Posts
Friends,
Hopefully, over the next few days I will be getting myself back it the habit of sharing thoughts and questions here. So, please stay tuned.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Friday, April 1, 2011
the game changer-
I just love it when I hear people say "all I know is what the Bible says."
This is usually said by 'church people,' and by folk who generally don't know a ton about the scriptures and seem to remember selective things from Sunday School such as:
Homo's go to hell
The Bible says only men can be pastors, elders and deacons
Worship is to be this way, or that...
Well, when all the good people get raptured and go to Heaven...
etc.
...and that, of course, is what the Bible says. Very black and white - easy for the righteous to swallow and difficult for anyone outside 'the club' to understand.
What strikes me, is that the apostle Paul (writer of most of the latter part of the Bible), when writing to a church who is growing, learning and dealing with it's own divisions and issues, he says "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you but Christ, and him crucified."
Paul does not appeal to tradition, to the old law, or to what he remembers being taught as a child in synagogue! No, he appeals to the living Truth, the person of Jesus. To the one who saw the world as very black and white, but in a very different way. The way of moving in Him, towards truth and sincere faith, offering grace. Or, the way of the empire - exclusive, graceless, disquieting, co-opting, controlling.
Although life is not always so simple and often confusing - it may seem much safer for many of us to cling to hard and fast rules and try hard to appear on the good side of such rules, but Jesus calls us to something different. To a relationship with the Living God. Something much more difficult to trust in, to move with, to respond to.
But Paul says it plainly - I claim to follow the living Truth, Jesus, not simply a written law.
..that is much harder - but how much richer the life in that way, the way of Jesus.
This is usually said by 'church people,' and by folk who generally don't know a ton about the scriptures and seem to remember selective things from Sunday School such as:
Homo's go to hell
The Bible says only men can be pastors, elders and deacons
Worship is to be this way, or that...
Well, when all the good people get raptured and go to Heaven...
etc.
...and that, of course, is what the Bible says. Very black and white - easy for the righteous to swallow and difficult for anyone outside 'the club' to understand.
What strikes me, is that the apostle Paul (writer of most of the latter part of the Bible), when writing to a church who is growing, learning and dealing with it's own divisions and issues, he says "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you but Christ, and him crucified."
Paul does not appeal to tradition, to the old law, or to what he remembers being taught as a child in synagogue! No, he appeals to the living Truth, the person of Jesus. To the one who saw the world as very black and white, but in a very different way. The way of moving in Him, towards truth and sincere faith, offering grace. Or, the way of the empire - exclusive, graceless, disquieting, co-opting, controlling.
Although life is not always so simple and often confusing - it may seem much safer for many of us to cling to hard and fast rules and try hard to appear on the good side of such rules, but Jesus calls us to something different. To a relationship with the Living God. Something much more difficult to trust in, to move with, to respond to.
But Paul says it plainly - I claim to follow the living Truth, Jesus, not simply a written law.
..that is much harder - but how much richer the life in that way, the way of Jesus.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Recently we spent a weekend up north with some friends. Getting away from the daily grind of life was so good and waking up next to a beautiful northern lake always gives one perspective.
Later on, during conversation with our friends we mentioned that if we had the whole house buying process thing to do over again - we'd do it totally differently. Get a different house, in a different place, probably older, more character etc. Well, it turns out our friends said they often thought similar things, only the antithesis: about a house, newer, easier to keep up etc.
Paul, the dude responsible for the a good part of the Bible, wrote about being content. In a strange land full of conservative, dutch, "church-people," this can be tough to do.
We are currently going through a daily mediation series for Lent. It talks about the desert and wondering why God brought us here and how our pain and discouragement works with him being a loving God and all that.
I don't know if I have any great insights yet, but I know we'll come through this and in the process; maybe even be excited to live in our current home.
Later on, during conversation with our friends we mentioned that if we had the whole house buying process thing to do over again - we'd do it totally differently. Get a different house, in a different place, probably older, more character etc. Well, it turns out our friends said they often thought similar things, only the antithesis: about a house, newer, easier to keep up etc.
Paul, the dude responsible for the a good part of the Bible, wrote about being content. In a strange land full of conservative, dutch, "church-people," this can be tough to do.
We are currently going through a daily mediation series for Lent. It talks about the desert and wondering why God brought us here and how our pain and discouragement works with him being a loving God and all that.
I don't know if I have any great insights yet, but I know we'll come through this and in the process; maybe even be excited to live in our current home.
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