A must view

Sorry I can't send out enough emails to have people watch so I will just post these.
In Frosts final address one of the missional examples (about 7 min in) is right in line with my cousin Andrew and Faith Hoskins (well if they were middle aged nuns that is) anyway they are a must watch - enjoy.

COG Talk Back

Love to here your comments as to how it is working in your community. 

What’s on your Dashboard?

I'm have to say I am enjoying figuring out the Mac thing. Basically it just mean unlearning everything PC and then just doing what comes naturally. Anyway, part the Mac fun it the dashboard A flick of you finger out to your hot corners and you receive instant eye candy relating to news, weather, flight info, latest art, whatever you need or like. I think it would be interesting to see what people have on their dashboard because it probably points too some of the things we hold to be important. And I would venture to guess that for many of us our dashboards are probably filled with things we really don’t need, that in fact are a distraction from what is really important. What I think has been kicking around in my brain and not letting go is a need for a radical change in life style for most of us. I think we have been buying into the western lie for far to long and running after its promises which has caused us to be more busy, less satisfied and not on mission for God. I honestly don’t think the sacrificial part of the gospel isn’t focused on the actual event aka,“I need to be sacrificial and dish out soup in a soup kitchen -ewe soup kitchen.” I think the sacrifice starts way back in actually cutting back on the business of our lifestyles we have created (Our pictures of success in family, work, etc) in order that we might have time to be on mission.  I think one of the greatest issues in living on mission the way God designed is that we don’t have time for mission we have been side lined. Most of us would love to work the kitchen, mentor someone, help a neighbor out, thats not the hard part, the hard part means we wont make as much because we voluntarily are cutting back at work, our kids wont be involved in events as much because we have limited their participation to one two events. The sacrifice is the slowing down and the cutting back!! Which is hard because the things we need to slow down and cut back aren't bad themselves at all. Kids participating in things is a good thing!! It’s not as clear as knowing we need to cut back on the crack habit in order to be more effective on mission, no the things we loose are common, even healthy activities. Its a little scary to me. This is truly appropriate as I am entering the Christmas season, parties, school functions, more parties, Christmas eve service etc, etc. We complain about getting rushed with all the tinsel and flash that we don’t have time to really ponder what we are celebrating. But the reality is that this season reflects our greater lives, too busy form mission. Time to clear the dashboard and rethink this whole thing.

Disciple That!!!

 

 I know for many of you this is old school news. Sorry for hitting 1000 year old headlines. Anyway, I really don’t want to stand in a long line of criticism, it it is easy to attack and critic the big players from a distance. And the reality is that Willow Creek has done a lot of great things for the kingdom. They seemed to have the “urban modern” reaping tool down to a science, however we all realize that nothing is perfect. On the flip side we need to realize small doesn’t mean we’re disciplining any better.

Hybels confesses:

We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.

In other words, spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage.

What I do like is that I think this will get a lot of church leaders off the prowl for the magic button (however I heard it’s at Staples if you are looking for it). And I hope reevaluate and get back to the basics. As Hirsh points out there is good reason why we see similarities of exponential growth in the early church and China. So focusing our attention from Willow Creek to Bragg Creek (by the way our creek kicks creek butt) It makes me realize we aren’t doing it either. Sure about a year ago we have focused our “Discovery” values toward 1. learning the disciplines and 2. building a hunger for God, however I don’t think offering a class in order to learn them has been the right option.  I just don’t think we are going to be able to do the Greek thing with this one at all. It’s going to be one to one. As well it might include some initial education, but it will be practice focussed rather than Theory . I’m still attracted to the BELLS thing of Frost’s community. Its simple (well understandable) and it is a starting point of doing. I think we will be talking more about that later.

   

trebuchet for testosterone night

Joy

Scary Clarity

I don't know why I've been on this heaven kick as of late, but a couple weeks ago, we began to discover God's relationship to man through the Genesis account. It raises a couple of interesting questions on the metaphysics of God. How does God's space and our space intersect. If we are to look at the biblical account of heaven (the place where God reigns) we see it intersecting with earth in the OT at a couple of places. The temple, tent of meeting, Mnt Sinai, burning bush. And whenever that seemed to occur there was always the reverence, a respect and awe for that physical space because it was holy. (Moses is to take his sandals off in order to not have anything between him and the holy ground.)

However, as we engage our world we seem to combat some prevailing ideas on the relationship between God and man. Two strong ones today seem to be Pantheism (God is everywhere) and Deism (God is distant "out there"). Some of that unfortunately works it's way into some Christina doctrine as well.

However, if we take the Biblical account seriously we begin to see something a little scary. We become the temple of the Holy Spirit once we receive Jesus, what does that say about the intersection of the sacred space (where God reigns) and earth. Well, as we step into common spaces we bring the presence of God and also that sacred space (that piece of heaven). It is also scary to think of the reverence we should be feeling with our very lives and mission.

Today

Who likes heaven? I do!

Ok, in order to clarify any misunderstanding. (because I do get carried off in my own thoughts or voices in my head). I am pro heaven, what am not too excited about is an escapist mentality, a "lets get out of here while we let the world burn." type of thought. I know that is a gross overstatement, but we are not to be concerned with what is around the corn in the future or other, rather we are to be concerned about what God is doing Today and join with His plan. It's funny that in the book of Hebrews a book speaking about the reality of Jesus fulfilling and completing the new creation, a book full of examples of faith, people looking through the thin veil to a deeper reality, a book speaking of the future day of God making things right. Within this book it's warnings and call aren't about the future, rather about NOW. The, "how is this present day and your current life reflecting that glorious kingdom?" "IN light of all that is and all that is coming, what are you about TODAY?"

12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."

If we all lived the mission in the here and now I'm thinking we might be doing thing a little different.

Shivers

So there was a good questioned that was posed, in relation to recent talk on some gnostic gospels (Thomas, Judas etc.) If Christianity was really about personal spirituality and escaping this world, then why would Cesar have given a flip about a butch of Jewish peasants? The reality was the name Jesus sent chills down Cesar's spine, worse than Mufasa of the Lion King, ("Mufasa" shiver "Ooooh say it again""Mufasa, Mufasa, Mufasa!") because it is a claim for an aulternate way for doing things and an alternate Lord to follow. It's the following that says Jesus, not Cesar is Lord and that His way will truly bring the reconciliation and peace of the world, starting right here and now in this present reality. We might say, "Amen brothers and sisters" and "Down with the gnostic gospels." But... I have a sneaky feeling that some of that thought has crept into our present church language. "Jesus is your personal Savior," and "the hope of heaven is what we strive for" and "this world is a passing fancy." What might be worse is that in our practice of faith we many times by pass, even sometimes contribute to the problems of the here and now, because of our "out their" "sometime later" type of thinking. Now before we break out the torches and head for my house, I understand what these things mean and I don't disagree with them, its just a word of caution that we might be slanting the emphasis of the gospel to the detriment of missing Gods full mission to the world. God does care about the here and now, and he still does have a plan for this world, and we should care about all the anti-gospels the injustices that take place not because it is the test before heaven, but until the Trumpet sounds God's not done with us, the poor, the environment, this world etc. etc. And until that time I will do my job of stewarding this world and committed to His mission and kingdom being revealed. "Ooooh, say it again." So maybe a good question to pose is would Cesar shiver at us today?

Much

Well, we're back at it school...work... snow (ok, maybe not, I will try not to curse us with that 4 letter word), but it is life back in regular fall routine. However I was contemplating the summer, (really life in general) the other day and I think God reminded me of something. It was the word "Much". And I knew exactly what it meant. I have been given Much! I know looking at our vehicles this past year, you wouldn't really have that word come to mind,.. but the gifts God has so generously given to us, our family, health, our life... We have Much. And I know our minds usually turn to $coin$ when we speak of Much, but even in that are its all relative. We live under a warm roof, our stomachs are well fed (maybe too much) we have 2 vehicles for crying out loud. We have "Much" in that area too!! And the awesomeness of Much is that I have a responsibility to be Much!! To Much is given Much is expected. I understand in the blessed community I live in the financial Much might not be all that needed, but what an awesome responsibility it is to share my family, my friendship, my God with people around me. Things could look totally different, but God has chosen to graced me with this beautiful life. Much should be expected.

Garr…oh…ugg

9626ft

So there was no last minute helicopter rescue, no “We’ve got a live pastor up here send in the dual prop.” Nothing like that. It turned out to be an incredible day, I met a lot of people actually stopped to talk, (I am chalking it up to taking the time to be sociable, not stopping to keep my legs from falling off.) However, Saturday night was interesting, lots of shuffling not really walking, and most of my communication was done in monosyllabic groans arrrr...oooo…etc. I have to admit there was this interesting sense of community. As people started arriving on the mountain itself, there was this buzz and energy while passing people (clarification: not me going faster “passing”, rather crossing paths). I think on days like that everyone gets a glimpse of Gods gift and grace in community. Everyone was on common task and purpose, both immediate (get to the top) and deeper (raise some money for Camp Horizon). We all had some shared struggle and suffering (some more than others, I wont mention any names, but one writes in a blog from time to time). There was also shared encouragement both verbal and supporting in sharing of goodies. It was a fascinating time. One of the greatest blessings was getting back to the parking seeing Troy, Terry and Bryce and getting met with food from Colleen. What and awesome surprise. And I didn’t even have to worried about the doughnut, chips, tube of lard that I consumed. Let see how many people we can rally up for next year!

Challenge

Well, couple days to the Banded Peak Challenge and right now I feel like I couldn't hike up my stairs. I received a blessing from Brit in the form of a cold and I am quite excited about it. So hopefully, we can see a bit of a change (for the good) in the next couple days. I feel a little behind physically, I have gotten out on the bike a couple times this last month and noticed I am further behind than what I normally am at the start of the season. (I'm going to blame Aliyah not old age for the problem). Anyway, Camp Horizon is a winner check them out if you want to donate.

https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/personalPage.aspx?EventID=11018&LangPref=en-CA&RegistrationID=321645

or

http://www.bandedpeakchallenge.com/

If you don't see me Sunday just send a Helicopter

Do not Hinder

15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 16And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. Mark 10

Some interesting entertainment

2 weeks ago the youth did a video. Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-uyRwiFcBA

The Duracell of Mission

This Sunday we will be looking at Pentecost. What’s cool is that it is actually Pentecost Sunday. See, I wish I had really planned it that way. We’re looking at Acts in our current series “Awakening up” and well with Mothers day sneaking in (I mean I had T’s gift and day events planned for months but…) well and the May long it messed up my schedule (yes you can stop the snickering, I “mostly” have one). So I added a message about the ascension last week, which happened to be Ascensions Sunday. (If I had been raised in a high church I would have this entire church calendar down, rather it was my non-church going neighbor that told me of it.) So surprise surprise!! Without knowing it we are following a bit of the church calendar Ascension Sunday and Pentecost Sunday. I feel that maybe I already had my lesson on the Holy Spirit through all this.
Anyway, this week is about being powered for mission. What’s cool is Pentecost follows the pattern throughout scripture where when man encounters a brush with God, when sacred space is made known and experienced, it is followed by mission. Form Isaiah to those touched by Jesus to Paul we see peoples natural response to an experience with God is transformation and mission. We naturally have to do and tell!! The Day of Pentecost though signifies a reworking of the world structures where God is now constantly dwelling within his people, which in fact should lead to a constant and continuous life of transformation and mission. I mean God did something new in the world on the day of Pentecost, it is the fulfillment of “God will reside with man,” “I will write the law on their hearts,” “I will be their God and they will be my people”. No longer will God seem to dwell in temples of stone, but there will be a union between us! So, where is the constant, the daily transformation and mission? Well.., I don’t think God has changed anything or moved anywhere. So I guess that leaves…well… Oh ya!
Faith and passion for God doesn’t come from just “wanting” in the cognitive Max Headroom like oh I am getting old). It’s not this Hellenistic idea of faith pistisa “knowledge about”, but the Hebrew emunah “active trust” or “faithfulness”. It’s not the “I meant too…” or “I wish I could…” both of which I am the king of, but passion comes from wanting with our heart that involves sacrifice and commitment (“Christ’s Passion” isn’t Dan Browns ideas on Jesus’ valentines cards to Mary M, no it was something quite different). Daily experiences with God resulting in transformation and mission it comes from the willingness to engage with Him, to open your life up to more sacred space. It involves discipline and commitment, but it is a discipline and commitment to live, to create a Rhythm of Life, a pattern of sustaining and growing as you would with eating, breathing, sleeping. Discipline that becomes you, in order to live. What would our lives look like if we wanted the Holy Spirits power bad enough we were willing to change our lifestyle in order to make room for it? Practice the Disciplines, set up a Rhythm of life (a rhythm for life)! With Him, listen more, breath more, act more, love more. Daily live the Pentecost!

Equipping for the Star Trek Convention

I need to say congrats to my buddy Nick for Gadjiating Saturday from the “Hill” in Cochrane. He now joins the ranks of hundreds others who are wandering around wondering what to do with our acute ability to understand Biblical Hebrew. (Impressing people at parties cuz it sounds like Klingon, Putting it on a piece of Art, or clearing your throat are great suggestions). There has been a lot of discussion as of late in regards to the future of Christian education and seminaries, which I think is under continual change. One of the current criticisms is that it does a great job of preparing a person for church life, and not much else. And to a great extent I would have to agree. In my experience there was this preparation for being able to navigate leading all of the standard church activities. This is good especially when we see the Sunday service as the bottom line in church activities…except that is not. I know it is so hard to get our minds off of it being the base line of everything, I mean what is the second question asked after someone says they attend a particular church?... How many attend…? I do it too! It’s hard to break, a missional church however sees community transformation as the bottom line. “Ya but we have no control over that…” Well…I guess your right to some extent but, and I know it kind of sucks, but the reality is if people are failing all around us we are failing. I know there is personal responsibility etc, but we need to take our mission a little more seriously and take responsibility for the people we have been put in our circles of influence as a gift from God. Anyway, back to the original discussion, to be fair I know a lot of post graduate schools are rethinking things and I think a lot has changed even since I went (I feel like I’m 100 “back in my day”). And I am grateful for my grad studies because they truly equipped me to read and think critically, they gave me the skills to be a continual learner as well as a lot of deeper insight into a variety of fields, right now I can’t imagine myself not having that experience, but preparing me for community transformation… I don’t necessarily see a lot of it in my education. So when I bring that forward into BCCC how are we equipping people, are we helping people succeed in mission? Now hear me I think studying the Word is vital and continually learning is so important… (I know I just contradicted myself, so much for the critical thinking), but I think we are heavy on theory and abstract based education and light on the down and dirty experiential learning, lets not just talk about feeding the poor lets go do it. I love what Melissa is doing with the youth right now. She continually has Bible teaching times etc., but every month there is a lesson in service not out of a book, but in action. The kingdom of God is not lived out by having an abundance of information, (servant burry and protect that talent!) but by living it out (invest it).

Weekend Fun

Sorry about the shameless self promotion BUT...


Don't forget this weeks Art show


Sat 1-8, Sun 1-5

Come often, buy lots.
I guess I'm not allowed to be apologetic when I do it anyway.
Saying sorry for hitting someone and then hitting them again wouldn't cut it.
So sorry but not really.
See ya there!

Hijacked

Well everything has come to a stop in order to focus in around a particular point of shining beauty. We went into the hospital yesterday morning 3ish am in order to start the festivities. We made sure we stayed by the hospital because things have been getting a lot faster as we have added to the brood. In fact this time around we were in the birthing room by 11am and Aliyah was born 11:58. So when its time, it goes quick. You'll have to ask T if speed is worth it or not though. When the Nurse comes in and says that your contractions are working really well. I guess that is a good thing, but comes at a price. Anyway, T did really well, ran through the process epidural free. (Ok, please forgive me ladies for what I'm about to say) If I was to give birth (ok, stop the rolling of eyes I know, i know I'm clueless) Anyway, if that happened I'm sure I would be not only Whining horribly and demanding everything they could throw at me, but I would also be out for days (I mean give me a simple cold and I am on my back like a sissy). But she is in good spirits and doing well.

So our lives, phone calls, conversations, family, work most everything has been hijacked by this little life. And guess what? its pretty cool.
However, check out these 2 responses to the hospital visit. Brit was fixated on her wanting to hold her, but more importantly she was in a state of awe and wonder, the eyes say it all. She was so gentle and had a fascination/concern it's hard to really explain, this look was kind of her look all night. She wasn't scared or not wanting to hold her, just...this take it all in fascination. This is her sister...a new baby...out of moms tummy.

However... I know this isn't fair, Jonah is excited (and he is a lot different today) but this was the typical Jonah response to the whole ordeal. "Sister? cool, I think I like these hospital beds, what do these buttons do?" It made me think, how do we relate to new life? New life in Christ? Weather it is God doing something new in our lives, or someone else being made new for the first time are we embracing it with a careful sense of awe, wonder, excitement, sense of mystery? Or are we, "hey cool, do you got something to eat around here?" New life or newness in life is to be held in reverence and awe no matter if it is a full blown reworking or a small simple act of grace. And sometimes I think we flippantly pass it by, especially if it is small. We end up saying stuff like, "ya but..." or "not far enough," or "but they still believe this..." I don't know about you but any move toward God is a celebration whether it is all the way or not.

And guess what? I celebrate Aliyah Hope's birth, but we didn't leave her there in the hospital. Every day, step, coo, gurgle and pop and so on is a gift from God to be celebrated with joy as she grows and matures. Why can't we do the same with spiritual growth? Anyway, I guess since I didn't get to preach on Sunday something had to come out somewhere. Oh well, Hey guess what?!? I'M A NEW DAD!!!

Easter Newness

Sunday was fun. I was so excited to see a newness and excitement around the celebration. Everything from dancing to harps there is a freshness in the air, as well as seeing 15+ coming out to help the community center throw a typical family Easter breakfast. What a fun time! Even with the event not being a church program we were able to help reveal the presence of God to the “common spaces”, the 3rd spaces as Frost would say. But what is so cool is the opportunity to live out what the New Covenant brought with Jesus’ death and resurrection which was highlighted at Pentecost, a presence of God and Word of God being lived out in the lives of those following Him. I like what Martin Buber say about the word becoming entwined in people.
A “Zaddik” (righteous person) said about the rabbis who “speak Torah” (ie., who interpreted the Scriptures for others) “What is the sense of their speaking Torah? Man should act in such a way that all his behaviors is Torah, and he himself is a Torah.” At another time it is said “the aim of the wise man is to make himself into a perfect teaching, and make all his acts as bodies of instruction; and where it is not possible for him to attain to this his aim is to be a transmission of teaching and a commentary on it, and to spread the teaching by his movements,”… The people in whom this Torah-nature fulfills itself are called zaddiks, “the righteous,” the law-full. They are the bearers of…teaching, not only as its apostles, but more as its effective reality. They are the teaching.
Wow, isn’t this really what is about? Proclaiming through our movements and actions (as well as by what we say). In fact if our actions don’t match up (or even speak louder) we don’t have anything to say. Guess what? We aren’t the most hospitable, the most loving, the most life-full, most grace giving people around, if we don’t live it out. It’s scary but the message is the medium. Jesus had strong word for the religious rulers who vocally had lots to say, but didn’t seem to connect it with their actions. I think the word was… umm… hypocrite. Anyway, it was good to be part of a movement this past weekend that was proclaiming…that was living Torah.

I'm a poor blogger

Ok, I have to point people to this essay that Nick (Symbosis) found. I think he has a magic "send me important information" button on this computer, but this is an essay that is a must read because it challenges us right were we are. I spent the weekend at the Board of Directors meeting and "planning thingy" (shows how detailed attentive I am). We were discussing the Missional church and how it effects or should effect the Church of God in Western Canada. We wrestled with a lot of different topics, how do we encourage this Biblical practice in all the churches without it being a heavy handed top down approach? what does Missional look like here? and a variety of other tangents. Anyway, I was able to develop some good brain haze during the second day. But my journey wasn't ended on return to the house, when I received this great Essay The Gospel and the God Forsaken: The Challenge of the Missional Church in Suburbia It is contextualising a lot of what we discussed this weekend. Anyway please read it ant let me know what you think.

PS. I added new Africa photos on Flicker check them out (link below)

The end of things to come

We finished our Lev study this week, much to the groans and tears of so many people. Actually, I think most would agree that it has been a challenging book to wade through, but there has been some wonderfully redemptive messages for the day.
We finished in ch 26 after highlighting 27 because 26 speaks of the charge of blessings and curses for obedience or disobedience. This is found in other passages at the conclusion Torah sections so I felt it appropriate to conclude our time with that same theme. However, as much as you would think that warnings about obedience might be a downer, it turned out to be an exciting time. We ended up paralleling Lev 26 with Duet 30 in our time. Some of what we saw was warnings for obedience with the receiving of blessing, blessings of livelihood (crops and rain), Peace (no “S-words for 200 Alex”, or wild animals), and finally presence (I will camp with you and you will be my people…). The curses were in fact the opposite being played out in great detail.
We also looked at the prophetic voice in Lev 26 (more so in Deut 30), having an exilic and post exilic language, “The land will receive its Sabbath when you are removed…” “Circumcise your hearts…” And by the second Temple, Deut 30 was considered prophecy. By the way
Deut 30 is one of the most beautiful passages of Torah, we see God heart pleading for his people to choose life, please take time to read it. Anyway, one of the fun things that came out was that whenever discussion on blessings and curses come up we always default to “I better be good in order to be blessed”, “I want blessing in my life…” “It’s not working for me I must be doing something wrong” And it’s funny (with tears in my eyes) that this is the level of conversation that we have when discussing it. However, if we remember the covenant in Gen 12 we see God purpose for his people, their mission and focus of obedience is to be blessed and be a blessing. And so we switched our conversation for the morning off of ourselves. Maybe we should be desiring obedience not for blessing, but for being a blessing. The judge of your obedience and closeness to God does not rest on your personal gain, rather on your personal output. And so we should choose life, not for our success and lively hood, but for the lively hood and success of others. We should choose life, not so we can experience peace, but so we can give peace to others. We should choose life, not so that we have a relationship with God, but that we can introduce that gift of relationship to others. This changes things up a little doesn’t it? In fact how’s it working for you? Will you choose disobedience and therefore have a life producing a wake of curses, death and destruction? Or will you choose life and blessings so your life can be a conduit for Gods life and blessing to pass through? What do you want God and other to know you for?

Making bread and cursing

Ok, this is round 3 in trying to write this. The first time someone accidentally deleted it from his computer, the second was deleted by having the computer turned off, however I did not to it, but was assisted by a cute blond who is attracted by green glowing buttons. (no fault of her own I'm still attracted to green glowing buttons and I'm a lot older than 2). Anyway maybe this one will make it through. We're looking at a couple different topics this Sunday,
Lev 24has both some temple instruction as well as laws around blasphemy. The arrangements of the lampstand and bread have only a couple references in the NT. We see some of the talk in
Heb 9:2 as well Jesus makes reference to David eating of bread in the temple I Sam 12 when he is asked about his disciple breaking the Sabbath Matt 12:1-11 (Mk 2, Lk 6)
As for blasphemy we see both Jesus and Stephen receiving the punishment for the blasphemy they were accused for. I will let you leave your comments on the previous post in regards to capital punishment). None the less blasphemy was considered a serious crime both in the OT and NT.
I'm not sure if there is any reason to these sections in this place outside it being arbitrary instruction. Maybe it is to remind the people about keeping the weekly Sabbath reverent after instruction and emphasis on the other feasts. Maybe it is all introduction to Lev 25 commitment to Sabbath and Jubilee. Well I'm interested in you opinion on it.

Last weeks craziness

Sorry I didn't get around to opening the dialogue on capital punishment from Lev 20. Last week was a little pushed for time due to family day and Western Canadian General Assembly. A couple Scriptures to throw around, Matt 15:4 , Mark 7:10, Jn 8:1-11

Sex and Soup Sunday – Pre Valentine warm up

Well I got a lot of neat comments about our teaching 2 weeks ago. I’m not sure if it was because I was a little concerned about how people would take it and everyone is just encouraging me or maybe we just like talking about sex and leading up to Valentines Day we needed a little boost to the libido. Regardless it’s been interesting hearing comments. A quick recap on our discussion, I’m not sure we need a lot of clarification too Lev 18 because I would think most of us would be in agreement even today about it’s restrictions around sex. I don’t think many would be pushing for incest or bestiality to be cultural or Old Cov restrictions. The main Hot point for some today would be the inclusion of Homosexuality in the list and as we know it can even be a little divisive in some Christian circles. But I think if we really take the whole Bible seriously we see the NT affirming and upholding all of Lev 18 boundaries for sex. One of the things at put perspective to the whole chapter was the look at Creation of man and work back from there. It’s interesting all of the press that the Christian world seems to get is it’s restrictions to sex. We are an oppressive and sex deprived group of people. Unfortunately, some of that is true. I’m going to thank St. Augustine for that one. I know I know he had a lot of great things to say, but he started a bit of a move toward sexuality which seemed to set a pattern for the churches stance on sex for quite some time. And yes, it came out more of… ‘well I guess you have to in order to have children, but it’s still bad.” If we start at the beginning of the book we see sexuality affirmed in creation and connected with the image of God. He could have said, “Lets make mankind in our image.” And leave it at that, but the writers included male and female He created them. Passage link
Genesis 1:26-28 To quote Foster “If Gen affirms it, then Song of Solomon celebrates it.” Not a lot of procreation talk going on in that book (sorry my Catholic friends) just a lot of celebration of love. “What a beautiful window Song of Solomon is into eros as it should be! There is sensuality without licentiousness, passion without promiscuity, love without lust.” Richard Foster
Anyway, this should be the starting point of our theology and if we look at other pagan practices around the Hebrews we see what was beautiful and celebrated turned into depraved, just read some of the practices of Egypt, Canaan, Hittite (well actually the Hittite was always caught in the middle, Incest is mostly bad except in these situations… uh nothing with most animal just these ones…) Not surprising, I just read an article in a “secular” magazine that plain old sex, yes “plain old” reduced stress more effetely and sustainable than any extra curricular sex acts (multiple partner or self pleasure). Maybe God was just looking out for our stress levels. Anyway, If we see God coming across as limiting we would probably be in agreement when we see affirming and celebrating of sexuality in Imago Dei, that man and woman were created for each other in relationship, separate and special from all other creation, sharing each other, not created separate from each other, all of that beautiful picture tossed for these pagan practices with family and live stalk? Anyway, this is becoming longer post then what I was wanting, Hook me up with any thoughts as long as they are not of the chica-bow-bow kind.

Vampires and Englishmen

Hey just quickly something that came out of yesterdays message. Where are we at in regards to drinking blood? I'm sure it is on everyone's mind just wanting to get out and have some blood pudding or blood sausage or if you happen to be of the vampire persuasion blood anything. Anyway, CH17 says no no to eating blood Leviticus 17:10-12 .But we know Jesus fulfils the Law and as a result many of the non ecclesiastical laws are set to the side under the new covenant. However, under the new covenant we still see the command given to the gentiles to not eat blood Acts 15:19-20 as well Noah pre-law was required to not eat blood Genesis 9:1-7 . Does this dampen our appetites? Are we still required to refrain from eating it? To hit closer to home, what about the blue rare stake? Or is the eating of blood of a hygienic Law in which passes as we develop safer food practices? I'm interested to know some of your thoughts.

Always writing about food

If you were to look over the next couple chapter in Leviticus you probably won’t see a lot of common themes. Much of it seems to have randomness to it. Nick (Symbiosis) said this past week that in fact some of the Law was arbitrary, not necessarily in a sense that God says it so you do it, but that in total it speaks to God being present in every aspect. Everywhere you would turn you would be remind that you are part of a covenant people and that God cares about every aspect of our lives, down to the most random and mundane. We need to also point out that part of the “you are covenant people” is that you are a people who are different. The “Cultic” theory (Gods laws are meant to contrast other religious practices of neighboring pagan nations) seems to have some weight in theses chapters. Both ch17 and 19 mention other religious practices and 18 explicitly says, “You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes.” (18:3) and then continues to instruct about sexual practices to be avoided. So again we see a contrast of practices against many pagan nations.
Ch 17 seems to focus on sacrifices and food. Much of the chapter seems to be a restriction on killing animals so that there isn’t a chance of people sacrificing to other gods. Whether or not the restriction of drinking the blood of the animal was attributed to a Canaanite or Egyptian sacrificial rituals, we don’t know, but it obviously was something that people participated in.
We also see some instruction given to the alien living with them. This again reinforces the "you shall be separate" to the point that those who wish to reside within the Hebrew community must not keep there own practices, rather they’re to adopt it’s the Hebrew culture. (interesting how only past cultures wrestle with that, never enlightened cultures of today… Europe). So where are we at in regards to participating in other religious activities? Do we stop with Easter and Christmas because it was a pagan celebration that has been refocused and redeemed with a Christian narrative? How about eating delicious ginger beef? Under the watchful eye of Buddha or how about Malcolm’s favorite curry, unfortunately I have to be forced to carry the burden of meeting up with him (even this week) oh the pains of a pastor. A couple scripture passages you might wrestle with in figuring it out. (Jdg2:1, 1Kg16:29, Matt 6:24, Lk 16:13, 1Cor 10:20-22, Acts 15:29)

Waking up from the MSG

Ok, Ok, I know it has been a while. The craziness of December followed by the hibernation caused by over eating, I am now just jumping back into things. We are also jumping right back into Lev or as most of you know it "the most exciting book of the Bible." Last week we were talking about food and a clean or unclean diet. It was also a chance to see God establishing a people set apart on all fronts, including food. This week we will be covering a couple chapter together 13-15. I know that is a lot, but really we see them following a lot of the same pattern. We see a hygienic emphasis and a commitment to healthcare in all of the Chapters so we will be talking about the mud and the blood and the beer. Ok well not the beer. What do you do if being part of Gods people meant being part of the community, yet you get sick or contagious? Do spread the love, or do you step out for the sake of the community? Again why does God make a deal about childbirth or even sex when he commands it (Gen) and encourages we delight in it (SS)? Some of the interesting things we get to wade through this weekend. Lets get ready for the fun!!