Still true...

I just read this quote that resonates with something deep inside me. When I looked at the source - Jim Wallis I was not surprised. I have respected his observations. But when I looked at the date I was amazed. 1976. That was the year I was married. So young, so full of ... idealism.

I was going to say, this is even more true today than it was in 1976. But something true can't be "more true". Better to say I see this clearer today than I did back in 1976.

The quote that struck me this morning...

“The renewal of the church will come not through a recovery of personal experience or straight doctrine, nor through innovative projects of evangelism or social action, nor in creative techniques or liturgical worship, nor in the gift of tongues, nor in new budgets, new buildings, and new members. The renewal of the church will come about through the work of the Spirit in restoring and reconstituting the church as a local community whose common life bears the marks of radical obedience to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

“Practically, this means a clear recognition that the demands of obedient discipleship will bring us into conflict with the ordinary social values and normal patterns of the world systems which continually seek to fashion us into their image and conform us to their molds.”

Jim Wallis, Agenda for Biblical People, 1976

I like this Gladys....

I don't have a cemetery plot but I think I found what you can put on my gravestone...

On the culture of debt...

Lifted this straight from Andrew Jones blog (TallSkinnyKiwi) ---

"The only cultures which have NOT been marked by debt have been Biblical cultures, and, with the rejection of the Bible, we should expect the return of the culture of debt – indeed the return of culture of debt was and is inevitable, with all its disastrous consequences. But there is always hope because we are called in every generation on this earth, to the struggle for faith, righteousness and peace.

... the global culture of debt, which is a consequence of a global culture of greed, has been overcome in the past by the actions of our outstanding spiritual ancestors from the Radical Reformers to William Wilberforce. And the good news is that the global culture of greed and debt can be overcome again"

Professor Prabhu Guptara, Executive Director, Organisation Development in Switzerland, from the speech "The Global Culture of Debt" given 20 Sep, 2008.

The dream we dream most....

On this night of hope and salvation
One child lies embraced in a dream
Where each man regardless of station
On this night can now be redeemed

Where every man regardless of his nation
Ancestral relations
On this night the past can fly away

And that dream we've dreamed most
That every child is held close
On this night that dream won't be betrayed

All as one
Raise your voices!
Raise your voices!
All as one
On this Christmas day!

All rejoice
Raise your voices!
Raise your voices!
All rejoice
Anno domine!

On this night when no child's forgotten
No dream sleeps where he cannot see
No man here is misbegotten
And this night's dreams are still yet to be

Where every man regardless of his nation
Ancestral relations
On this night the past can fly away

And that dream we've dreamed most
That every child is held close
On this night that dream won't be betrayed

All as one
Raise your voices!
Raise your voices!
All as one
On this Christmas day!

All rejoice
Raise your voices!
Raise your voices!
All rejoice
Anno domine!


















Transiberian Orchestra "Anno Domine"
Paul O'Neil songwriter

Blogging Thru Revelation - What I Don't Understand

Be sure to check out Paul's contribution on "Escapism" here.

I am more and more convinced this a damaging "doctrine" - it certainly sidetracks the mission of God and thus is close to heresy. It is amazing to me that when a book like "The Shack" comes out - people cry heresy on its view of the Trinity (another word not in the Bible) even though the story is clearly presented as fiction. Yet books like the "Left Behind" series don't get that kind of scrutiny. It really puzzles me that it is a bigger "offense" to "mess" with the Trinity than it is to "mess up" His mission.

As we get into this study in Revelation Paul list some important reasons why we should look into this book so be sure to check his post and the blurb from NT Wright he cites.

Blogging Through Revelation - Part 4

Post - Awakening Views

"Post-Awakening" is kind of misnomer here - I'm still "awakening" - learning, discovering, growing. I used the "pre", "mid", and "post" prefixes to divide up my story in an order that seems to make some sense as I reflect on how my views on the end-times have formed and changed over the years. And I hoped you all would think I was clever using these prefixes that usually end up in these eschatalogical discussions.

Probably a better title for this section of my story would be "The Great Reversal". The major shift in my view in the end times has to with a "reversal" of where the earth ends up in the "end of time". Let me try to explain...

Even though I considered myself a Post-triber which viewed the "rapture" (the term is NOT in the Bible) as a welcoming party for Jesus return/second coming to earth I still had the impression that when Jesus came back the earth was doomed, done, over with - destroyed. OK - maybe we got to live here for a 1,ooo years but still - the earth was eventually going to be caput.

But I'm starting to see that God's plan has always been for heaven to come to earth. Hey, yeah, duh - Jesus even taught us to pray this way - Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

I'm starting to see that the beginning of time ties in COMPLETELY with the end of time. Genesis and Revelation go together. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega - the beginning and the end - the first (you can think of Creator and creation here) and the last (you can think of Consummation, the summing up, the pulling together of all things here). What He had planned in the beginning for creation -even before creation - is going to be fulfilled.

The book of Revelation ends with heaven coming to earth and with God dwelling among His people. Amazing! This God - always coming to us! I always thought it was the other way - someday I would be dwelling where God was in heaven out there some place. And that's true EXCEPT - the way Revelation shows it - God comes to us. God does take me to live with Him and he chooses to make His dwelling among men, on earth. He brings heaven to earth. His kingdom comes, His will is done on earth.

I've also come to see that God's "plan of salvation" isn't just the saving of souls for heaven. His salvation, his redemption is for the whole WORLD which includes the earth, as well as its people and creatures - ALL of creation.

I'm also coming to see that the book of Revelation doesn't chart things out like this...


My thinking in these "post-awakening" time has been helped in a large part through reading Brian McClaren's "A New Kind of Christian" trilogy - particularly "The Story We Find Ourselves In" (which is one of the very few books I have ever read more than once) and "The Last Word - And the Word After That". Rob Bell has also been very helpful in tying in Revelation with Genesis.

I'm looking forward to getting into this study with my friends Paul and Ben.

How sweet it is...

Hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend. I managed to avoid laboring at home as we took a quick trip to Lakeside - "the Chautauqua on Lake Erie". My mom has a cottage up there and while we are always welcome to come it seems like we don't get a chance to do that much. In 24 hours I did all kinds of memorable stuff:

• Rode with Christian on the old tandem to Marblehead (right "next door" to Lakeside) to see the lighthouse.
  
• Sat on the rocks at Marblehead and watched the roller coasters on Cedar Point climb their frames.
• Played shuffleboard on the world-class courts at Lakeside.
• Remained victorious over my boys in the shuffleboard.
• Played mini-golf on the course only about 50 feet from Lake Erie at Lakeside. The weather was perfect, the scene picturesque - I was with my boys - I can't say how "perfect" it felt.
  
• Remained respectable at mini-golf. (I parred the course -even got a hole-in-one -but lost by one stroke to my youngest son).
• Took lots of walks - several with my mother.
• Watch Christian juggle Lake Erie rocks as the waves rolled in.
  
• Ate good food outside. (I love eating outside).
• Ate Patio donuts. If you've never had a Patio donut (from the Patio Restaurant in Lakeside) you would be missing out - they are only served warm - right after they're made - their cake doughnuts beat Krispie Cremes! I'm sure it's the grease but they sure are good.
  
• Got to see fireworks over the Lake - they have a ceremony to close out the season at Lakeside - my brother-in-law Chip played at this closing, as well. It's always fun to watch him do his music!

It was a relaxing 24 hours and I return home thankful and blessed.