but this is not true! My great-grandmother lived on land between Roundup and Livina (sp?) for much of her growing up years in the 1920s. She went to boarding school at Billings Polytechnic School (I dont think that even exists any more, but it was there--I have a toy they gave her to prove it.) until she dropped out and got married at 16 or 17.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
U2 quotes
Freedom has a scent like the top of a newborn baby's head--
"Miracle Drug" from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Jesus never let me down
You know Jesus used to show me the score.
Then they put Jesus in show business
Now it's hard to get in the door.--
"If God would Send His Angels" from Pop
To touch is to heal, to hurt is to steal.
If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel--
"Mysterious Ways" from Achtung Baby
I was a sailor, I was lost at sea
I was under the waves before love rescued me.
I was a fighter, I could turn on a thread
Now I stand accused of the things I've said.
When love comes to town I'm gonna jump that train
When love comes to town I'm gonna catch that flame.
Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down
But I did what I did before love came to town.--
"When Love Comes to Town" with BB King on "Rattle and Hum"
Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things--
"Grace" from All That You Can't Leave Behind
Jesus can you take the time
To throw a drowning man a line
Peace on Earth
To tell the ones who hear no sound
Whose sons are living in the ground
Peace on Earth
Jesus this song you wrote
The words are sticking in my throat
Peace on Earth
Hear it every Christmas time
But hope and history won't rhyme
So what's it worth?
This peace on Earth
"Peace on Earth" from All that You Can't Leave Behind
You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross of my shame
Oh my shame, you know I believe it.
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for.
"Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from Joshua Tree
I wanna run, I want to hide
I wanna tear down the walls
That hold me inside.
I wanna reach out
And touch the flame
"Where the Streets Have No Name" from Joshua Tree
"Miracle Drug" from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Jesus never let me down
You know Jesus used to show me the score.
Then they put Jesus in show business
Now it's hard to get in the door.--
"If God would Send His Angels" from Pop
To touch is to heal, to hurt is to steal.
If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel--
"Mysterious Ways" from Achtung Baby
I was a sailor, I was lost at sea
I was under the waves before love rescued me.
I was a fighter, I could turn on a thread
Now I stand accused of the things I've said.
When love comes to town I'm gonna jump that train
When love comes to town I'm gonna catch that flame.
Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down
But I did what I did before love came to town.--
"When Love Comes to Town" with BB King on "Rattle and Hum"
Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things--
"Grace" from All That You Can't Leave Behind
Jesus can you take the time
To throw a drowning man a line
Peace on Earth
To tell the ones who hear no sound
Whose sons are living in the ground
Peace on Earth
Jesus this song you wrote
The words are sticking in my throat
Peace on Earth
Hear it every Christmas time
But hope and history won't rhyme
So what's it worth?
This peace on Earth
"Peace on Earth" from All that You Can't Leave Behind
You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross of my shame
Oh my shame, you know I believe it.
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for.
"Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from Joshua Tree
I wanna run, I want to hide
I wanna tear down the walls
That hold me inside.
I wanna reach out
And touch the flame
"Where the Streets Have No Name" from Joshua Tree
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