the domino effect

had a really interesting conversation with a friend at church this evening. he mentioned how he and his wife have really challenged themselves not to take the path of least resistance living in north america. (they’ve spent time in Indonesia in the past) they are making significant decisions that don’t follow the status quo – not buying a house, but a duplex instead. living close enough to work to bike. trying to intentionally grow in community. buck the trend of …get married, buy a big house, have a couple kids, live in relative peace and serenity until retirement…it’s like dominoes, he said. if we’re not careful as followers of The Way. if we don’t make decisions that buck those trends, it’s like a long set of dominoes. one thing leads to another.

don’t get me wrong – buying a house isn’t a bad thing. but how many decisions do we make just cause? as followers of Jesus, what does that say about living by faith, moving forward, and going. being a missional community. there is an important theme throughout all of Scripture. moving forward, out, onward. not staying put. 

“you know, moving isn’t such a bad thing,” this same friend said. “i think us Christians were meant to move through this journey – lots of people have just camped out.”

i know that i don’t ever want to stop and camp for too long. food for thought.   

 

panties anyone?

lacy, big, low rise, thong…changing the world – one pair of panties at a time.

check out this article about one of my profs from university. trish elliot (author of the White Umbrella and assistant professor at the university of regina’s school of journalism) is challenging burma’s military dictatorship in a very, ahem, cheeky way. 

a deluge of panties will soon hit the junta square in the face. read the article to find out more .

theological musings

I always assumed that value and care for the poor and the oppressed, the widow, the orphan and the foreigner, were new and radical concepts brought about by Jesus. How wrong I was! They are in fact deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition. God has cared deeply for the disenfranchised since the beginning of time.

 

Leviticus 25:35-38 (the book I usually write off as obsolete) says:   

 

“If any of your own people become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you.  Do not take interest or any profit from them, but fear your God, so that your poor neighbors may continue to live among you.  You must not lend them money at interest or sell them food at a profit.”

 

There are provisions within the Levitical code that protect those who are disenfranchised. I firmly believe that God becomes very angry when people are taken advantage of, going so far as to call it sin! 

 

“Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is an Israelite or is a foreigner residing in one of your towns.  Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.  (Deut 24:14-16)

 

Everything from respecting the Sabbath (slaves and foreigners in the Israelite home were to have the same benefit of rest), to the year of Jubilee where all debts were cancelled and slaves set free, ensure that God’s people experience justice and freedom.

 

I think of God’s prophecy over Abraham – that he would be blessed to be a blessing to the nations, that all people may know the True God. We are set free by the New Covenant that Jesus established – A covenant that bears in mind God’s heart for the poor and the oppressed and asks us to go even a step further – to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  And that is beautiful. 

sabbath=shalom

lately i’ve been on a journey through the old testament. i’ve read through genesis, exodus and leviticus and something has struck a chord deeply in my heart.

the sabbath.

right from the beginning, God grafted a need for rest into our souls – and into the fabric of our world. the sabbath isn’t just about a saturday off. it’s about connecting with God. taking the space and the time to rest. rejuvenate. be at peace.

what i love about God’s commandments for the Sabbath include creation-care. perhaps He knew that millenia in the future, we humans would struggle with overwork, over-production, over-stress, and over-consumption. stemming from our greed, of course.

“The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD.  For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.  But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.  Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.  Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.  (Lev. 25: 1-7)

 

Isn’t that beautiful? A clause, built into the fabric of Hebrew society, that calls for rest – as a statement of worship to God. i wonder what our hustling and bustling western society would look like if all of our land lay fallow on the 7th year. if every 7 years slaves were set free. if ever 50 years all of the debt in society was forgotten – just like that. 

I like what Abraham Joshua Heschel said:

 

“The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of Sabbath. It is not an interlude but the climax of living…The Sabbath is the day on which we learn the art of surpassing civilization.”

Surpassing civilization. moving above and beyond the greed for more, more, more, more and more and into a deeper understanding of the presence of God. That’s the Sabbath.

the red door

The color red has always been a symbol of passion and action and depth for me.  Spring holds a sense of anticipation and expectation for me.  This picture of the door does too. 

Pagan Christianity

Could it be that all of the Christian institutions we rely on as believers in Christ are actually based on pagan rituals?  Priests and pastors, meeting at a building once a week, clergy and laity, etc?  Could it be? 

I’m only half way through this sucker, but it’s a humdinger of a read.  It’s challenging everything I have ever known about my faith.  Or at least what I’ve assumed about the institutional church being the end all and be all of what Christ envisioned for his body. 

Frank Viola and George Barna have done their research.  Looking into Christian traditions of the past 1700 years, they make a good argument that what the church looks like today with cloaked priests, a professional clergy, and our fascination with buildings, resembles very little of what Jesus had in mind for his Church. 

http://www.paganchristianity.org/

J.R. Miller has a fascinating interview with Barna and Viola that digs a little deeper into some of the topics covered in Pagan Christianity.  Read the interview here. 

prayer|bread of life|more

O God, I have tasted thy goodness and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.

I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace.  I am ashamed of my lack of desire.

O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still.

Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed.

Begin in mercy, a new work of love within me.

Say to my soul, “Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.”

Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee

Up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Masai Creed

I stumbled upon this on Pernell Goodyear’s blog and also found it on wikipedia.  I think it’s beautiful.

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created Man and wanted Man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the Earth. We have known this High God in darkness, and now we know Him in the light. God promised in the book of His word, the Bible, that He would save the world and all the nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good His promise by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left His home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, He rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through Him. All who have faith in Him must be sorry for their sins, be baptised in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love and share the bread together in love, to announce the Good News to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for Him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masai_Creed“

Garbage Warrior

 

I saw the most unique documentary film I’ve seen in awhile last night. 

 Gargage Warrior follows the story of Michael Reynolds, an architect in New Mexico who builds sustainable homes and communities out of – well, I’m sure the title gives it away – garbage.  They are called earthships.  Of course Reynolds comes across as borderline crazy throughout the show, but his passion, and genious is impossible to deny.  Hey, he builds houses out of beer cans and tires, that are completely off the grid and are fully functioning.  And they don’t look half bad either! 

It’s hard not to dream of a more creative future for those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus.  Shouldn’t we be pioneering these types of ideas?  Radical community. Passionate creation care.  Extravagent love – for our God that shows itself through love to others? 

 Hey, if anyone’s interested, one of Reynold’s projects is starting up at the end of April in Saskatchewan.    

a generous orthodoxy. chapter 3.

i finally got my hands on a copy of “a generous orthodoxy” by brian mclaren.  i’d heard it was his best, most complete work; one that does his thoughts and views justice and is a good exploration of our shared faith. 

so far i like it.   a lot.  mind you, i’m in chapter three.  but his discussion in chapter 1 about the different Jesuses he has come into contact with – protestant, catholic, orthodox, pentecostal, liberal protestant, liberation, etc. brought clarity to my own muddied thoughts and experiences in various denominational backgrounds. 

 the following though is the trump card of chapter 3. 

“meanwhile, for me, in the U.S. – now the undisputed Superpower in the world – i feel surrounded by Christians who very much like the idea of an american God and a middle-class Republican Jesus, first and foremost concerned about our national security and our way of life…”(2004, Pg. 82)

you could just as easily swap Canadian into the equation and get the same thing. 

so…have i made Jesus into some sort of white, middle-class, consumeristic, saviour?  or do i allow Jesus to speak for himself and allow the SPirit of God to change me into the real Jesus. 

gosh, i don’t know.