Not Safe But Good

about and through without shoulding

2008-09-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

There is a HUGE difference between writing THROUGH something and writing ABOUT something.

What happened in the sinking of the Titanic, how the ship was breached and the accident, and the result, the FACTS have always been available to me, and I remember reading about the wreck as a new reader in the 60’s. I knew ABOUT the wreck.

Then the movie came out, and I EXPERIENCED the wreck through Rose DeWitt Bukater’s eyes, even if she was a fictional composite character. The Titanic story has the facts all intact, but is written as an experience, and as an experience is compelling.

Rose’s experience living through the Titanic was subjective, in that her experience was unique. MOST of the passengers perished, and so their experience, were they be able to relate it, would have a different twist, but would STILL have the same facts.

The history of the Titanic wreck, as I knew it, was an objective historical account.

Rose DeWitt Bukater’s account was a subjective perspective of the event… it was personalized and inherent to the personalization, came humanization. I could not really comprehend the true tragedy until Rose’s humanness was woven through the facts.

How many times do I talk ABOUT something when I should be talking through it?

And when I talk through it, when I’m sharing My story, and MY perspective, how often do I make the incredible error of assuming my subjective experience is somehow THE objective view?

My story is important, because when I talk about truth, I can best relate truth by relating the truth as I have experienced it in my story, keeping in mind that others may experience something quite different.

I had some difficulty in my marriage, and the story of my life includes my marriage being completely changed, but in the process redeemed. Others have a story that ends in divorce. My story in no way reflects directly on the THEIR story, and to assume so is a disservice to both my story and theirs.

We are made in the image of God, I believe, and as we press INTO that, I think each of our stories have transcendent aspects; each have echoes of God. But there is a huge difference between transcendent echoes, and uniform conformity.

I hope to be more open to hearing the stories of others, and to assuming less about how story SHOULD be. May it be that I should on people less. May it be that I should on myself less.

I guess it's a bit rionic that I just wrote ABOUT writing THROUGH. Almost hypocritical.

becoming a band

2008-08-29T02:15:00.001-07:00

Watch the movie “Stand by Me” again if you get a chance.

Contrary to popular belief, men want their friends to know them at a deep level; men want friendship that has a depth that transcends words, and is alive in the silence of fly fishing the same stretch of river, a hundred yards apart, yet joined in a way that only men can be.

And many men have these relationships, these gifts from God that defy explanation, but just ARE. When we hear of men, people we like and respect, who say that their lives don’t have friendships like this, we have no real counsel, because, truth be known, as far as we know, the friendships WE have like that are coincidental… gifts from God that fell in our lap. There is no advice for how to have such gifts “fall in one’s lap”, it either happens as a happy accident, or it doesn’t.

In my life, I have come to recognize some of the elements that make deep friendship possible, and whether they’re universal truths or not, I believe that at least some of what I have discovered is true.

As I look at my own friendships, I have noticed something interesting that is probably close to universal.

I am able to have deep friendships, and I have a number of true friends.

Say I have a close friend, let’s say Bryan, and we can talk about anything, and do.

And I have another friend Scott who I share the same depth of friendship.

And it happens that Scott and Bryan have a deep friendship as well.

Something odd happens when we’re ALL together. Because the conversations and connections have happened one-to-one, even though each of the three of us know each other very well, the stories are not shared stories of us as a group, even though we all know the stories because we’ve had separate conversations in which the stories have been told.

Stories, the recounting of our lives, is the basis for deep friendship, because deep friendship is the creation of story. When men experience life together, as a group, the story looks like “Stand by Me” or “Band of Brothers”.

We’re mid-forties family men, who have to really squeeze to find a time to meet the college buddies, and in reality, it rarely happens for many of us. Maybe it’s partly because of the danger… there is a dangerous element to the things that happen when men get together. Maybe not dangerous in a risky sense, but men together, feeling the weight of the responsibility and expectations come off, are not the same domesticated guys that hang out in the den at home. The change is unnerving for those who depend on the reliability and steadiness of the same men, yet crucial to being alive as a man.

This gets to the “accidental” aspect of friendship.

I have come to realize that deep friendships with a group of guys are possible for almost anyone, it does not have to be some cosmic happy accident.

If a group of men take the time to spend a week together, completely disconnected from everything, and they let it all hang out, what I refer to as “getting our yayas out”… if men can simply BE for a week, but it’s done together, amazing things happen. And further, if they are committed to telling each other, as a group, their life’s story, what happens is amazing.

First, trust happens.

And the conversations between the guys flows, because all of the stories are known by all of the guys.

And the groundwork is done for the story of the group to have a life… the story is the individual stories of the men, woven together into a new shared story of the group.

Such a group, if you’ve ever been a part of one, is like “Stand by Me” or “Band of Brothers”… it satisfies a deep need we have as men to be known, and respected, and loved.

And believe it or not, it reminds domesticated men of their real identity, which means that they will never be domesticated men ever again, but they become men who LIVE in a domesticated world in a much fuller sense.

Men who are part of such a group make better husbands, not because they become more docile and easy to get along with, but because they know they’re part of something larger than the fight that is brewing over the chores. If you have such a small story that your involvement in household chores is a significant part of what defines you as a man, then the fight over the laundry is going to be vicious. Conversely, if you are living in the identity that you are part of a larger group, and that your significance is not in any way defined by your involvement in the laundry, it’s way easier to simply do the laundry… it just ain’t a thing anymore. Life becomes too short to engage in heated negativity over small things, when there is a larger story going on.

There is a group of men who really understand this, and who have dedicated their lives and substantial resources to facilitate this process… to help the process of about five men to become deep friends.

Horizonquest is a ranch where Randy and his team provide an incredible week for a group of men, with the purpose of each man becoming part of the group in a deep way… it is a way to solidify a group and start the shared story. It is about hearing and honoring each other’s story. It’s about engaging in activities together that are more familiar to ranch hands than domesticated city men. It’s about eating gourmet food man style.

And it’s absolutely free. An entire week. I am not kidding.

Check it out for yourself… http://www.horizonquest.org/ or email Randy at rjsimmonds@aol.com. Pick about five guys, and schedule a week. You’ll never be the same.

for video of my having been there...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6tZ9uNqhlg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFtSqEL2W3E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K90jSuUkCfM

the tyranny of assumption

2008-08-25T10:52:00.000-07:00

Age and maturity have left an impression on me, most often recognized by the odd noises I make in such strenuous endeavor as tying my shoes. Middle age is here to stay... and whodathunk that middle age was referring more to my waist size than the number and weight of the candles on my birthday cake?

Middle age DOES come with some benefit; there are some assumptions I have been conditioned to make that help conserve energy and the joints, these raw resources spent so frivolously as a youth, but conserved now as the true treasures they are. And I've been thinking today about a helpful assumption I've come to embrace.

I call it the "Lowes Assumption", because I have come to realize that my assumptions, while worthy of names, don't merit the audacity of naming them after myself. Unlike "Boyle's Law", or "Planck Constant", I have deferred MY brain trust to other entities, and as we peruse this one nugget of brain matter, it may become more obvious why I would be so humble. I'm starting to believe my humility is simply accurate assessment.

"Lowes Assumption", states, "for every unfamiliar job I find at hand, there is some equally unfamiliar tool at Lowes that accomplishes this particular job in the most efficient and least painful way, and the cost of the tool varies proportionally with the pain and aggravation of the job"

Got hair stuck in your drain, Lowes has a doohickey that looks like a Zip Tie with little fishhook cuts on each edge... hair in the drain rates less than $3.

The right tool for the right job.

Wisdom starts by embracing an assumption that I didn’t naturally have… up to some point in my life, I approached every problem as if I were the first to have ever experienced it. I reinvented the wheel pretty regularly, and in doing so, wasted some precious and irreplaceable resources.

I have learned that better than answers, I need good questions. Good questions are only possible when I examine my presuppositions; if I assume I’m the first to every experience something, then I’m not likely to seek out wisdom and experience from others.

Ask any question, and then analyze the question… what is assumed in the question… and might it be that the assumption is wrong or that the assumption somehow unnecessarily limits the possible answers?

So here’s a question for God.

God, why am I dealing with the pain and pressure that comes with having less money than I need?

And the assumptions…

· Pain is bad and needs to be dealt with
· Pressure is a bad thing too
· That there is a reason, and if God “tips His hand” I might be able to fix the issue
· That what I believe I need, I actually need
· That there is a better option than what I’m experiencing, and that God should help me find a different experience; a more comfortable experience
· That my comfort is a high priority to both me and God, and that reduced discomfort is by definition a good thing

After challenging my assumption, a “better question” might be to acknowledge the pressure and pain, yet make no further assumptions, to ask for an interpretation before asking for a response.

God, I feel this pressure and pain, and I am not sure how I should interpret it… and without interpretation help, I don’t know what my reaction should be. Lord, I invite you into this, and ask for guidance in interpretation, and wisdom in how to use the interpretation as I decide how to handle this issue.

Also

Lord, free me from the tyranny of my own assumptions.

-vern-

why I've been away

2006-09-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

I took a break from blogging.

A couple of years ago I really became engaged in blogging on the blogs of others.. I was feeling around to find the gist of the emergent conversation, and wanted perspective on some of the issues facing followers of Jesus... how to love homosexuals, how not to buy into the agenda and ways of the talking heads that purport to lead the church, yet look little like Jesus.

Folks welcomed me, and I learned a pile in a short period of time. I eventually started "Not Safe But Good", and really enjoyed writing, but there was little conversation happening... it seemed like I was talking, yet it was less interactive than I was used to.

I've spend a couple of years in another venue... I've been writing in a forum. It has been working... I've continued to grow and folks have been gracious with me and my process. Most of this has occurred at John Eldredge's site, www.ransomedheart.com/forum which one has to log into, with a free account. I sincerely invite anyone who finds anything I've written as remotely interesting to check out this forum. It has the good, the bad, and the ugly... but mostly the good.

I'm undecided about blogging here... whether it's maybe too much Vern-centric... thoughts?

-vern-

as the flock, we have no flocking concept

2005-04-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

We are supposed to be the flock the Jesus talks about. John 13:35 "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.".

And yet we have years of division and strife. We have fractured community. Some spend more time attracting other Christians to church from existing church relationships than attracting those in serious need. We are more adept at apologetics than we are at meeting needs and being community. Many of us know the arguments regarding our chosen version of salvation theory better than we know how the addiction process works in our own lives. We have to form small groups and have an agenda before we'll hang out with each other.

What went wrong???!! Where did we divert so far from the Gospel? When did Jesus become an American caucasian, stuck in first century middle east? When did we start looking at verses versus looking at context? When did the Bible become an indexed reference book rather than a collection of stories to introduce God? How many times did Jesus toss a verse to someone compared to the number of times He related a story to them?

I've been exploring the emergent church, and have some hope that the paradigm of contention might be over… the we all believe that Truth exists, but that our experience and background changes how we see the Truth, and that our Truth is truth trying to be Truth. I see real hope, and I see more love than I've ever seen.

Few people can be argued into real relationship, but many are attracted by acceptance and love. I've yet to meet anyone comdemned into right relationship with God... maybe that's why Jesus was so hard on those who condemn.

Like the AAers say, "attraction, not promotion."

origins

2005-04-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

Based on a conversation on this blog, does anyone care to address these questions?

emergent vern

2005-04-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

I’ve been spending time on various blogs that are run by people in the emergent church. I’ve really enjoyed Karen Haluza’s blog Raw Faith and have recently been spending time on Willzhead. Will Samson and I will be getting together in the next week to talk about funding virtually unfundable Christian services, something I’ve been working on for two years and something that I believe Will and his family are jumping into with both feet (my perception).

I’ve also spent some time on Lessons Learned and Laborings Lost as well as screaming through the masses.

I spend time talking to people I really don’t agree with, as they stretch me, although I always try to be a positive part of the conversation. I stay away from “mental masturbation” of irreconcilable difference, as I just don’t want to waste time. I pick blogs where those that are in the discussion are polite, but above all, bright. (my desire is to talk to people smarter than myself, which isn’t all that hard to accomplish). Lessons Learned and Laborings Lost as well as kidpositive fit this description, as does Willzhead and Raw Faith.

For some reason, I have offended Lessons Learned and Laborings Lost to the point that they’ve turned off comments to all but those recognized in their group. Kidpostive isn’t saying much either. Neither of these blogs are run by people who care to identify themselves from what I can see, and have no contact info to clarify anything offline (unless it's my ignorance of where to look).

To both of these communities, I apologize… it was not my intention to offend you.

-vern-

midlife crisis, red corvettes and foolishness

2005-03-23T16:51:00.000-08:00

Many of us men arrive at midlife and lose it. We lose direction, focus, and some of us lose our minds. Often we become unbalanced in the areas that have been imbalanced during the first half of our lives, but the imbalance was imperceptible based on business and natural constraint. Take away the constraints, and the imbalance wobbles out of control.

John Eldredge talks about a question that men have for most of their lives, "Do I have what it takes?". Most of what men do answers this to some extent or another. Even couch potatoing it watching football has an echo of this question, albeit vicariously.

Many men make the critical error of allowing our wives to answer this question for us. While they are part of the answer, they cannot and must not attempt to answer this question as the sole arbiter. Our wives don’t write our report cards. The net result of many who have attempted taking the question to the female is easy to spot… they’re the guys buying flashy cars, flirting with hard bodied women in their 20’s, and generally looking foolish to everyone but themselves. The more deceived of these guys dump their wives and families and start popping the secretary at work. The result for everyone, the man, the wife, the kids, the secretaries and the 20 somethings is a ripple effect of pain.

Here’s the real deal in my opinion.

During the first half of our lives, we are like a river… we’re constrained by banks, and because of this gravity creates directed motion. We become comfortable with the motion because we are touching the banks, they irritate us, but they provide predictable guidance, and they serve as a progress meter… we measure time and progress as the scenery on the banks slips by. We become accustomed to the limitations, learn to work within them, and eventually unknowingly need them like Red (Morgan Freeman) in Shawshank Redemption.

These walls are kind of funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them. That's institutionalized.

At some time or another, we reach midlife, and the constraints drop away… it’s like we enter a lake from the river. Less stress, laid back living, but we’ve lost some of the supporting infrastructure. The lake is directionless. We know we’ve lost velocity, and worse, we’ve lost the ability to measure velocity, the banks no longer meter our progress because they are too far away to compare ourselves to. We know at times we’re actually going in circles. There is no control and everything has changed. How long we spend here ranges from a couple of weeks to a couple of decades.

But here is the key!!!!!

There is another river on the other side of the lake. It is faster, and deeper, and more directed than we can imagine. It will take everything we have become and more. It potentially is the most effective time in our lives. Culturally, it is during this time that we put ourselves out to pasture. Do not buy into this, go for all that God has designed and prepared you for. Grab for the ring. Sell all you have and become a micro enterprise missionary in the third world. Start a business. Mentor kids, heck, mentor your own grand children.

I write this as a warning and an encouragement.

We can so damage ourselves and our families by thrashing around in the lake and fighting this realignment, (which I think is designed by God), that we waste much of the rest and enter the second river in a MESS, wasting precious energy.

Men, if you’re in the lake, accept it, and take what God has for you. Use the lake time productively, and above all, don’t fight it.

If you’re in the second river, BE COUNTERCULTURAL, read John Eldredge’s “Journey of Desire” grab a fresh handful of throttle, and max out.

gospel of sin management

2005-03-21T07:01:00.000-08:00

I would never argue with anyone who suggests that sinning less is a good idea. Sin is... well... sin. But following Jesus is not simply about cleaning ourselves up, and remediating sin... it is about experiencing the incredible effect of the living Jesus in our lives... and freedom from sin is part of this, but the freedom comes from Jesus, not from us.

A fundamental issue with even discussing sin is that there are many definitions of what sin truly is. While I agree that intentionally doing something we KNOW is wrong IS irrefutable sin, I think that this definition is way too specific and narrow. I believe that sin is "missing perfection by any amount".

We live in a fallen broken world. Much of what we do is imperfect.

Doing what is right with the wrong motives involves sin by this definition.

If we focus on sin, we're focusing in the wrong direction. None of us can fix ourselves... the best we can manage with sin is to stop, but we cannot change the desires of our hearts. Stopping is not nearly enough.

The gospel of sin management breaks down most spectacularly in that it is human based, and as such only deals with sin that is easily measurable by humans. This leads to the "sin ranking system" that many evangelical churches adopt... the system in which those who practice idolatry with the bass boat in their driveway are accepted, and the ones who struggle with same sex attraction and homosexuality are banned. Those who struggle with pride and arrogance are promoted to leadership, and those who kick heroin but still struggle with tobacco are kicked around as "less than".

I am amazed at how often arrogance is confused as a spiritual gift. I am amazed at how un-grace doubles as a negative incentive for some. I am amazed at how few people kow how to be truly vulnerable.

The gospel of sin management is not the Gospel of Jesus... it is not the Gospel of Amazing Grace, it is the gospel of humanist self help disguised as Godly spirituality.

self

2005-01-25T13:22:00.000-08:00

statues of self... the left false, the right real. Made by my brother from another mother, Duane.

the false represents the self we present to the world... sanitized, regular... heck one could mass produce them. the false self is a soul-less obelisk, lacking personality, lacking uniqueness.

The real self is like a tree that has survived Hiroshima and still stands… wrecked, bleeding, pierced, but hauntingly beautiful. The bloody concertina wire has violated the tree twice, and is poised to strike again… nails fired from a distance are imbedded in the trunk… and the tree hemorrhages.

warrior paradigm

2005-01-25T11:43:00.000-08:00

I am a warrior.
There are some that choose urban warfare; others fight terrorists; while others fight in the bowels of buildings run by governments... all with the same cause. They fight the just wars that physically renounce despotism and oppression... and my freedom to pen this depends on them. I thank them, and honor their commitment and blood, and the sacrifice that their families make... including the pain of living past the ultimate sacrifice of a son or daughter... witness Priam's kissing the hands of Achilles... Priam's grief, the dim reflection of the grief of the One True God.
And here begins my story ... for I wrestle not with beings of flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness. Battle measured more in heart than blood, where to lose is to be damned to live without a real heart. And I have trained well… I was bred for this fight, warrior’s son of a warrior’s son, and was trained from the second day of my life. I have seen much, and have been wounded… wounds of warfare leaving no mark, but carrying the stench of death.
I am commissioned, and will execute… though one may not notice immediately. I work counter insurgence, with a wireless communication to Central… wear body armor but no cammo. As a forward observer in Enemy territory, I found that hardware only illuminated me as a target… I pack lightly… intellectual ammo with grenades that decimate darkness with light… made of the same heart material that the enemy seeks to destroy. I walk lightly because supply dumps are everywhere, some created by men who fought in the two previous millennia… no need to hoard.
Bleed with me my brothers, and if I fall, say only, “he fought well” and shed no tears. Guide my sons and daughters to their destiny, for they will fight more valiantly than I.

pee pee dance

2005-01-07T19:44:00.000-08:00

this is a story I tell in jail...

My youngest boy, Elijah, eats up life, and won't consider being interrupted by even the insistent call of biological function. We'll be at the park and he is doing the unmistakable dance... a slight shuffle while holding the nozzle for dear life... and I say, "Hey Eli, do you need to use the bathroom?"... and Eli shakes his head and runs off to the next point of interest. I call out, "Hey Eli, let's just take a break for a bit, the porta pottie is just over there, and you're looking like you really need to go." ... more shuffling, more dire squeezing, but Eli can't be convinced to give it up. I either have to go over and physically pick him up, and over protests drag him of to relief, or he WILL pee himself. I know this because I have tested his will just to see what would happen.

Elijah comes by this naturally... I know that God does the same thing with me... "Hey Vern, why don't you let me handle that, take a load off?" and I say, "No Lord, I've got it... don't you worry about me, I won't bother you with this!" And I dance and shuffle and hold on to whatever is the pressing issue. And unless God in His mercy just goes ahead and grabs it from me, I wait until I pee myself. Then we have to cut our day short while I go home and change my shorts.

vern and wife shelley at a friend's...

2005-01-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

vern and shelley

my wife and I at a friend's house in Colorado, Gary Taylor http://wildgraygoose.blogspot.com ... as you can see, I waded way deeper out in the gene pool when I maried Shelley... and every pretty girl needs a Neanderthal, and voila, there I was.

I play ice hockey (for about 40 years), and recently caught an edge, hit the boards and experienced some ultra high speed dentistry... I have less teeth now. Between my facial hair, my lack of front teeth, and living on the northern edge of the Appalachian Mountains... well, put it this way, the local Walmart plays the theme from Deliverance when I walk in.

about knowing

2005-01-01T19:44:00.000-08:00

About Knowing

It's about to be a new semester... time for me to mould (or warp) the minds of a new set of students.I always start by setting expectations using this graph.

know – what we know… for me this might be network engineering or biomedical engineering.

know you don’t know – for me, this might be astrophysics… I know virtually nothing about astrophysics… but I do know the word, and I do know it is something I don’t know. Using Google, in a couple of hours I could get a fairly good picture of the scope of the subject… using the college library and some of my collegues, I could probably know something about it in a couple of days… and with any effort and focus, I could know more about it than most Americans in a year.

don’t know you don’t know – absolute ignorance… like looking into the clear nighttime sky and seeing specs of light… not knowing what to call them (stars), or that the study of astronomy has been a science for millennia.

know but don’t want to know – denial… the truth is my jeans are tight because I’ve been over eating… but I choose to know that the dryer has been hotter than usual, and the clothes are naturally shrinking.

The classes I teach made the know segment very slightly larger, but with any success I’ll make the know you don’t know segment much larger. Both areas of growth impinge on the don’t know you don’t know segment.

withered into nothingness

2004-12-31T01:05:00.000-08:00

as quoted from Brennan Manning's "The Rabbi's Heartbeat" p98

May all your expectations be frustrated, may all your plans be thwarted, may all your desires be withered into nothingness, that you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and sing and dance in the love of God who is Father, Son and Spirit.

Larry Hein

god of shazam

2004-12-30T13:59:00.000-08:00

read Daniel 10... Daniel is waiting to hear from God, and after three weeks an angel shows up... says that God dispatched him on the first day Daniel prayed, but that the angel experience such violent warfare that he had to ask for more angelic help from heaven.
This story really helped me understand how God works and how some things happen in my life. I always thought that when I prayed, that God was a God of "shazam"... I ask for what I need... and I've learned to sometimes pray in a more broad sense... i.e. "Lord help me with my transportation issue" rather than "Lord, help me find a car" and I thought that God would do one of two things... either
"shazam, I am God and I have decreed the solution to your issue"
or
"you are not ready for my shazam yet, so I will not move until I see that you have remedied the deficiency that I see, at which time I will say shazam and your issue will be resolved or the answer will be clear to you. Good luck and I hope you fix what I'm looking at sooner than later."
This has put a lot of strain and concern on me, if God seems to be waiting on a critical issue for me, that based on the two options outlined above, I assume option 2 and wonder what it is that I need to rectify.
I now see that although God spoke the universe into existence, he chooses to use alternate means sometimes, and delays that I cannot understand may have causes that I will never really see until I ask Him personally what was going on. And there are many more options than
1. shazam, or 2. fix yourself then shazam.

barbequed goat

2004-12-30T13:13:00.000-08:00

I agree with many conservatives that public assistance is not something that should experience growth if possible (government is rarely the best answer)... but as a Christian, this belief comes with an added responsibility... I cannot as a Christian allow people to go hungry and unclothed and uncared for... so if I vote for a conservative government that limits social assistance, and my vote helps win, I have therefore put MYSELF in a position that I PERSONALLY need to take up the slack. I need to present the love of Christ in a very physical and direct way... not once in a while, but continually. My vote has made a persistent difference in the care and comfort of people in need, so therefore I need to make up the difference persistently. What do each of us do EVERY WEEK that shows the love of God in a tangible way? Until four years ago, that answer for me would closely approximate "sweet diddley squat". My family and I consumed all I made. That'd make me a fat goat from Jesus' perspective, suitable for a long-term barbeque.

love and money

2004-12-29T11:31:00.000-08:00

Been thinking about the kind of love that Jesus demonstrated in contrast to what we as the church practice. I have come to realize that we manipulate people and "buy good behaviour" by alternately giving love and "discouraging bad behaviour" by withholding love. Donald Miller expands this out in his book “Blue Like Jazz”.

Love as Money, “Blue Like Jazz”, Donald Miller, pp 217-219

What metaphors do we use when we think of relationships? We value people, I shouted out. Yes, he said, and wrote it on his little white board. We invest in people, another person added. And soon enough we had listed an entire white board of economic metaphor. Relationships could be bankrupt, we said. People are priceless, we said. All economic metaphor. I was taken aback.

The problem with Christian culture is we think of love as a commodity. We use it like money.
... I could see ... very clearly. If somebody is doing something for us, offering us something, be it gifts, time, popularity, or what have you, we feel they have value, we feel they are worth something to us, and, perhaps, we feel they are priceless. I could see it so clearly, and I could feel it in the pages of my life. This was the thing that had smelled so rotten all these years. I used love like money. The church used love like money. With love, we withheld affirmation from the people who did not agree with us, but we lavishly financed the ones who did.

yancey, tolstoy, and imperfection

2004-12-29T09:55:00.000-08:00

Philip Yancey, “What’s So Amazing About Grace”, Pages 197-198

Leo Tolstoy, who battled legalism all his life, understood the weaknesses of a religion based on externals. The title of one of his books says it well: The Kingdom of God Is Within You. According to Tolstoy, all religious systems tend to promote external rules, or moralism. In contrast, Jesus refused to define a set of rules that his followers could then fulfill with a sense of satisfaction. One can never “arrive” in light of such sweeping commands as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.... Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Tolstoy drew a contrast between Jesus’ approach and that of all other religions:
The test of observance of external religious teachings is whether or not our conduct conforms with their decrees [Observe the Sabbath. Get circumcised. Tithe.] Such conformity is indeed possible.
The test of observance of Christ’s teachings is our consciousness of our failure to attain an ideal perfection. The degree to which we draw near this perfection cannot be seen; all we can see is the extent of our deviation.
A man who professes an external law is like someone standing in the light of a lantern fixed to a post. It is light all round him, but there is nowhere further for him to walk. A man who professes the teaching of Christ is like a man carrying a lantern before him on a long, or not so long, pole the light is in front of him, always lighting up fresh ground and always encouraging him to walk further.

In other words, the proof of spiritual maturity is not how “pure” you are but awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to grace.

postmodern reputation

2004-11-09T09:16:00.000-08:00

Just finished Brian D. McLaren’s book A Generous Orthodoxy… and found that in many respects Brian is in exactly the same spot as I am. I’m fed up with the modern idea that the Bible can be reduced down to a few principles and rules… kind of has the condescending tone that had God asked, we could have done a more concise job, but since He didn’t, we’ll go ahead and take a run at it anyway. The Bible is anecdotal for a reason… I think God chose to impart wisdom via stories and by demonstration because this media has a richness that an additional 20 or 30 commandments would not have.

Ever wonder why the Bible is so three dimensional? Why the stories and the events are told in such an open way? Why the stories are not always followed by the meaning, but that the meaning is left up to the reader to decipher? Why statements that seem contradictory are often truly balance? Ever wonder why God didn’t just make a list of rules that encapsulates orthopraxy?

I think that when we answer these questions, we have the reason that the Bible has remained relevant to life in so many cultures and across such a span of time… and will always be relevant.

Aslan

2004-11-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

Aslan the lion from CS Lewis' fertile imagination... He's not safe, but He's good.

Good place for me to start, as those who know me well will attest. As we get acquainted, you’ll see the pitbull side of me, but don’t be fooled by this dimension, or by the rough exterior… there’s more under the hood.

No one has ever accused me of not having an opinion, as those over at http://raw-faith.net will attest. I have really appreciated Karen Haluza and her blog over the past year.

I’m anticipating good things from this blog, and want to particularly encourage those who don’t agree with me to engage… I find the stretching process invaluable, although sometimes painful.

-vern-