Faith Reflections in Century 21

Heterosexuals Not Allowed To Marry

2012-02-21T15:38:00.000-08:00

Heterosexuals have proven they are unfit for marriage! Their history of infidelity, abuse, viciousness, emotional coldness, using sex as a weapon, and (generally in the USA) failing to provide a safe, nutritious diet for their children is bad enough. But they are also predatory. The vast majority of men are “on the prowl” when they go away from home, and probably a simple majority are looking for someone to bed even when living at home. Heterosexual men and women prey on children, adolescents and people of maturity. Heterosexual men and women prey on high school students, middle school students and some (admittedly, a few) prey on very young children.

It’s wrong. It’s not natural. One man, one woman, ‘till death do us part, is what the church teaches is natural, right and good. Clearly, the majority of heterosexuals are not in the will of God, and should be prohibited from the sacred sacrament of marriage.

Aren’t these some of the arguments used to deny homosexuals the right to marry?

The Above is a Parody. See “Reflections on a Parody”.

What do you think? Submit a comment and let us know.

Reflecting on a Parody - Feelings

2012-02-21T14:03:00.000-08:00

A good friend commented on my recent post about heterosexuals not being allowed to marry. He was taken aback by the harsh tone. I explained that it is a parody of the kind of things people say as a rationale for denying gay and lesbian people the right to marry. On reflection I added the phrase to the blog, "This is a parody".

I reflected some more. Many of us who are know gay and lesbian folks know them as grandmas and grandpas, kindly souls, gentle souls, folks who are easy to be around. Keep that in mind.

Then keep my friend's concern that I was being harsh, painting heterosexual men as scumbags, unfaithful, etc. That would hurt a lot of good guys in churches we know.

I kept reflecting through a couple of games of Solitaire. If that would hurt these heterosexual men, what feelings do gay and lesbians feel when they read such things about "all homosexuals" and "all gay men", and so forth?

I reflected that it is fairly normal to feel concern for the tender feelings of our heterosexual friends and forget that homosexual people have the same feelings when they are unfairly painted with a brush coated in slime.

Hmmm. Do you suppose that all humans feel hurt, resentful, and even angry when lumped in to a generalization that doesn't describe them? Might God resent the way his kids are being tarred?

What do you think? Leave a comment and let us know.

The Size of Faith

2012-02-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

With death staring us in the face most of the time, I wonder if people’s faith is large enough. Let me clarify.

I know a number of people who have enough faith to believe God could heal someone they know and care about. Sometimes they have to “pump up” that faith by meditating, reading Bible verses, praying and fasting. O.K. I think that’s cool.

Sometimes their faith stops right there. They seem deeply afraid of death. Death signifies defeat, disaster, lack of faith, or a poor self-image. The “size” of their faith is limited to life in this world.

Other people have looked death in the face and do not seem afraid of it. Their faith is something like this: “I am with God here and I will be with God hereafter, because God deeply respects and cares about me. And my family. And the world God created.”

Their faith goes beyond this life and into whatever comes after we stop living in this body in this life on planet Earth (or the moon or wherever we might find ourselves in the future). Death is not a defeat but a gateway, a transition time, an opporunity to get closer to God.

Granted, many religions use religious teaching to terrify people with the prospect of death. They sling guilt, thunder denunciations and threaten punishment (rather than consequences). And many of us have been brainwashed by such ranting, even when the ranting sounds sane and logical. But. . .

What is God like? Who has faith enough for the simple statement, “God is agape’ (love)? That is the true measure of one’s faith.

What do you think? Leave a comment and share with us.

Invisible

2012-01-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

Who is invisible?

Pastor Anne told the story of a pastor who worked with his upper-middle class congretaion in a Pennsylvania city. The neighborhood had changed from upper middle class to mostly blue-collar, Hispanic folks. He and the congregation had worked to simply befriend, get acquainted, participate in the community.

Some of the community who did landscaping, gardening and yard work wanted to express their appreciation and offered to spiff up the church grounds for Easter, on Easter. The pastor was delighted and said, "I don't know anything about landscaping, and can hardly work a shovel, but I want to help." They agreed.

On Easter morning they were all working as people came to the Easter service. No one recognized the pastor among the workers. They were all invisible. (Did I forget to mention that the pastor was from a country in Central America and "looked" just like the other workers?) They were all invisible in their work clothes and hoodies to the congregation until the pastor began saying, "Hi" to some of them.

No need to get on our high horse about the eyesight (vision) of the members of that church. The real faith question for century 2 is this: "Who is invisible to me? to you? Who is it you don't even know you can't see, don't see, and possibly do not want to see?

What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thinking with the rest of us.

Welfare and God

2012-01-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

The label “entitlement” is being used by conservative Christians for Medicare and Social Security. “Entitlement” is usually used as a label of nastiness. It seems one step removed from “welfare”. We know about “welfare moms” [sneer, sneer], and how lazy people on welfare are. They want someone else to pay their bills. How awful. They want others to do for them what they should be able to do for themselves.

And yet these conservative Christians pray. They ask God, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, to do things for them.

“Heal my child.”
“Help me get the job I want/need.”
“Watch over Aunt Madge.”
“Fill me, Lord.”
This list seems endless.

Sounds like hypocrisy to me. They want welfare. They want someone else (God) to do things for them, to provide things for them, that they should provide for themselves.

Amazing. Even more amazingis this. God invites us to pray. Jesus commanded his followers to pray. He taught people to seek welfare.

Could this conservative sneer be a sign of selfishness and disobedience. We really don’t want to be like God, and like God wants us to be?
Oh. Medicare? Social Security. We who receive their benefits paid into them for years. Often that Social Security deduction really, really hurt. Of course we are entitled!

What do you think? Leave your comment and let us know.

Biblical Discipleship in 2012 - Part Two

2012-01-14T13:45:00.000-08:00

Did you read the Gosepl of Mark straight through, between ten and 24 times? I hope so. Here are some questions to ponder if you have done so. If you haven't done the reading, turn away from your screen, grab a modern English version of the New Testament and do the reading. Good News for Modern Man, New International Version, The Message -- all are worthy translations for this project.

Questions worth pondering:

What are the followers of Jesus like? (skilled? have all the answers? compliant? wise? etc.)
What leadership style does Jesus use?
How important is it to "be right"?
If your boss in 2012 managed you like Jesus manages the disciples, how would you probably feel?

I find it helpful to

write down answers and impressions when I think about questions like these
talk with at least one other person about what I am thinking and learning

Try it. This could be an important route to faith in century 21, year 2012.

What do you think? What has been your experience? Leave a comment and let us know.

Biblical Discipleship in 2012

2012-01-14T13:37:00.000-08:00

I recommend people read the Gospel of Mark. Read it between ten and 24 times without reading any other passages of the Bible. Read the Gospel of Mark in one sitting, beginning to end. (It's short -- don't turn it into "verses" but read it as the story it was written to be.)
Think about it. Don't think about verses. Think about the story, like you would think about a movie story, or a story like "Sarah's Key". Think, then reflect, then wonder.

What about this story "grabs" you?
What about this story "bothers" you?
What about this story seems "contradictory" to you?

O.K. You are thinking, wondering, pondering -- the whole story. That's good. More tomorrow.

What do you think? What has been your experience? Leave a comment and let us know.

Faith and the Real World

2012-01-09T10:48:00.000-08:00

As I have gotten back into attending church, I ponder the connections and disconnects between my faith and the "real world". E.g., especially the institution of the church (it could be mosque, synagogue, temple, cathedral, etc.)

I am tempted to slide into thinking I don't need the gritty stuff of the world, and can live by by pure faith, whatever that might be. Instead I push myself back to the realization that I learned enough to have faith by reading the Bible (flawed), listening to church school teachers (very flawed, usually superstitious), and attending worship experiences in church buildings, by campfires, and on retreats (often manipulative, usually less than intellectually honest). The same is true for people of other faiths. No rabbi, no monk, no mosque, and no imam is free from prejudice, partial understanding and limits on what he or she knows.

the Real World -- it's all we have, even in century 21. Without it, our faith couldn't exist except as vague, amorphous wishful dreaming. But reconciling our yearning for a growing, deepening faith with the flaws in the real world can be difficult, if not impossible.

What do you think? What has been your experience? Leave a comment and let us know.

Should People of Faith Hate Perversion?

2012-01-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

I keep running into right wing folks -- Christian, Jews, Muslims -- who hate perverts. They can tell me explicitly what and who a pervert it. Usually it has something to do with the way one handles her or his sexuality. And, by golly, it turns out that we should HATE perverts. Keep them out. Expunge them. Destroy them. Deny them any rights of citizenship or humanity.
So, I got to wondering. Is it the duty of a person of faith to hate perverts?
If it is, must we expand or narrow our explicit description of a "pervert"?
For instance, if a person professes to be a loyal follower of Jesus, and hates a 'pervert', is that person a pervert? After all, Jesus said we should. . .

love our neighbors
love our brothers and sisters
love our enemies.

So, hating, backbiting, gossiping about, shunning, excluding up to murdering another human who might be a neighbor, brother, sister or enemy is a perversion of our profession of loyalty to Jesus.
Muslim folks tell me that the way of Islam is the way of Peace. I guess you see where I am going here. If a follower of Islam is not a person of peace, is that "follower" a pervert?
Jewish folks also talk about people people of "Shalom", or peace. Same question.
Or are perverts only people whose sexuality we happen to despise?

A Person of Faith and Science - part 2

2011-10-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

I said in my last piece that there are TWO stories in Genesis 1 & 2. There are, and if you outline them, it becomes very clear.
In the center is the creation of humans. That's the main point in the inverted parallel style of most eastern Mediterranean literature, including verbal literature. See Kenneth Bailey, "Poet and Peasant".

However, these two very different stories have been edited and combined into ONE story. That story emphasizes that all of us, including the human genus, are creatures, not gods. Cannot be gods. Will never be gods. Not to be worshiped. etc.

Careful scholars, who are derieded by the right wing of the Christian church, demonstrate this in their commentaries, monographs, books, etc. This is not news. The scholarly work dates back into the 1800's. However, the understanding of the literary styles of the eastern Mediterranean peoples is newer -- since the 1960s' and 1970's.

When people demand of me, "Do you take the Bible literally?" I usually answer, "Yes, if by 'literally' you mean as literature, following the conventions, rules of grammar, etc. of all literature. And I study it as literature, read it as literature, and work at continuing to understand it as translated literature, translated by people who never lived in that ancient culture and are still figuring out what the norms, conventions and so forth were.

As Kenneth Bailey said in a worshop, "Culture is what everybody knows and nobody knows. It's just there. Only an outsider can see it and identify it as culture. Insiders simply know that that's how things are."

What do you think? Post a comment and let us know.

A Person of Faith and a Person of Science

2011-10-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

If you do the following, have a pencil and paper and OUTLINE the story in writing.

1. Read Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a (the end of the story).

2. Read Genesis 2:4b - end of chapter 2.

If you are carefully outlining what do you notice?
Which story is the most accurate?
Which story "grabs" you the most?

======= Keep going =====>
Now, imagine this character, but much larger:
>
Imagine the upper left represents the first segment (first day of creation)

Imagine that the lower left represents the last segment of the Genesis 2 story.
Imagine that the pointy part, pointing RIGHT, is roughly 2:4a and 2:4b.

In the Mediterranean way of organizing thought, that POINTY area is the Main Point.

E.g., the point of the collation of the two legends, stories, etc. is that HUMANS were created by God.

Al, you ask, why is that important?

Ah! I say. Because way too many HUMANS were worshiped as gods. Pharoah comes to mind.
Ah! I say. Becasuse BAAL worship in Canaan was about worshiping a BULL But the Bull was created and Humans were to have dominion, not the superstitious way the Canaanites had it worked out.

These two stories (yes, there are TWO, not One, stories) are not about how the world was created, but that we are ALL, humans, animals, plants, sky, stars, sun -- created. Not meant to be worshiped. Creatures, not the creator.

Once you see that, you have a whole different take on what the Bible is up to, and don't need to abandon science at all.
What do you think? How is this helpful? Post your comment and let us know.

Which Perversion of the Faith?

2011-10-11T15:22:00.000-07:00

Which perversion of the faith you hold works best in the world?
Which perversion of the faith you belong to do you embrace?
Which perversion of the faith you claim does the most damage to others?
Which perversion of the faith you announce hates thinking the most?
Which perversion of the faith your were born into is the most facist?
Which perversion of the faith you live by guards personal freedoms best?

All these questions, and many others, make one assumption: all the faiths, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu or (you name it) are perverted by the time we work out what we believe and embrace and act upon.

What do you think? What do you think? Click on the little comment link to the right of “Posted by Al Lustie at ____ AM or PM” and leave a comment. The link is just to the left of the

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Celebrate Survival or Celebrate Life?

2011-10-07T09:03:00.000-07:00

The other day I heard a pastor talking about “celebrating life” as he referred to someone who had come through a difficult illness and was alive. I believe he meant, in context, that he was celebrating survival. No mention was made about how the person lived, or plans to live.

Think about it.

Did : the person plan to think?

· Was the person planning to relate more and better with other people who touch his/her life?

· Has the person committed to being a better employee or better boss?

· Will the person spend more time appreciating life, sunsets, music, or art?

· Has the person one more invention to sketch out and bring to reality?

In my estimation the celebration of life includes the above and more than I can mention here. Survival – not so much.

What do you think? Click on the little comment link to the right of “Posted by Al Lustie at ____ AM or PM” and leave a comment. The link is just to the left of the

Email this, Blog this, Twitter and Facebook icons. I look forward to hearing from you.

Faith and Observation

2011-10-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

Faith takes into account that which cannot be seen -- the unseen.

I think most of us can agree to that. Thomas Edison seems to have had faith that he could invent a light bulb. He had never seen one, but he could imagine it. He could use what he did know to believe that he could invent what he could not yet see.

The life of faith is both irreverent and silly if it only deals with what cannot be seen. Using the gift of observation given to each human person, and to clusters of human beings, we can build beyond what can be seen. At no point does the Jesus spoken about in the New Testament assert that the gifts of God, including the gifts of observation, are bad, unnecessary or to be ignored.

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Learning Inlusion Skills

2011-09-25T14:01:00.000-07:00

Many, many faith organizations want to grow, often in order to be able to serve more effectively. That is commendable.
We are part of, or attend, Christian faith organizations. Most are not growing as they lose as many out the "back door" as they take in through the formal "become a member" rituals. Having visited many in the past few years I have this observation to make: very few members of these organization employ any inclusion skills! When they do, it is almost always by accident.
Including people takes energy, thought and two-way conversations. Giving them a name tag helps, but only if you seek them out week after week, learn their name, learn to recognize them by sight, and introduce them to others in the "in crowd" who also learn who they are.
Side Note: I attended a church way back when that had a gifted greeter on the front steps. He greeted every person coming in and learned their names. He could greet them by name a week later. Strangers, service men, students -- every newcomer got two things that first Sunday in addition to someone knowing their names.
They were invited to lunch with someone. They were invited to tour San Francisco if they were new, or sort of new, to that city.

Now, that is employing inclusion skills, and literally hundreds of members were involved. And, yes, that organization was making a difference, and it was growing.

Crazy For The End - 4

2011-08-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Look with me at the uncritical thinking that accompanies contemporary American craziness about end times. Think about our attitudes and actions concerning the nation of Israel.

Because of much current teaching about the centrality of Israel as a nation in fundamentalist beliefs about the End Times,
Christian politicians often excuse Israel of crimes against neighbors and citizens which we would never excuse in anyone else
Strangely, there is also the belief among meny that Israel has to be nearly destroyed in a “battle of Amerageddon”
Sadly, our support of Israel is usually based on the nation being around to be attacked
We withhold appropriate help and support from Muslims who have been cheated out of their homes and businesses without recompense
We lump al Muslims together because, of course, they hate Israel.
(Muslims do the same thing -- lump all Jewish people together as objects of hate)

This is a short, simplistic list. As we think, however, we realize that we are dealing with people holding beliefs that seem complex, but are really quite simple. Simple minded. Simple craziness.

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Crazy For The End - 3

2011-08-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

For Christians, the lust for End Times is a lust sponsored by an anti-Christ, for sure. Jesus taught firmly against this lust. Matthew 24 records his teaching and he began by saying (NIV translation) ‘Watch out that no one deceives you.

And later in his discourse had talks about hearing “Look, here is the Christ!’ and instructs “do not believe it!”

He gives a list of signs, all of which have happened over and over and over again throughout history:

Nation will rise against nation
Kingdom agains kingdom
Famines
earthquakes
Persecution and death of his followers
many will turn away from the faith
many will betray and hate each other
many false prophets will appear
the love of most will grow cold.

If you don’t know your history, you can be seduced by this list. If you do know history, you will know that this has happened in every century from the time these words were recorded until 2011. These things are still happening. And among the people most fascinated by end times love grows cold.

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Crazy For The End

2011-08-22T13:00:00.001-07:00

Some people are psychologically ready to be captivated by thought of eschatology -- the End Times. They devour ‘clues’, systhensize them with other ‘clues’ and build complex structures they believe will tell them answers to questions like these:

When will the End come?
What will be the signs preceding the End?
Who will be spared at the End?
Who will be destroyed at the End?
What must a person do to be ready for the End?
What must I do, or how must I change, to be ready for the End?
What must people of faith DO to be ready for the End?

That is a representative sample, but not all-inclusive, of course.

If you are a Christian you may not realize that the questions are the same for Muslims as they are for Christians. The unhealthy passions they evoke are the same for both. Even some members of Judaism are entranced by visions of the End, and the End Times. (I capitalize because I sense that such folks capitalize the concepts in their minds.

Among Christians . . . well, let’s save it for the next set of reflections. Suffice it to say, I believe this passion leads to evil in nearly every person consumed by it.

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Faith and Thinking

2011-08-02T11:44:00.001-07:00

“It makes sense when you put it that way, but I don’t like it!”

I hear that from folks in church more often than I like. I wonder what it means.

“God will not let anything be true that I don’t like.”
“I don’t have to think about things I don’t like.”
“Your truth is not true for me.”
“I only believe things I have already decided that are true and new information is not relevant.”

Sometimes I wonder if there is an invisible box just outside the doors to churches where people put their brains before entering the church. Most would not run their businesses by excluding inconvenient truth. They just want to “have faith” without brains.

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Gays, Lesbians, Christians and Others - 3

2011-07-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

What about the purity of the church? of the faith?
That’s so easy, you probably already have it figured out.
If we exclude the people who fall short, there is no one left. Purity = Empty.
But, you say, even if we aren’t perfect, we need to represent the holiness and purity of God to the world. We can’t have someone up front who cheats on her husband, or someone in a position of leadership whose views are “liberal” or “conservative”.
Or homosexual. Or heterosexual. (The roman catholic institution has been very effective in making asexual the preferred state for the true Christian.)
In other words,

excluding certain people is not representing the purity of the church
including only people like “us” does not demonstrate the purity of the church
being uptight about sexuality does not bear witness to the purity of the church

We only delude ourselves and make a mockery of everything Jesus lived and died for.
What do you think? Log in, leave a comment, and let us know what your thoughts are.

Gays, Lesbians, Christians and Others - 2

2011-07-29T17:24:00.000-07:00

To summarize my thinking:

We all fall short of God’s intention for humans
Even right-wing politicians, evangelists, ranters and ravers fall short

(We must agree that they are humans, too, although they don’t act much like it)

The Christian “Good News” is that Jesus came to give his life for those who fall short
No boundaries -- “For God loved the world so much...” (John 3:16
Therefore people with differing sexual preferences are included in God’s love.

Although “inclusion” is not an English word used in the stories of Jesus, the concept of inclusion underlines Jesus’ behavior in the face of religious opposition. In his day it was “tax collectors and sinners” who were excluded by the mainstream, and who were included by Jesus.

In my view, inclusion is what people of Christian faith must be all about.

Exclusion is what we must not be about. God will handle that if God needs to. In fact, churches and other Christian oriented groups would do better to hold classes on “Ways to Include Others” than to hold classes on the Trinity, the Deity of Jesus, or I and II Chronicles. Most Christian folks I know aren’t very good at including others, even others they believe conform to their doctrinaire positions.

By extension, then, gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and heterosexuals along with Middle Eastern people must all be included.

If you worry about the “purity” of the church, read my next blog. It turns out to be easy.

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Gays, Lesbians, Christians and Others

2011-07-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

Here's my take on the gay/lesbian issue (as though you asked for it, which you didn't):

First, it is LESS than what God intended for humanity
      Point A: so is predatory heterosexual behavior
      Point B: so is gossip, backbiting, lying, cheating, treating other humans with less than respect
      Point C:   so is the behavior of pastors/priests/imams and other religious leaders who bully, etc.
      Point D: so is bullying in marriage, cheating in marriage, doing the minimum in marriage, etc.

LESS than what is intended by God also includes:
      being born with a birth defect
      being less whole physically, mentally, emotionally, work-ethic wise, etc.
      being born to abusive or absent parents
      being born into nasty neighborhoods
      doing your best to take people's freedom from them

OK -- who have I left out. You might be able to add to the list.

Assuming God INTENDS wonderful, well-adjusted humans, most of us fall short. Some more short than others, but SHORT.

The anti-gay folks assume that their shortfall can be redeemed by God even when they have to live with their shortfall every day of their lives, but that people whose sexual orientation is homo rather than hetero MUST NOT and CAN NOT live with it, and God cannot love them.

Hmmm! VERY faulty spiritual logic.

I'm nearsighted. I seem to have been born with a defect (or 2 or 10,000). Perhaps I cannot be redeemed and welcomed by God. Is that my fault or God's fault?

Some will use the story of Sodom and Gomorrah to excoriate homosexual behavior. But they don't get the story.

    First, the host of the "angels" offered his virgin daughters to be raped by the mob. That's OK???
    Second, the mob was guilty of many things the the BIG thing was failing to show hospitality to strangers and failing to HONOR the person who did show hospitality. It has nothing to do with their weird sexual preferences.    Hospitality is a BIG, BIG thing in the Middle East, and was especially so at that time in history.

So, whether or not anyone cares about my take on this, I have come (years ago) to
    a) not identify myself as homosexual
    b) not believe I have any right to exclude people based on sexual preferences
    c) not believe that child abuse of any sort is right
    d) not believe that predatory behavior of any sort, hetero or homo, physical or mental or emotional, is right. It fails the agape' test 100%.

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How Small is god?

2011-06-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

Most of us have known some large people. Large hearted, accepting, giving spaciously and thoughtfully, helpful. Large, not physically, but in the ways that matter.

So I’m asking, “How small is god – to you? How small even compared to the large people you know?

· Is god so small he can only be properly worshiped on a certain day of the week?

· Is god so small he demands certain phrases, maybe in a specific language?

· Is god so small he cannot handle human sexuality, the sexuality invented by god?

· Is god so small he requires followers to abstain from food at certain times?

· Is god so small only persons of a certain sex can lead people to worship, or represent god in some way?

· Is god so small that healing is withheld when the “right” phrases in a prayer are not uttered?

· Is god so small that the architecture or décor of a worship center has to be correct? Pulpit in the center, or on a certain side? Candles where they would not be scandalous?

· Is god so small, puny really, that worshipers must have beards or head covering or not have beards or not wear neckties?

Examine the things you believe that demonstrate to the world that the god you believe in is really, really small.

More on the So-called Lord’s Prayer

2011-06-16T10:53:00.001-07:00

Maybe it’s not a prayer, as such. Perhaps this thing that millions of people repeat every day, every Sunday, is mostly an affirmation. Maybe the answers are in the phrases.

“Give us our daily bread.”

Well, what is daily bread? It is that which nourishes our body. Keeps us alive. So far, so good.

“Forgive us. . . as we forgive our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

I suspect that the way to get my daily bread is to become a forgiving person. The way to be “not led into temptation” is to stop looking for ways to “get even”. The way to be delivered from evil is to find ways to authentically forgive the person, nation or situation that owes me one.

Not easy. Not comfortable. TV shows, novels, sports, and popular culture generally praise the notion of revenge, of getting even, of winning next time.

Anyone seeking revenge after saying the Lord’s Prayer hasn’t been listening to Jesus or listening to herself.

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Sucks to be Human

2011-06-13T15:51:00.000-07:00

Here we are, humans all. There is God, dealing with humans. On the one hand, we are told, we can do nothing in our own strength. On the other hand we are to bring the Kingdom on earth. We are to emulate Jesus.

Our problems are:

· Global

· National

· Regional

· Cultural

· Political

· Legal

· Economic

· Psychogical

At the least. How can we, forgiving one another, agape’-ing one another, relating to people who don’t value Jesus, be anything that doesn’t suck?

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Were the Events Structured to Help Us Reflect?

2011-06-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

Pastor Ann kicked me in the rear and woke me up last Sunday when she said that the Cross event was “Good-bye” experience, and then again –the Ascension event was another “Good-bye” experience occurrence. That insight triggered my understanding of the common Mediterranean use of inverted parallel structures.

Try this:

A. The Disciples are gathered and learn to follow Jesus

B. The Cross – they say GOOD BYE

C. The resurrection - Hello in a new way (point of turning)

C’ Jesus teaches for 40 days – they learn again (Essential new twist)

B’. The Ascension – they say GOOD BYE

A’ The church is gathered and learns how to follow Jesus

What do you think? Does this help you sense something useful and, perhaps, new? Sign up and use the comment field to let us know.

Having Faith - 10

2011-05-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

Here is what one Bible teacher says about “having faith”:

“In the general sense of the word, to have faith is to believe in something or someone, to fully trust, to be so confident that you base your actions on what you believe. To have faith is to be fully convinced of the truthfulness and reliability of that in which you believe.”

For this person is could be more than mere wishful thinking. Or, it could be misplaced wishful thinking.

Could a Jewish person, perhaps steeped in Old Testament wisdom, “have such faith”?

How about a Muslim person, steeped in the Quran? Could he or she have faith as described above?

A Hindu person or a Buddhist person might have such faith.

Thomas Edison seems to have had faith that he could “invent” or “discover” the way to harness electricity in a light emitting device, what we came to know as the incandescent light bulb. After a thousand or more attempts that failed, he succeeded. Was it because of having faith? Something else?

What do you think? Sign up and let me know.

Having Faith - 9

2011-05-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

“Flyers have faith in Bobrovsky” reads the headline on the web page, http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm. Here’s another take on “having faith”. Some people, apparently, have faith in another human bering.

Many people had faith in Osama bin Laden. Others had faith in President George W. Bush. Many have faith in the Chicago Bulls. Few have faith in the Chicago Cubs.

“Have faith”, say many. When is it a pseudo-sophisticated form of wishful thinking?

Even having faith in Jesus can be a form of wishful thinking. Preachers rant on TV that you can have faith in Jesus to get a new car, a great career, or to close that deal that will put big bucks in your hip pocket (or bank account). It may be simply wishful thinking.

What do you think about “having faith”? Sign up and let me know

Having Faith - 8

2011-05-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

As I reflect on “having faith” I wonder if it means much of anything to people who live in real, hostile and horrible circumstances. How does a severely bipolar patient in a mental institution “have faith”, I wonder. Or a severely schizophrenic patient on the street, unable to hold a job, living between garbage cans in some alley. – how does this person “have faith”?

What about the mathematician who works with mathematical concepts that seem “hard” and who pushes, pushes, and pushes the boundaries of math towards a better and deeper understanding. Is faith, for such a person, a matter of believing that there is more to grasp? More to understand?

Or the politician who regularly expresses his/her sexuality with waitresses and waiters, staffers and maybe (occasionally) with a spouse while posturing for a fickle and naïve public? What does having faith mean for this person? Is it, “Yes, I WILL get elected again!”?

There is an appropriate message to “have faith in yourself” that gets expressed by the best Little League coaches, the best vocational coaches, the best teachers. But what does that mean for the person of low I.Q.? the person with barriers so high she can’t possibly imagine overcoming them? The person recovering from being hit by a drunk driver, and who will probably never be able to walk again?

What’s there to have faith in, within me? Within you?

What do you think?

Having Faith - 7

2011-05-24T09:54:00.001-07:00

I wonder what “having faith” means in the twenty-first century?

For some, this is the century of repression (women and gays in Muslim countries, dissidents in the People’s Republic of China, most people in the Republic of Congo). For others it is the century of iPads, access to information, access to education and access to drugs. For others it is the century if oblivion, of gang violence, or rape and turf wars.

What does having faith mean to a child in the projects with gang graffiti on every wall in sight, no father in sight, and a mother who works two jobs to try to keep the family together? Or, similar kid whose mother has to sell herself at night to keep her supply of drugs and booze available? Or the policeperson who patrols the projects, always on the lookout for violence and at risk at all times?

What does having faith mean to the suburban family with a nice house, green lawn, oppressive homeowner’s association, gossipy neighbors playing “one up” with their children? What does faith mean to the investment banker or stock broker who is under intense pressure to perform successfully once again, no matter what ethical barriers he has to destroy?

What do you think? Chime in with your responses.

Having Faith - 6

2011-05-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

I’d like to work a bit more constructively today with the phrase, “have faith”. Although for many people it is a sort of bland catch phrase, it does have pretty specific meaning to others.

For some people it means “trusting that the teachings of Jesus guide me in the best possible way to make choices and live in a social context.”

For some people the phrase means, “inviting an unseen (but living) entity called Jesus into my heart.” Breaking that down a bit for a few people it means inviting Jesus into their will (the Biblical ‘heart’ where decisions are made) and for most it is a vague, somewhat emotional invitation that they want to feel.

For some people it means living accountably before an invisible but supreme being who will judge me now and at the end of my life.

For yet others is means believing that God inspired the Bible (or Quran or other holy writing) and that learning the book and being able to recite passages of the book accurately is called for.

What do you think? Which, if any, of these meanings resonate with you?

Havng Faith - 5

2011-05-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

I’m reflecting on the phrase, “have faith”. What do people mean when they say they “”have faith” or tell me to “have faith”? I’d like to look at some alternate possibilities that might make as much sense.

Instead of “have faith” might a person say,

· “have hope”

· “have logic”

· “have thinking” (or just, “think”)

· “have courage”

· have obedience to the rules

· “have humor”

· “have unthinking reactions”

· “have denial”?

Does any such phrase “grab you”? What do you think?

Having Faith - 4

2011-05-19T09:18:00.001-07:00

I am reflecting on what it means to “have faith in God”. I want to look at it from a slightly different angle today.

What might it mean to reword the phrase a bit? For instance,

· Live by faith in God?

· Make decisions based on the character of God?

· Take a stand because of God?

· Prepare for the afterlife because of God? Or using God’s teaching”

· Philosophize about God?

· Theologize about God?

· Live obediently to God before God?

Just some other phrases using different verbs. “Having” implies possession, ownership, the ability to trade, sell and buy . What do you think?

Have you found a phrase you like, one that works for you?

Having Faith - 3

2011-05-18T07:35:00.001-07:00

For some people having “faith in God” means to revere, belong to, and obey the church. This point of view has been emphasized by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Although it seems to be a Middle Ages sort of phenomenon, it’s alive and well for some folks even today.

Side note: this seems to be part of the Muslim belief as well. If you obey the teachings of the Quran and identify yourself exclusively with the Muslim movement, you have faith in God. Otherwise you are condemned to some sort of hellish existence in the afterlife and helped to get there in this.

Thus “faith in God” looks a lot like faith in an organization. Faith in a movement. Faith in what is taught by the religion or church or imam of your choice.

What do you think? Does this sum up faith in God for you?

Having Faith - 2

2011-05-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

Let’s zoom in on what it might mean to “have faith in God” again.

I know Christianity a bit better than any other religious expression, so let me slice and dice in that arena a bit. Some people in the Christian movement mean by “having faith in God” that they believe that God created the world in six literal days, rested up on a seventh literal day, and that this probably took place a bit over 6,000 years ago. For some folks, if a person doesn’t believe this, you don’t have faith in God.

What do you think? Is this what it means to have faith in God?

Having Faith - 1

2011-05-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

Many people believe they will be better if they “have faith”. I want to reflect on my understanding of “faith” a bit.

Some people have “faith in God”. What might that mean?

It might mean they believe there is a higher being, higher power, some supernatural entity that they believe exists.

It might mean they trust there is a supernatural being messing around with the affairs of our planet, the people and animals and weather of this planet, and maybe even the destiny of this planet.

It might mean they trust that “everything will work out”. Why? Because “God” or “god” makes sure such a thing happens for people who have faith.

What do you think it means to “have faith in God”? Sign in and share your thoughts.

What Might The Change In Music Mean? Part 2

2011-05-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

My wife wonders if I am making too big a deal of this change from singing in harmony (part singing) to singing mostly in unison. She suggests that it simply means people don't know how to sing anymore. She might be right.

In the blended service of a church we attend the unison singing is "ho-hum". But if the worship leaders chooses an old favorite the older people begin singing in four parts (or more) with vigor and enthusiasm. Hmmm.

When we (wife and I) were in grade school we sang almost every day. In my school it was from the Golden Book of Song, as I remember. Somewhere around the fourth grade we were taught to sing in parts. Harmony, such as it was, although the boys still had not arrived at the magic baritone or bass that would probably come. The songs were simple, fun, silly, patriotic, sentimental -- but eminently singable.

Maybe my wife is right. It's not about the trend toward conformity (especially pushed by the right wing of the church and the right wing of politics). It is about a lack of ability, and a general lack of good harmonious songs to sing.

What do you think?

What Might The Change In Music Mean? Part 1

2011-05-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

In the past few years I have noticed a trend in churches. The trend: everyone sings unison. Often only words on a screen, or the melody line on an insert with the words is all that is provided. Unison.

When I was in school in the 1950's we were taught, among other things, that singing harmony, singing parts, was a symbol of something important. We didn't all have to be the same. We didn't have to believe the same. We didn't have to dress the same. We could be be ourselves, emerging, learning, growing and live in harmony with others. I call that a "wow" insight.

So I wonder about this move towards mostly, or only singing in unison. I wonder if it reflects and reinforces the trend in the dominant form of Christianity toward all being the same, all being heterosexual, all holding the same theology, all singing the same songs on the same note.

My wife has another idea. What do you think?