the rant

Insights from blog comments.

I am constantly amazed where I find insight into my faith these days. As I have gotten into reading blogs over the last few months, I have noted that many of the responses and comments to the blog posts are where I am challenged most.

I read one post this morning that lead me to two other blogs and some comments that may just work their way into my worldview. It all started with my buddy Nick’s post on slang where he references a term “Snob Goggles”. By way of defining that term, he links to a blog entry of Jason Clark called I Like My Mega Church which is actually just kudos for a third article of the same name by Elizabeth DiCandilo at off-the-map.org.

I read her article and found it interesting but still do not look too favorably on the mega-church model and wondered if there are any comments that reflect any other opinions. That’s when I am side-lined by two concepts that really have made any impression on me, mega-church biases aside….
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It makes me sad.

I go to ‘My Yahoo!’ homepage and see this picture and it makes me sad. What was his story? Who is weeping over his loss this evening?

We kill each other over what we think is right and good, all the while, the value and sanctity of life is lost in the exchange.

The true face of evil. (or, “Is Orin Hatch the anti-christ?”)

Let me add a hardy, “Here, here!” for my buddy Nick’s opinion of the INDUCE Act. Down with this evil, down I say!

As stated in the bill “the term `intentionally induces’ means intentionally aids, abets, induces, or procures, and intent may be shown by acts from which a reasonable person would find intent to induce infringement”… of what you ask?
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A single story.

God knows where marriage fits into our individual lives to complete that purpose of building his Kingdom and drawing us closer to Him, all we have to do is trust Him. Harder said than done. It is the same in all the really big areas of our life, it is easier to know to trust God then to actually do it.

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(Chapter 1) The Search to Belong – a review by chapter

Myths of Belonging

The Search to Belong is a about community, more specifically about the type and substance of relationships that form a community in the church today. It strikes me as a “what’s been done and what’s to come sort of book that emphasizes the paradigm shift of post-modern thought and how that relates to the church and the functions of community in it.

“Community is a complex creature. Many factors contribute to finding successful community. With the erosion of the geographically close family and the heightened mobility of our culture, many people struggle to learn healthy competencies for community.”
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(Intro) The Search to Belong – a review by chapter

It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us, that the time that still separates us from utter loneliness may be brief indeed. Therefore, let him who until now has had the priviledge of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of his heart. Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s quote is a clear representation of the how I personally see community. I wanted to start off with this quote to give you feel of perspective concerning the review you are about to read. I can’t help but color my wording with my perspective on things. So I will just warn you ahead of time that I can be quite… dogmatic, on the issue of community and the place of it in the believer’s faith journey.

The posts over the next weeks will be a review of The Search for Belong by Joseph Myers, actually more of a Cliff’s Notes (should I put a TM here?), for the benefit of my brothers and sisters at the bluer Vineyard at the bequest of my pastor. The idea being that, if one who has passion for the topic of a certain book can condense the main points of that book into manageable bits, many can benefit from the thoughts presented of the book without having to actual read the whole volume of work. It is an idea born from a society with too many commitments and not enough time. This may or may not work, who knows? One thing is for certain I will enjoy the effort and I hope that you do also.

The Tyrany of American Freedom

Oh yeah, I said it and I meant it! We subjugate our enemies by the influence that we wield over the monarchies and/or dictatorships of other countries.

Look at Saudi Arabia and their institution of a state run program through which all, I say again, all charities for the country will be funneled through. In short, all charity in Saudi Arabia is to be strictly regulated by the state.
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Acts of the Disciples

I’ve been thinking that since we are made in God’s image we are 3-in-1 just like Him. I’ve espoused this for a long time. Just recently though I’ve thinking of who we are and how we are made and the relation of that to the work of the Holy Spirit. It seems that conversations on the work of the Holy Spirit fall easily into the realms of the mental and the spiritual but on the issue of the physical, there is a nod to the possibility but a feeling of improbability. Why is that? Is it truly a balanced way it express/explore our faith?

We pay lip service to the fact that God can interrupt our natural life without any expectation that He actually will. Maybe I’m just interjecting my personal reflections into the intentions of others, but does seem it be the case that we live our lives like we are cessationists no matter we proclaim to believe.

I’m painting with a broad brush here, I know. It is just that generally speaking, I have heard the same thing time and time again, “Oh yes, God can do that (insert supernatural occurrence here) but let’s not be too hasty about it happening here and now (implied).” It just doesn’t mesh with what I’m reading in Acts. Daily God invaded their world of the flesh just as He did the mind and the spirit. Continually working in and through them to accomplish His will.

I pray for the faith to believe that the book of Acts is an open-ended story that is still being written today and the courage to live in that truth.

Worship Today

…the expression of love and devotion found in worship music is an integral part of our walk with Christ. Music expresses emotions much more readily then words alone and allows a more intense visceral interaction with God then other forms of worship. Also music is such a part of popular culture as a whole that it just makes sense that expressions of that would find its way into the church.

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