Category: faith

something beautiful season 2

Are you subscribed to the something beautiful podcast?

If not, you may have missed some good shows in season 2 (2009).

01.02.09 something beautiful :: 2.1 :: musical interlude
01.08.09 something beautiful :: 2.2 :: steve knight
01.15.09 something beautiful :: 2.3 :: the young guns

We already have several shows in the can, just awaiting to be added to your Mp3 player of choice. Coming soon… Aaron Aiken, Tall Skinny Kiwi, The Vanderburgs pt 2, Mark Horvath and Max Fincher. And we’re just getting started!

BTW, Steve Knight is hoping to set a new record for the most downloads on our podcast – he’s about 25 downloads away (I think his mom has downloaded the show 73 times or so :-). But, the Young Guns are closing in on the record as well – they’re only 10 downloads behind Steve. So, listen to the shows, pass them along to your friends and family and we’ll see if either episode can break a new record.

So be sure and drop by and listen to the latest shows, or subscribe in your favorite podcast/RSS reader or in iTunes.

The vineyard

18/365

In Matthew 20 & 21 its interesting that Jesus tells 3 parables related to a vineyard.

I’m really struck by the third and final one here.

“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

It’s that last bit that gets me (the part in bold letters – Matt 21:43). I wonder if I’m producing fruit like God requires. Would/could/should the Kingdom of God be taken from me? Do we just ignore this passage and say, “Once saved, always saved?” Do we just pass over it and say that a quick prayer is the fruit Jesus is referring to/looking for?

What are your thoughts? Chew on it, wrestle with it and then share your thoughts.

one.love

one.love

one.love Originally uploaded by dirtChurch.

Tomorrow is inauguration day. Many of my friends are really excited about Obama’s presidency. I’ll admit, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens over the next four years as well — but I hope I don’t forget where our real hope should be placed.

Anyways… what do you think?

17/365 grace beyond our imagination

17/365

17/365 Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.

grace beyond our imagination

Tonight our community group looked at John 1:16-18. We tried a different approach, lectio divina, tonight. The idea is to read, think, pray and live over verses and passages of Scripture.

1. Read – read, reread, reread, reread a passage
2. Think – what stands out to you in the passage
3. Pray – pray over what you’ve learned
4. Live – apply what you’ve learned

John 1:16-18 (the voice) :: Through this man we all receive gifts of grace beyond our imagination.
He is the Voice of God. You see, Moses gave us rules to live by, but Jesus the Liberating King offered the gifts of grace and truth which make life worth living.
God, unseen until now, is revealed in the Voice, God’s only Son, straight from the Father’s heart.

It was great hearing all the different things that stood out for folks in the passage. It’s a great reminder that God speaks to each person uniquely and for us to really know Him we need to share in our collective experiences.

As I reflected, here are the notes I jotted down ::

Jesus is the Liberating King
God’s grace is beyond our imagination — over and over and over and over again
It’s all from Jesus the Messiah

As his grace floods my life – I pray its flowing out to others as well.

Looking forward to the next few weeks as we practice this “ancient practice” further in our group.

A chat with @existentialpunk

adele

I had a great chat with @existentialpunk today (aka Adele) via direct messages on Twitter. I approached her via DM about the chat and I think we were both a little confused on whether we would continue on DM or on the public site. Either way we were asked later about our conversation and she agreed to allow me to share it on my blog.

I’ve had a great time getting to know Adele and this was just another step in that direction.

She describes herself on her blog like so::

My name is Adele and “i am thomas, doubter. i am judas, betrayer. i am nicodemus, reluctant in the night. i am st. john of the cross, soul darkened by love. i am a christian. i am not.” i am also “lost, wicked, and depraved but redeemed by the grace and beauty of God.”

i am a traveler who currently resides in Richmond, VA with my partner and love of my life, Katryna, and our two dawgs, Lady Dalmation, and Mushu, our Tibetan Spaniel. i am currently going through long-term treatment for Chronic Lyme Disease, other tick borne diseases, and heavy metal toxicity.

You’ll also realize quickly that she’s homosexual and not ashamed to admit that or that she’s a very proud Christian as well. Some may see that as an impossible match, others will appreciate the honesty. Some will agree with one of us, others may not agree with either of us. Either way, I hope you’ll take a little time to read the conversation below and get to know and understand her and others a bit better.

As one final note, this of course was copied from a conversation from Twitter – which of course means each response was limited to 140-characters and some messages crossed paths as well. So while it may look lengthy, there’s probably not much that’s very profound, but I hope its a starting point for our conversation to continue and for others to begin.

Jdblundell: id love to talk more about your ideas via twitter replies (public). we’ll disagree on things im sure about
JB: but id like a better understanding and hopefully find a stronger common ground about
ExistentialPunk: that would be fantastic. i don’t mind disagreements as long as their is kindness and respect. i suspect that from you! 🙂
JB: i’d hope they all come in grace and kindness and if not – call me on it!
EP: Thnx for expressing this to me! 🙂
EP: i will as you do the same for me!
JB: do you believe that all homosexuals are born as homosexuals? do some choose to live that way?
EP: i believe both born and environmental. i do not believe we choose anymore than u choose to be straight!
JB: well that’s not a public reply 🙂 would you prefer dm?
EP: i replied i thought dm. sorry. i am an open book so either is ok with me.
JB: yeah you replied via Direct Message. which is fine with me. can you expound on “environmental”.
EP: environmental i mean having a safe and supportive environment to come out. i did not for many years and finallly did!
JB: so folks can’t don’t choose to be one way or the other?
EP: i do not believe that. i believe also we live on a kinsey scale and sexuality can be fluid. 1 person can be totally straight, 1 can b gay
EP: and others can fall in the middle. 1 can be attracted to either sex. It. for me, is about relationship and how we love.
JB: makes sense. i can understand that view. not sure im there yet (agree totaly) but i understand it.
JB: my command regardless is to love all as Christ as loved me. what response do you have 4 Xians who say your ignoring Scripture?
EP: i say they cherry pick as well and misinterpret scripture by not giving heed to historical & cultural contexts. Usually we go in circles.
EP: i come to a place of agreeing to disagree. All have a right to their opinions/beliefs. If someone will be mean or hurtful to me i stop
EP: stop talking to them cuz i just get mad and hurt. Not healthy. Open dialogue like we r having is great. It took me a long time to get here &
EP: i have yet to arrive. i hold my beliefs loosely in that i could be wrong but this is how i am living cuz 4 so long i did not live. i amhappy
JB: i can c that. find it interesting that folks used to say u were born gay as a way to dismiss – now they say you choose as way to dismiss
EP: peeps like to twist things to their pov! i think as humans we all do this!
EP: peeps don’t have to agree with me. i just want to b treated fairly, equally, and with love. Isn’t that what Jesus is all
JB: agreed. im very careful to ever claim to understand God fully or know him totally. this podcast was helpful :: http://ck83d.th8.us
JB: and i think its totally different when you put a name and a face to any issue. hard to dismiss the homeless when you know one of them about
JB: hard to dismiss illegal immigrants when you know one of them. hard to dismiss LGBT when you know one of them.
EP: Pete Rollins is a very good friend of mine. i will give this a listen later!
EP: ooops, not the podcast with Pete Rollins you meant. i will listen to BOTH! 🙂
EP: Give me some history b4 i listen.
JB: well the podcast is with E Scott Jones – they just refer to the Peter Rollins interview (which is also very good)
JB: the E Scott Jones interview was a followup to a lecture he gave at Wake Forest. Hes a homosexual minister in OKC
JB: one of the hosts of the show (@chadcrawford) is a good friend of mine from college.
JB: do you think the marriage issue would “go away” if the govt quit giving special rights to married folks all together?
EP: i am for calling ALLcivil unions and those who want to get married in a church, gay or straight, can IF church wants to. You get over 1100
EP: federal rights being a heterosexual who is allowed to marry. We married in CA and r in legal limbo & have NOFederal rights. DOMAkeeps our
EP: marriage from being recognized in other states if the state does not have gay marriage legal. Marriage for straights and civil unions make
EP: gays separate but equal.
EP: Not all states offer us civil unions and those that do vary on the rights. We have to pay for attorneys to file legal paperwork that comes 2
EP: you as a married staright couple naturally and legally! i blog about all this stuff!
JB: i think i agree with you. Civil Unions for the feds and marriage for churches to choose who they marry or wont. dont force a church to.
JB: and like you said – civil unions for everyone. not just LGBT. no special fed rights for being married.
EP: YES! That was the lie about Prop 8 that churches would be forced to marry gays and be in trouble for preaching against it. Why Rick Warren
EP: pick by Obama hurt our community so much. It felt like a slap in the face when we were already knocked down by prop 8 passage.
JB: gotcha. well i was reading Gen 15-23 today and thought i’d chat with you a bit about my questions. thanks for sharing!
EP: anytime and THANK YOU for making the time to get to know me! 🙂
JB: sure thing! i hope we can get you on our podcast sometime soon. i think thomas may be contacting you about it b4 too long
JB: and keep that promise. if i say things not in love or grace about anyone – call me on it!
EP: COOL! i would love to contribute! Thomas has become a dear friend who has ALWAYSbeen loving and inclusive to me. We have never met in person
EP: YET! He is a lovely guy and also love his wife too. How did you 2 get connected?
JB: we “met” back in 05 or 06 through our blogs and found numerous common interests and just continued our friendship
EP: Cool! We met same way about 3 or 4 years ago. What a neat soul!
JB: yes. and if you can get that interview with Rollins or have other things you’d like to submit for our podcast feel free
EP: will do! Thanks!

Thanks again to Adele for taking the time to share and your willingness to chat! Look forward to carrying on the conversation!

Slow to reject

…as Faenza likes to tell his staff, the more times a person has been in jail, been arrested or beaten up, the more welcome he will be at the center.

“We want this place to be very slow to reject anybody,” Faenza says. “You don’t have to be likable to deserve services. You can be aggravating and annoying and still deserve services….They are not going to act grateful. But you can’t lecture. You can’t coerce. You can’t shame people.”

This comes from a story about The Bridge – a homeless shelter in Dallas. I hope my home, my community group, my tribe, my communities of faith are the same way. I would hate to know a homeless shelter is more welcoming than the Body of Christ.