Has it been that long?

I can't believe it has been since the beginning of November that I last posted! I have to blame the holidays, work, not working, stress from not working, etc. Anyhoo, I have been reading one book as often as I have had time, The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg. I have really enjoyed it. It is a book that was recommended by Barbara Brown Taylor at the end of her memoir, Leaving Church.
After all this time, I really don't have a great deal to say but I did see something pretty funny that I would like to share it with you. This is a clip of one of my favorite comedians, Jim Gaffigan (its a windows media file).
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Ain't It The Truth

Things that make you go, "Ummmmm".

Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor

Just got finished reading one of the most important books I have read in a while. It's really hard to explain to someone that has not been through a similar experience what you're talking about when you say "Leaving (rather Left) Church". Because I can relate so well to what Barbara is saying in the book, it really impacted me. You ever read a book like that? There is an epithical moment when you feel like someone has invaded your thoughts and like a good reporter, taken good notes. There were some parts that really grabbed me. Like when she talks about a pool party. She has just recently resigned her post of priest and is invited to a pool party. After talking to members of the church that she only knew in passing (which she comments that she wished she would have gotten to know them better), people start pushing others into the pool. After a short while she begins to wish that others would not view her as "waterproof" and push her in. Her wish is fulfilled and someone pushes her in. At that moment she begins to feel like an equal instead of a superior and she is refreshed.
If you check this book out, be aware that the first part is a little slow but important to the second half of the book. She takes you from the beginning of her "call" to being ordained to being one of the first women priest to leaving church.
I wish that I could meet and have coffee with her. I would love to hear her speak the words audibly about the journey and in that moment feel my soul resonate with each word. Thanks Barbara for your courage.

A Penny For Your Thoughts

Just got finished watching The Big Kahuna starring Kevin Spacey(Larry),Danny Devito(Phil), and Peter Facinelli (Bob)in which they are salesmen at an industrial lubricant convention. I wanted to watch the show after watching the end and reading some quotes from the movie. If you haven't seen it, watch it. It is not for the weak. There is plenty of language in it, so be prepared.
There is a section of dialogue between Phil and Bob,who is a born again Christian, which sums up for me what I have really been feeling for a long time. The two characters are talking about honesty. Phil says that he can trust Larry because he is honest, blunt, but most importantly he is honest. The section of dialogue that I really likes is as follows:
Phil (asking Bob a question about honesty):"Has it touched the whole of my life?"
Bob:What does that mean?
Phil: That means that you preaching Jesus is no different than Larry or anybody else preaching lubricants. It doesn't matter whether you're selling Jesus or Buddha or civil rights or how to make money in real estate with no money down. That doesn't make you a human being. It makes you a marketing rep. If you want to talk to someone honestly,as a human being, ask him about his kids. Find out what his dreams are, just to find out. For no other reason. Because as soon as you lay your hands on a conversation,to steer it,it's not a conversation anymore.It's a pitch, and you're not a human being. You're a marketing rep (emphasis mine).
Isn't that powerful! I mean if you were to ask me to tell you how evangelism is to be done two or three years ago and you stipulated that I couldn't steer a conversation with a "lost" person, I would not have been able to. What is evangelism to the Southern Baptist mind but an opportunity to sell wares? I speak of my own mind and am not classifying all Southern Baptist thought.
Recently, while talking to my friend at Words Less Spoken, I confided in him that I do not wish to hold conversations with anybody with an agenda of steering the conversation to Jesus, religion, etc. If the topics come up by the other party, fine, and even then I will not be pressing. I only desire to be honest with people and having relationships with people on the sole idea that you are seeking a convert to a religion is in my opinion very dishonest.
Your thoughts?

Continued....

Still reading Sweet's book and I have gotten to the chapter that fires up my soul, "Our relationship with those outside the faith and with those who are different". Leonard talks my language when he talks about what evangelism is supposed to be. And I quote, "The key to evangelism is to be receivers of others--ushers to the Other, not users of others. In receiving others, we enter into their world of abundant otherness--their experiences, their thought patterns, their stories. In using others, we treat people as objects and hope to get something out of them (a conversion, a donation, their acquiescence to our argument). One can receive others and celebrate their stories without buying into their every perspective. This is how the early Christians dealt with the multiplicity of faiths in the ancient world. They did not blast away at other religions. They simply made the ultimate claim for Jesus as the Son of God with everything that was in them."
Later in the chapter, Sweet makes the claim that evangelism is being in relationship with the others and that relationship is best described as "having a meal" with them. Sitting with someone to a meal is very spiritual, very...relational. I had to think about the people that I eat meals with, my wife and two boys and my friend Lyndon(when we are working in the same area). With that in mind, who are the closest people to me at this point of my life? My wife and boys and friend. This then begs the question, how then do I enter into relationships with the others? By sitting down to a meal with them regularly. How is this done? By my being intentional about entering into relationships with others. Maybe that is vague and I do not wish it to be, but that is all that I can say. Be intentional. Be aware of my surroundings and especially those that are in them. Being led by God's Spirit in my daily wonderings, as I go.
I want to end with a very refreshing statement Sweet quotes from The Hobbit. "In the journeys of Bilbo Baggins through forest and dale, Bilbo and his companions came to rest in the house of Elrond. '[Elrond's house] was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all...All of them, the ponies as well, grew refreshed and strong in a few days there. Their clothes were mended as well as their bruises, their tempers and their hopes'". Don't you want to be at Elrond's house? Can't you smell the green grass? Are you enraptured with peace and tranquility? I can actually feel warmth of the sun on my face as well as the gentle breeze across by body. Isn't this not only what we want but what we should want for the others? Thy Kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Out of the Question, Into the Mystery

I am reading Len Sweet's book and he makes a pretty good assessment of the "post-modern" movement. He says, "The postmodern quest has been misunderstood as an abandonment of the quest for truth. It is far from an abandonment, but is rather a rerouting of the quest for truth along more relational and less rational paths. The question at the heart of Christianity is not a philosophical one or a political one or a liturgical one. The question at the heart of Christianity is a relational one: 'Who do you say that I am?' Who we say Jesus is says who we are." I believe that is the postmodern question's answer for me. It is all about relationship. My relationship with God and my relationship with my neighbor. You can't have one without the other. Jesus answered the postmodern question long before it was pre-modern. Who is Jesus to me? Beyond all the fluff, Jesus is still mysterious. He is hard to pin down and understand fully. All I can truthfully say is that He is more real today than in days past. I will confess to you, I used to rely on the encounters others had with Jesus to justify my faith. Until recently, my experiences with Jesus where "out of body", now they are more personal, more relational.
Maybe, and I am just spiff-balling here, in order for one's relationship with I Am to progress one must stop the insanity that is modern Christianity and say, "I am not going to 'go with the flow' any longer without understanding how this all relates to me. I will no longer accept hand-me-down answers to the questions that are central to my relationship with the Almighty. I am going to ask some questions and I am not going to stop until I find the answers."
I don't believe that I will find all the answers but I do believe that I will never stop asking and seeking.
Len quotes L. Robert Keck, "It is better to have a heart that makes love than a mind that makes sense." And that pretty much sums it up for me.

Sim Cp

Our Endangered Values

I am listening to the audiobook of Jimmy Carter's "Our Endangered Values". When the book came out, I didn't think that I would like it. So far it is good. He seems very down to earth and easy to understand.
He made a comment that I thought was quite interesting. He was talking about religious fundamentalism and how he defined the attitude of those adhereing to it. The attitude of the fundamentalist is "I am right. Anyone the disagrees with me is inherently wrong" which leads to, "because you are wrong, you cannot be considered on the same level of existence as I am" which leads to "you must be sub-human" to finally, "your life really isn't worth anything". Now this may at first glance seem extreme, but isn't that what some of our history teaches us. Once I have an idea that I believe is without reproach, and I will no longer listen to what others have to say about there beliefs, the slide down to "death to the infidel" begins. Hasn't this been proved in our world and country histories? The question in my mind then,using association, is "Isn't this where right wing fundamentalist headed?" Has the invasion already begun? The blue states verses the red states. No longer is platforms or political ideas used to decide who is best suited for presidency of the US, but what theological beliefs one posseses or rather "exudes". Are we at the beginning of a new era in our country? When the seperation of church and state is nothing but a very blurred line? I think I'll put my lot in with the secular humanist, which Jimmy Carter was accused of being, even though he still considers himself an evangelical Christian. I know that in the truest sense of the word, he is, but the words seem to now carry a stigma. Just like the word Christianity. Everybody is a Christian now because it is socially excepted. That is why those that are really Christian have started using the term "Christ-follower". It sort of shocks the senses a little and causes some to ask quesitons, which I guess is the point. Sorry about the rabbit trail I was just on. Well to close I would like to say we all need to be shocked back into reality and take a step back and see what is happening all around us. When will the cycle be broken? I hope soon.

Sim CP

Good Idea!

I have been visiting a church trying to find a community to join. This morning the preacher said that he wanted all the "lifestyle referees" to put up their uniforms, give up the whistles, and close the locker room door. In other words, STOP JUDGING PEOPLE!! He said that we need to be concerned with the inside of a person and not their outside, which I know to be true, but I need to be reminded. This week I will spend more time focusing on the inside of a person instead of judging them for their lifestyle or shortcomings. Lord, help me to see your creation as You do.

Sim CP

Vader & Earl Voice Over Fun


You have to be a fan of James Earl Jones movies and Star Wars to appreciate this. If you are, this will hurt your sides.

How Star Wars Should had ended


Because I am a Star Wars fan, I don't spend a lot of time of plot holes, but this one is pretty funny. Check out the creators website: www.howitshouldhaveended.com, especially if you are a movie fan. Very well done sketches.

Morality

I liked Don Miller's book "Blue like Jazz" so much, that I found and read another of his books, "Searching for God Knows What". He uses a metaphor nearly through out the entire book, off and on, about being in a lifeboat. It came from a class he was in. His teacher asked them if one person in a lifeboat had to been thrown out, who would be? Each person in the lifeboat was from different classes, ethnicities, ages, etc. The class had to choose someone to throw out and give reasons for their choice. He discovered that not only was the lifeboat "project" very difficult if not impossible, but that Jesus came and said, "Don't worry about being thrown out of the lifeboat, there is no lifeboat." In fact, Don says that His saying there was no lifeboat is what got Him into the most trouble with the affluent people. Jesus challenged the social structure of His day and paid the ultimate price, death. Miller said, "...one group, the moral group, is at odds with another group, the immoral group, and the fight is about dominance in a fallen system rather than rescue from a fallen system." That statement stayed with me for nearly an entire day.
Later,Don Miller referred to Paul and his pre and post Damascus Road experiences. Paul was convinced he was doing the right thing by waging war against those he had perceived were in the "wrong" and deserved to be thrown out of the lifeboat. He really thought He was doing God a favor, doing God's will. On Mars Hill, Paul doesn't label the Athenians as pagan and attack, he actually compliments them as "spiritual" and quotes some of there own literature. How refreshingly different from the "moral guard" of today's America. I'll end with a C.S.Lewis quote, "Most of us are not really approaching the subject in order to find out what Christianity says: We are approaching it in the hope of finding support from Christianity for the views of our party. We are looking for an ally where we are offered either a Master or -- a Judge." How true that is.

Sim CP

Blue Like Jazz

Just got finished reading "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller. Very good book. There is something in the writing that really resonates with me. The writer being from Houston, and me so close by in Louisiana, helps that connection I suppose. I told my wife last night that I didn't want to sound egotistical, but that I felt that I could have wrote this book. Not because I am talented, I am not a writer, more like a quick sketch artist maybe, but not a writer. I guess what I meant was, if I were a talented writer like Don Miller, that I think I could have wrote this book. Mainly because it was like listening to my story, my spiritual journey in words. He is not like me in lots of ways, he isn't married (or so he isn't at the publication of this book), doesn't live near hear anymore, Portland, goes to a pretty emergent sounding church, but we have shared some of the same things. He started life in institutional church and learned all the Sunday School stories. Led youth for a time. But something happened. I light came on at some point, and the questions haven't stopped. I really understand exactly what that is like. It's really hard to explain in words, but if you have experienced it, there is no doubt you understand what that means. John Ortberg's endorsement says, "Its hard to find people who write about God from a position of commitment but still sound as if they are being human and honest...". I guess that's why I liked it so much. It's raw, funny, real. I definitely recommend this book to anyone.

SIM CP

Forgiveness

Recently my mom was taking a class on letting go of the past or something similar to that and she felt led to do some visiting and settling of the past to make the future more livable. What is forgiveness but letting yourself move on past the offense. Anyway, it seems that the first visit to my sister-in-law went well. I know that being apart of a family is difficult. There are ups and downs. Different personalities clashing. Similar ones wrestling for stage time. The most rewarding and yet most vulnerable people group on the planet. If we can all learn that we are on the same team, on each others side through it all, we will be much better off. All in all, I think if they will be open and honest with each other in all situations, the healing will begin and that is a beautiful thing.
The second visit to my pawpaw's house was not so good though. To save you the awful details, the short story is little communication has taken place between he and our immediate family over a 14 year period. To be fair, my mom has sent him letters, cards, etc. My brother has visited and sent pictures and letters. I have done none of the above. Several years ago, I felt that it was time to visit and if nothing else give forgiveness a try. My mom and I had decided that we would go, but when she called, he told us not to bother he would not be there and that we were dead to him. I guess I could have tried a bit harder to go, but I know that I have forgiven him. To get back to the visit, my mom said that he was asking her to leave, that she wasn't welcome there, from the moment she got there. His wife, not my grandmother who passed away in '89, has from the beginning pitted him against him own family. She and he are so caughtup in unforgiveness, they have not moved ahead in life for 14 years. All they could do was bring up the past, in detail, another sign of immovability from the past.
The two visits had different results. One hopefully will heal quickly and the other in all probably will never heal. That is what happens when we become transparent and invite others to join us in forgiveness.

Right? Left? Middle?

I am reading Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy. It is a lengthy book and even though I consider myself an accomplished reader, have not been able to get through 60 pages in a week. It is slam full of information, so much so, that I find myself re-reading several things just to try and get some of it. One thing that I did read today was worth noting here in the ol' blog.
He has been discussing Christian right and left theologies. Right wingers focus heavily on life after death and lefties on social action. Willard points out rightly that both come up short. The closest he finds to the Gospel is kingdom life now.
He sites that the "system is perfectly designed to yield the result [we] are getting". He even goes as far as to say that it would be foolishness to expect anything different than what we have got based on the basic message of the church as it is heard today.
Again he says, "We who profess Christianity will believe what is constantly presented to us a gospel. If gospels of sin management (I really like that phrase as a definition of the Christian message of today) are preached, they are what Christians will believe. And those in the wider world who reject those gospels will believe that what they have rejected is the gospel of Jesus Christ himself--when, in fact, they haven't yet heard it."
He says that the result is human souls left to shrivel and die because they have not been given the message central to the New Testament, the kingdom of eternal life, now.
What is the answer? A return to learning, teaching, preaching, the Kingdom of God by the church to its followers. As I remember it, Jesus said that if we would seek the Kingdom of God first, all other things, life after death and social action included, will be added at there appropriate places.
"...return to your first love" said Jesus to the church at Ephesus.

Sim CP

M.O.C.

I haven't gotten back to the previously discussed matter of Michael and his boyfriend. I have been again visiting this hot button of today's Christianity, and again I am at a crossroads. I am not a advocate of same sex relationships. I don't see a time when I will participate in a rally for homosexuals. With that being said, I do see people with same sex partners as human beings with just as many rights as you and I have. They are not the same as some of us may be when it comes to likes and dislikes of spouses, intimate "friends", etc., but does that make them wrong? The biggest problem for me is that most people who call themselves Christians don't represent Christ at all when it comes to homosexuals or on a broader stroke, people different from themselves. Why is it that I, as a male, don't find other males attractive in a "sexual" sense? Is it because I am wired the "right" way and those others are wired "wrong"? If that is the question, why is God wiring people wrong? Is it that they are just rebellious towards God? Aren't we all? (I told you I am at a crossroads). As I said earlier, my biggest problem is with Christian heterosexuals who, in the name of Jesus, belittle and vilify homosexuals. I believe it was Jesus who said that people who had not found life in Him would recognize those that had by their...what is it again?....oh, yeah, LOVE.

Does Sin Seperate Us From God?

Sitting at Emmanuel Baptist Church this morning, during children's church no less (I always seem to understand that more), the leader made a statement that today seemed to jump out to me. The statement was "sin seperates us from God". I began to think about that statement as I never have before. If I understand Jesus' statement that He was in fact God in the flesh, then the statement of seperation from Him because of sin doesn't have a place. Jesus hung out with people of ill-repute more than any other people group. If my sin seperates me from God, how could Jesus be so connected to...anybody. Are we not all sinners? When are we "sinless" enough to commune with God? IF what I understand God as I think I do, He is not seperated from us because of sin, He loves us all the more. As far as God turning His face from Jesus at His crucifixion because of the sins of the world being on Him, bulloney! God had sent Jesus to do just what He was doing. He couldn't have been more proud of His Son. Maybe the reason was it hurt God to see His Son in such agony and pain. I know if that was happening to my son, I would not want to watch it either. Could you?
Something else that I heard this morning during the Old Testament reading was in II Corinthians, the 7th chapter. The all to used verse of scripture that says that we are to follow X,Y, and Z conditions, then God hears us and helps. That reading of that scripture really bothered me today. I no longer see God as a tit-for-tat God. He doesn't have a sin-o-meter , like Spencer Burke form The Ooze calls it, keeping track of all our short-comings. Maybe we are the scorekeepers or our...er...other's sins.

Sim CP

M.O.C. continued...

Father Capon gave what he calls a three "booby-trap" problem with trying to put someone back on "the right track". Someone contemplating suicide, having an abortion, or like our example, Helen, continuing an adulterous relationship, the principle job of the minister would seem to place them on the theoretical right track so he/she can become a non-sinner. First booby trap, that is not what the Gospel promotes. The Gospel says that Jesus came to save the sinners not remove the sin. The New Testament says that we are saved by grace through faith, not by frightening people into getting their act together. The second is, this approach puts all people who can't, won't, or don't get their lives together (and that includes all of us in one department or another at some time or another)outside of the forgiveness of God through Christ--a forgiveness that is offered sin notwithstanding, while we were still sinners. The last and probably the most lethal of the booby traps is our theology is based on systematic thought about what we believe. It is only as good as the system you invent to do your thinking with.
Tomorrow we will meet Michael. Michael has a problem in the romance department and visits Father Capon for some advice. The problem that most will have is who the romance is between. Michael and his boyfriend.

Sim CP

The Mystery of Christ

I am a day late on getting back to you on the question posted in my original post on the Mystery of Christ. Have you decided on what you would tell the adulterous women? It seemed a pretty obvious priestly answer to tell the women that she in fact is living in sin and should dissolve the relationship with the man that is not her husband. In fact, it was what she thought Father Capon would have said. Instead...
Father Capon asked her what she wanted to do about it. His reason? It really boiled down to what she wanted to do and there wasn't anything that he could say that would change that. Essentially, when we ask people questions, we are not looking for additional information. We are trying to find out who thinks like we do. If we get a response to a question that does not match up with our way of thinking, we simply disregard the information. Yeah, we may nod our heads and say quaint things like "I see your point" or "I hear what you are saying" but we are really just being polite. Really, we are looking for people who think exactly as we do already. Unique is the person that asks questions who really just wants answers, not alliances.
Getting back to Helen, she is of course bewildered by in all and even asks,"Aren't you supposed to tell me to quit sinning?". The answer is no. Who on this green earth is going to stop sinning? No one. It is impossible to quit sinning. Who are we kidding when we try? God is not fooled, and we shouldn't be either. Jesus did not come to remove sin. He came, in His words, to find and save the sinners. He knew that sin wasn't going anywhere, but He brought us the Gospel, the Good News. Do you know what the Good News is? It's not just forgiveness of debt, it's much more. It is the Mystery of Christ.
The Old Testament or Covenant if you wish, paints a rather unhealthy view of God. He is blood-thirsty, angry, malicious, killer of women and children, and if these characteristics were in any other "person", we would call them evil. Because I believe the bible is a evolving revelation of who God really is, this does not offend me. Jesus shows up at halftime and says to us, "Hey, man, if you can see me, and you'd have to be blind not to, you have seen the Father". Wait a minute, God is not going to kill me if I don't give the right sacrifice at the temple today? You mean God is not going to strike be with a lightening bolt if I sin? What are you saying Jesus? Are you crazy? You are hanging around with gluttons, sluts, cheaters, swindlers. You are a drunk, party goer with no conscience. Are we to believe that God is this way? Yes, He says to us. That is exactly who God is. A friend of the sinner. A forgiver and forgetter. He is saying to all of you, I don't care about this "transactional" relationship we have going on. This tit-for-tat stuff has got to go. I love you as you are!! I made you this way, why are you trying to be something else. I realize that you are sinful and will continue to sin, but I don't care! I still love you!
Helen, as well as anyone who is living in "transactional" religion, is dumbfounded by this news. It sounds to good to be true. It can't be that simple. But that dear reader is exactly what it is, Good News.
Tomorrow I will try to be a little clearer on this subject to the Mystery of Christ, but in the mean time don't discount what has been said here just yet. If you unconvinced, please continue to read.

Till then,
SIM CP

Superman Returns

Went to see the movie tonight and because I don't want to spoil it for anybody, I have but a few words to say (and so that I don't offend anybody, I will use the official KJV)....DAMNETH that was awesometh!!

Sim CP

The Mystery of Christ...& why we don't get it by Robert Farrar Capon

I have begun to read the book mentioned in the title after I saw it mentioned in the afterwards of Rob Bell's book Velvet Elvis.
So far, it has been a great book. Robert Capon is an Episcopal priest and a very good author. He has laid out his book this way. The odd number chapters are real life counseling sessions he has had through his ministry (names and places changed of course). The even numbered chapters are a "conversation" between the reader and himself as he ventures to answer questions that he thinks will be raised from the previous chapter.
The first two chapter "session" deals with his counsel of a women having an affair. She comes close to loosing her daughter and makes an "agreement" with God that if He'd let her daughter make it through she would stop having the affair. The question to the minister is since her daughter has made it through the ordeal, does she have to keep her "agreement" with God about the affair.
What would you say to her?
His response tomorrow.

SIM CP