Holy Crap…(time flies)

I just had sort of a flashback.  I’m sitting in the Westridge Mall in Fargo ND (as if there were ‘ridges’ in Fargo) in about the exact spot that I started my rather sporadic blogging career somewhere in 2004 or so.

I was looking for my “Call”; God’s direction for my life and what I was to do to serve Him.  I began that year locating telephone cable and ended the year working as a Services Coordinator for Synstelien Community Services.  My last post to this blog (prior to this) was made in October of 2008.

In early November of 2008 I was given the responsibilities and title of Executive Director for Synstelien Community Services, a position I’ve held and started to grow into these past eight months.

Capitalism, Socialism & Materialism…What I Learned from Che…

It’s interesting to me that capitalists, socialists and communists all believe that a person’s life-status can best be determined by their wealth.  Basically they are all varying approaches to materialism.  Christians are (called to be) different.

I Never Want to Let a Sentence Go…

I have a comma, problem I am addicted to semicolons; not to mention ellipses…and dashes – I also put two spaces after each sentence (and don’t forget parenthetic comments).

But this is how I think.  My economy is “One Sentence = One Thought”.  I can’t let go of the sentence before I let go of the thought.  Commas, semicolons, ellipses, dashes and parentheses are all means of hanging onto the sentence until I’m done with the thought; two spaces at the end of the sentence are a staccato statement “Take! That!”.

My love for the sentence is second only to my love for words and barely precedes my devotion to paragraphs.  These three are the framework of thoughts; chapters are the containers of concepts and books the repository of ideas…which are to us as we are to God.

We are His books; and in our lives he assembles our chapters of growth from His words, sentences and paragraphs of Love.

Christo-politico right-think?

I went off on a Christianity Today survey this afternoon.  It’s here (look in “all user reviews”). Basically the test seemed to assess how well one is able to navigate Churchianity Correct (CC) language.

Quote…

Brian Jones…

Here’s a simple fact: most Bible consuming Christians I’ve met over the years have been painfully arrogant.

No-one is as spiritual as they are.

They confuse Bible knowledge with spiritual maturity.

They’ve turned the study of scripture into a recreational hobby, as if the act of studying the Bible itself is what pleases God.

And worst of all, they’ve committed the most subtle form of idolatry of all – they’ve replaced the centrality of the risen Jesus in their life with a book that talks about the risen Jesus.

The Question Forms the Answer…

I was listening to a Speaking of Faith podcast this morning on the way to work.  John Polkinghorne was being interviewed; the title of the podcast was Quarks and Creation.  I heartily recommend it.

Rev. Dr. Polkinghorne was discussing how our questions form answers; he gave the example of the difficulty that physicists encountered when trying to determine whether light was a ‘wave’ or a ‘particle‘.  He (thankfully) simply stated that when ‘wave questions’ were asked, light behaved as a ‘wave’ and when ‘particle questions’ were asked, light behaved as a ‘particle’.

This resonated with me (there may be a pun there but I don’t know enough about physics to be sure).

Behavioral Skills Coaching for Christians

1. Self-Effacing Statements of Ignorance.

One of the most convenient ways to present yourself as deeply spiritual is to make self-effacing comments that enhance your spirituality. This is really quite easy, here’s an example:

“You know I have to confess, I’m really quite ignorant when it comes to evolution.”

This is a really simple example of how to deploy this skill. First you start with a confession, which everybody knows is ‘good for the soul’. Let’s first take a look at how this confessional opening is framed; “You know I have to confess…”. This is a personal and confidential aside that belies deep reluctance. You could as well have said “I really wouldn’t say this to very many people, but in order to be the fine, upstanding spiritually mature Christian that I am I really need to say what I’m going to say”.

Next, wow. The pivotal statement, the core confession; “I’m really quite ignorant.” Now here’s the spiritual juxtaposition; if one were to say “I’m really quite learned…” one could be rightfully accused of pride and self-centeredness. These four simple words turn this whole sentence around as we will clearly demonstrate in just a moment…because here’s the deal…

There are few things that are more spiritual to be ignorant about than evolution. I mean you could say ‘pre-marital sex’ or ‘the dating habits of lesbians’ but let’s face it, every Christian should know a bit about those two issues so as to effectively lament recent social decay.  The totally cool thing about being ignorant of evolution is that there is simply nothing you need to know about it other than that it’s bad.

It’s the most spiritual ignorance there is.

Skills or Gifts?

As a Jesus follower I often struggle with how to balance my thinking about my skills (i.e., what I’ve learned through experience) with my gifting (i.e., what God has sovereignly placed in me). Henri Nouwen, in this devotional, offers some wisdom on maintaining a thoughtful balance…

Being Humble and Confident

As we look at the stars and let our minds wander into the many galaxies, we come to feel so small and insignificant that anything we do, say, or think seems completely useless. But if we look into our souls and let our minds wander into the endless galaxies of our interior lives, we become so tall and significant that everything we do, say, or think appears of great importance.

We have to keep looking both ways to remain humble and confident, humorous and serious, playful and responsible. Yes, the human person is very small and very tall. It is the tension between the two that keeps us spiritually awake.

Not an Organization?

I receive a daily email devotional from the Henri Nouwen Society. Like any other devotional (or life itself) there are good days, great days and awesome days. My understanding is that these devotionals are gathered from Henri’s writings and Henri’s thoughts provoke my own. This morning the thought provoked had to do with thinking of the church as a mere organization.

Which, obviously, it is not (only); the church is (also, primarily and most importantly) the Body of Christ.

I work for an organization that is not the church. In this organization there are many members of the Body of Christ (aka “the church”) and many non-members. Every day, as members and non-members, we together perform many of the functions that are the ‘calling’ or ‘duty’ of the church; caring for widows and orphans, demonstrating love for one another, listening, teaching, learning, belonging, caring and empowering.

And each week we go to various buildings we call “churches” to “worship” (meaning praying, singing, preaching and fellowship). This seems an odd juxtaposition.

But this is our tradition; to parse the “work” and “worship” of the church (as if).

Learning…

Over the past few days I’d entertained some thoughts about taking some classes at our local community college. My thoughts were sparked by a craving I’d entertained a few days earlier as I read a Concordia College events schedule. I felt a strong urge to be in a place where there were opportunities engage with others in deep thought and intellectual exploration. I’ve been downloading and enjoying lectures from iTunesU; I dreamed that I could take a class each day, even flex my work hours a bit to accommodate.

This evening I spent some time on local college’s website and discovered that there was not much that I was really interested in. It occurred to me that though I’ve no degree neither am I an undergraduate student. Then later as I drove about a bit I realized more fully that my other-driven educational days are over. The thought of spending $138.10 per credit hour nauseated me; especially when Reformed Theological Seminary, Stanford University and Yale (for Pete’s sake) are distributing free lecture via iTunes.

I spend 45 minutes a day commuting back and forth to work; in the next year I should be able to listen to courses in Theological Foundations, Intro to Pastoral and Theological Studies, Pastoral and Social Ethics, and a History of Philosophy and Christian Thought…all from Reformed Theological Seminary. This would all be preferable to the offerings of my local CC. I know that it’s not the same as actually taking those courses, but I am an audio learner and will gain a lot from listening each day.