2-26-08
Originally uploaded by Laurie B!.
Laurie’s having lots of fun with her camera.
She went out and bought a backdrop and some lights yesterday so she could try some new techniques.
She’s having loads of fun with it – or so it seems.
And I get lots of new pictures to enjoy to boot 😉
Love you my life – my love.
I have and I always will.
I know – I promised I’d go back and talk more about the security system Brian McLaren talks about in “Everything Must Change.” I will – soon (I hope). But as I read on I have to share some of these thoughts….
“The Gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness.” – John Wesley
Wesley was deeply sensitive to systemic justice. He was passionate about abolishing slavery yet McLaren suggests “the concept of holiness (in the modern era) did not retain the profoundly social dimension it had for Wesley, but over time shrank to a matter of personal rule keeping.”
No wonder legalism has taken such a strong hold of people.
Only a fraction of our sins are personal. By far the greater part are sins of neglect, sins of default, our social sin, our systemic sin, our economic sin. For these Christ died, and continues to die. For these sins Christ atoned, and continues to atone… As long as evangelism presents a gospel centered on the need for personal salvation, individuals will acquire a faith that focuses on maximum benefit with minimal obligations, and we will change the costly work of Christ’s atonement into the pragmatic transaction of a salvific contract… The sanctifying grace of God in Jesus Christ is not just for the sinner but also for a society beset by structural sin. – David Lowes Watson
My original thought is, “Is McLaren teaching universalism as some have suggested?” I don’t think so.
“Individualistic theology has not trained the spiritual intelligence of Christian men and women to recognize and observe spiritual entities beyond the individual” – Walter Rauschenbusch
In other words, many of our religious institutions have taught us to see no horizon for the message of Jesus beyond the soul of the individual.
“Our spirituality and the very gospel that we preach, needs to be as big and ubiquitous as sin and evil. We will falter in our spirituality and thus grieve the Spirit if ‘our struggle with evil’ does not ‘correspond to the geography of evil.'” – Eldwin Villafane
Because sin and evil are so “big and ubiquitous” and because the “geography of evil” extends far beyond the dimensions of our individual souls, we need a Gospel that is correspondingly expansive and mind blowing.
McLaren explains:
Sadly, in too many quarters we continue to reduce the scope of the Gospel to the individual soul and the nuclear family, framing it in a comfortable, personalized format – it’s all about personal devotions, personal holiness and a personal Savior. This domesticated Gospel will neither rock any boats nor step out of them into stormy waters. We have in many ways responded to the global crises of our day with an incredible, shrinking Gospel. The world has said, “No thanks.”
How big is your God and how big is your Gospel? Big enough to save your soul? Or big enough to save the world?
From 5:30-8:30 this evening, there’s going to be trouble. Feet will tap, heads will ache and sweat will trickle down restless foreheads. Starbucks is closing.
6 weeks ago, Howard Schultz took over the reins (again) as CEO of Starbucks. Since then, he’s been on a mission to return the company to its previous form. Today, every store throughout the nation will close for three hours for “remedial espresso training.” Or in Schultz’ terms, “to teach, educate and share our love of coffee, and the art of espresso.”
Wow. What an undertaking! 5:30 – 8:30 on Tuesday nights is a very likely time we’ll be stopping by one of our local Starbucks to grab a hot drink before our community group – as do several others in our group. Might make for restless (or sleepy) meeting time tonight.
Since this news came from CMS – what if our churches closed for one weekend service to focus on staff/leadership etc? What about your place of work – think your boss would close the doors for 3 hours one week to improve your appreciation for your job?
Well, I’m about to wrap up another Monday at work. It will be nice to be back home.
Laurie and I started the day off today feeling like we had just left work on Friday. Tired, exhausted and looking forward to a weekend. Too bad the weekend was all over.
She of course has it a bit rougher because she has to leave a full hour before I do and usually takes a good 30-min to an hour more than me to get ready. So while she’s having to drag herself out of bed at 5 a.m. – I’m still hitting snooze on my alarm clock and probably annoying the heck out of her (even though she won’t admit it — to me).
This weekend was a blur for sure. Friday night we enjoyed dinner at Bennigans and thanks to my membership in their e-mail club or whatever they call it I had a coupon for buy one entree’ get one free. So while we usually stick with the basic menu there we both enjoyed their mix and match meal. I had steak and salmon and Laurie had steak and chicken. Although after several broccoli bites (a must) and her baked potato, Laurie had little room for the main course.
After dinner we came home and watched Premonition with Sandra Bullock. A good movie. A number of twists to keep it interesting and not too predictable.
Then around 10:30 I had to rush off to meet Brian to set-up for the encounter 9 event, which was scheduled for 11:59 p.m. on Friday night. We had a great turnout and a great time. We finished the event around 1:30 a.m. and then a bunch of us made a stop at What-A-Burger for late night breakfast and more fun.
Saturday Laurie cleaned house and I headed to the “Jesus Dome” for a CWF show in Rockwall. We had a HUGE crowd Saturday night with close to 200 people in attendance and I would estimate that 60% of them were first timers. It was a great show and everything seemed to go without a hitch.
Sunday was church in the morning with Laurie having to work in the nursery. Sucked sitting by myself on my birthday – but whatcha gonna do? Luckily I had plenty of friends to sit with.
Laurie had 21 women from the church over Sunday afternoon for a Bible study kick-off so I took the dog Geocaching with me. Not much luck, but I got one done and Presley had a good time running all over the place.
After a full afternoon we headed to Mesquite for dinner with our parents. My mom made some of my favorites, Kings Ranch Casserole and Dump Cake for desert. We had a great time and Kara even stopped by before the evening was over.
After a full day we headed back to Red Oak and crashed not long afterwards wondering where in the world our weekend had run away to.
In case you missed it… Huckabee was great on SNL Saturday.
Here’s the video:
The stepgrandson of an illiterate, barefoot woman in this village of mud huts in Africa may be the next president of the United States. Such mobility — powered by education, immigration and hard work — is cause not for disparagement but for celebration.
– Nicholas D. Kristof referring to Barack Obama’s Kenyan roots