Will be preaching this Sunday @RCC about vocation and the theology of work. It’s also a great topic to gripe – err.. blog about. Sure people have a love / hate relationship with their work – where do u stand? I’d love to hear from you as I put my sermon together based on Ecclesiastes 2:11 – 24; perhaps your story will even find its way into the message. But tell me – do you love / hate what you do, and why?
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This photo just ruins me.
I just want to hold the father and weep with him. You know what we have today is akin to the story of Esther – in which the day of Jewish extermination turned into the day of Jewish vengeance. Gaza is the modern-day Esther story. And like Esther, there is nothing holy about what Israel did in turning around and massacring her enemies. Isn’t it more clear already by now the injustice that is occurring in the so-called “Holy Land” is not just inhumanitarian, but flagrantly unreligious? How could this be the people of God doing these things? The following photos MUST be seen by the world. Proceed at your own risk – they are gruesome – but they must be seen. Read more…
Apparently he’s in the news again, with rumors of making some kind of comeback via documentaries. While the past few years have been rough on him – some say the homosexual-bashing conservative evangelical deserved it – I don’t see what he’s trying to accomplish with a public statement – perhaps some vindication. You gotta feel bad for the guy – his life, vocation, future, promise, career, possibly family life – all destroyed. As a pastor myself I am sad for him, but at the same time I don’t know why he’s trying to get in the spotlight again – no one ever really recovers from these things. But the real question is – how did this ever even happen in the first place? Did he have any accountability or any confessor at all? Was he alone in his struggles? And how much imbalance did he have in his life to get to the point where he was using crystal meth and seeking out prostitutes? I know first-hand the hardships of pastoral ministry – but someone tell me -
how does somebody get like that?
No better way to get the year started, aye?
Instigated by my recent foray into the theology of the Old Testament under professor Ian Provan, I found myself fascinated by a number of things – his perspective on Ezra / Nehemiah / Esther for one – but also the look into the wisdom lits, particularly Song of Songs. Long been held an allegorical reading of the love of Christ for the Church, I’ve always walked away thinking that was a stretch; it always seemed to me a pretty obvious picture of one thing: eros. Defining songs as allegorical just never really convinced me as I can’t seem to see that as the author’s intent. At any rate this is not so much about splitting hermeneutical hairs as much as it is about the deep redemptive value of a theology on sex; Songs has the potential to address the neurotic dysfunctionalism of our view on sex today; the problem is the allegorical message of Christ and the church keeps getting in the way – it seems to be blinding us to the more obvious – the literal interpretation of songs as a theology on the “healing of sex”. But at any rate:
Is there indeed, such a thing as a “theology of sex”? Is it in there, in the text? Is it an a priori of secularism? Is it relevant, devotional-type material? Can you make heads or tails of it? Does it speak to the church or the individual?
Palestinian children sit in a car with its rear window broken after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Sunday.
As I am currently writing a paper on Zionism / dispensationalism, bombs have been raining on Palestine for the past few days. How timely.
It is a complex issue that burns deeper than geo-politics – it goes into “divinely bestowed” land claims; and issues of humanitarianism. I cannot claim to be an expert on the delicate subject of Middle East politics but I cannot help but wince as I know that distant cousins in the religious right are cheering for Israel as bombs rain down on the Gaza strip. To be fair Hamas is contributing its fair share of violence but I can’t help but get the feeling one is bullying the other here. I may not be an expert on geopolitics but I think I know a thing or two about religious motivation – and there is nothing religious about this conflict at all. It’s misguided.
If you are a person of faith, may I ask where you stand on this issue?
Apparently has taken both #1 and #2 spots in the UK top ten. One version by Leonard Cohen and the other by Buckley. I first heard it (Cohen’s version) on CBC radio 1 (think =Canadian NPR) and was immediately mesmerized; transfixed. It was a ghostly haunting song – beautiful. And for some reason it so embodies Christmas. Do ya think? What’s on your Christmas playlist? Read more…
While Rick Warren has no problem making headlines, I think Obama’s recent selection of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration is going to propel Warren even more into the spotlight and a really important position, more than ever before. Love him or hate him – he’s going to be an important figure. Here’s why. Read more…
As it is pouring snow outside and I anticipate a few days of complete silence and confinement I turn my thoughts towards devotion:
Whatever your faith practice is, how do u begin your mornings? Read more…
Which is a fancy-schmancy way of saying “What is church?”
So contribute your thoughts, perhaps it will land in (or influence) the paper I am writing now titled, “The Kingdom As Church”. What is church? Is it a congregation? An established institution? Is it static and theoretical or dynamic, mission-birthed, people-oriented? Do you jive with the polemics of the progressive anti-institutional intelligentsia or do you prefer the familiarity of the old forms, traditions, liturgy, patterns? My answer to that question would be “yes, and…” but at any rate…
Further ponderings on the “success” question.
Some may disagree but I think there is a legit need to define quantifiable progress in church / missionary endeavor. Sure numbers are not everything but I think it’s necessary to know what is the telos of our work. A paradigm of mission is needed. Do we do good for goodness’ sake or is there a deeper reason? Before you fire off and say “Why? Do we always need a reason to do good?” I would say place yourself in my shoes of shutting down a dream and re-ask that question. Why do good if in the end it doesn’t happen? Why do good if in the end your efforts leave you discouraged, burned out, sucker-punched? Of course we could say with Mother Teresa, “do good anyway” – but that is not enough. There must be a telos to all of our frenetic religious activity. There must be quantifiable results. What are we driving at / towards? We must be able to answer that question. And the answer must be bigger than us. So what do I think is the telos of all missional / missionary activity? Read more…
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