Archive for September, 2009

Holy Conversations

September 26th, 2009

The more and more time I spend reading about the shouting and screaming in political circles, the total lack of civility and the chaos that ensues the more it has been causing me to mourn the loss of a fine art. The fine are of conversation and discussion. Today I have been refreshed though. I have had two meetings with friends from different walks of life and truly enjoyed them both. The conversations were without pretense, we had no agenda, and it was a wonderful way to spend four hours of my day.

When Jesus walked on the earth he knew what his ultimate purpose was. He knew that every day he walked he drew closer and closer to death on the cross. However, that did not stop him from having conversations and discussions along the way. Every time he had a conversation he was affirming the Imago Dei, the divine image, in a person. He engaged with them in such a way that it left people who left his presence wanting more of his presence. This is evidenced by the fact that he had to feed the 5,000 who were following him. Jesus’s earthly ministry had just begun at this point.

We view the parables of Jesus as great teaching, and it is. It is incredible teaching. But his style in teaching was very informal, more like a discussion and a story. He was not a shouter, he did not take the scrolls out and beat people down with them. He engaged them with whit, humor and wisdom. Unfortunately I believe that right now, at least on the macro scale, Christians seem to have little whit, no humor and wisdom is sorely lacking. We are reminded in the scriptures that “he who lacks wisdom need but ask for it” We need to be on our knees and doing a lot more asking right now.

Wisdom is comprised of knowledge, a deep and abiding knowledge that no matter where we are, no matter what we are doing, God is sovereign over the affairs of man. He knows the beginning from the end, he knows our tomorrow from our yesterday. He is all sufficient and all knowing. Wisdom comes when you can rest in that knowledge and security of that statement.

Conversations are given to us to enjoy and engage with one another. We do not need to agree on all things, and we do not need to persuade each other in all things. We need to just relax and enjoy the company of the other and realize that they are battling as well in their heart, mind, body and soul and we are just the same as them. At our core we are all the same scared creatures, separated from our creator and trying to figure out what is best for us and for our world.

Wisdom and conversations go hand in hand. Sharing with one another brings a deeper knowledge of the other person. Yelling at them does not. Wisdom comes in humbly listening to them and engaging and empathizing with them in their world. Wisdom from God comes when we partake in the lives of others and affirm our love for them by engaging with them. There is no other alternative that pleases our maker more then loving our neighbors. In the global village we have many, many neighbors.  When we can impart the wisdom that God gives us that all will be well, in our deeds and in our discussions, we bring peace and tranquility to the world.

Go and ask for wisdom, go out and enjoy people and listen, truly listen, and humbly you will begin to impart peace and grace into a world that needs a lot more peaceful and graceful people.

~Selah~

oneword.com

September 25th, 2009

O.K., I am addicted to oneword.com. Go and check it out. When you start it gives you a word and 60 seconds to write a poem about it and submit it. Some of the most hillarious posts come out. It is a new word each day and I have been visiting it many times. Here is the result for one of mine

“twig of a tree, bur in my side
Never can I get rid of theee
Always in my yard, my car and my house
Why must God have created thee?”

Don’t be self conscious about it. Everyone enjoys it.

Child Torture (and it is legal)

September 18th, 2009

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

Personally, I would have been the Red Head. This is so cute!

On the death of Civil Discourse

September 17th, 2009

When did it become socially acceptable for Christians to exercise the freedom of speech all the time, in all corners of our democracy, without the slightest thought about what is coming from our mouths? Was it because we watched to many episodes of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood which reinforced in us the “I’m O.K. and you are O.K.” and we all have our rights to our opinions? When did being a Christian mean that instead of going to God in prayer, devoted and whole hearted prayer, we go to Fox News and listen to the talking heads?

When Jesus walked this earth he engaged in civil discourse and worked within the culture to change the paradigm of the people he walked with. The Apostles, the commoner, the proletariat of his day could all understand him. He did not go out of his way very often to shout it down with someone or to engage them politically, however 2000 years later we study his life, his death and his resurrection and are still befuddled by what we find. Just as much as Jesus spoke, he also listened. He must have listened. If he did not listen he could not engage with the people whom he served near so efficiently.

It is sometimes hard to think of Jesus as a listener because we are 2000 years removed from his life on earth. All we have is a written record, and to my knowledge no one has had the creative ability to write silence. If we as Christians really are going to say that we want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and follow the greatest commandment of all to “love thy neighbor” we must show them love by listening. Listening to a person is an affirmation of their dignity. Listening means we affirm that they are unique and that they have value in the conversation. When Jesus spoke with the woman at the well he spoke, he did not yell. He prophetically spoke to her in the course of the conversation but never yelled. She was so touched by his talking with her, not yelling at her, that the villagers “begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4:40-42) I doubt if he was screaming at them the same result would have come.

What needs to happen now as Christians is we need to repent of the way we have been engaging in culture, especially recently with the health care debate. Then we need to listen to our neighbors, listen to the voice of the other and listen to the opinions of others. Listening does not mean agreement, but it means engagement. Finally we need to work for the common good. We need to work together, Christian and not Christian, Islamic and Atheist, poor and rich, to find a better way. We need a third way.  There are options out there. There are voices speaking, but we are yelling so loud the voices are not being heard.

Civil discourse. What we need is civil discourse. Will you engage?

~Selah~

I Intend to aim lower and give up!

September 16th, 2009

Wendell Berry

September 15th, 2009

“If you could do it, I suppose, it would be a good idea to live your life in a straight line—starting, say, in the Dark Wood of Error, and proceeding by logical steps through Hell and Purgatory and into Heaven. Or you could take the King’s Highway past appropriately named dangers, toils, and snares, and finally cross the River of Death and enter the Celestial City. But that is not the way I have done it, so far. I am a pilgrim, but my pilgrimage has been wandering and unmarked. Often what has looked like a straight line to me has been a circling or doubling back. I have been in the Dark Wood of Error any number of times. I have known something of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, but not always in that order. The names of many snares and dangers have been made known to me, but I have only seen them in looking back. Often I have not known where I was going until I was already there. I have had my share of desires and goals, but my life has come to me or I have gone to it mainly by way of mistakes and surprises. Often I have received better than I have deserved. Often my fairest hopes have rested on bad mistakes. I am an ignorant pilgrim, crossing a dark valley. And yet for a long time, looking back, I have been unable to shake off the feeling that I have been led—make of that what you will.”

Quoted from his book Jayber Crow

John Perkins on Healthcare

September 13th, 2009

I was going to write a follow up article on what I was starting to ruminate over on the last post. Then I came across this wonderful piece and alas could not say it better. So today I link to it.

##Update## Good stuff out there about health care. Head over to Lively Dust for more food for thought. As an obese American who has a darn hard time loosing weight I can agree here, all-be-it painfully.

Update 3. I just keep coming across interesting stuff. Christian Science Monitor has an interesting idea in their Op-Ed today. What do you think?

Healthcare Reimagined (my 3rd way)

September 9th, 2009

“The rich and the poor have this in common:
the LORD is the maker of them all.
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of anger will fail.
Those who are generous are blessed,
for they share their bread with the poor.

Do not rob the poor because they are poor,
or crush the afflicted at the gate;
for the LORD pleads their cause
and despoils of life those who despoil them.”

I am growing very tired of the current health care debate. If I see another “Christian” at a town hall yelling at the top of his lungs that this is not the way and this is socialism and this is going to bankrupt America I am going to cry. I am going to cry because Christianity is not about standing in the public square and yelling at the top of our lungs. I can not think of many times that has ever brought a positive result.  As Christians we are to be people of influence in the public square, but we are not to be the ones screaming so loudly that no one can talk, let alone listen. Listening is something Christianity in general needs to do a lot more of.

The fat cats of health care have gotten out of control. Just like those executives of banks that are failing all over the place are just as comfortable in the board room of an insurance company taking huge checks and tweaking the actuarial tables more and more in their favor, and less and less in the favor of the working man. I am blessed to have access to health insurance as a middle class working person, but a poor person who has no access to health care is increasingly on the loosing end of the battle. I believe that they are the robbers at the gate and that the Lord is beginning to intervene.

Working with the poor and oppressed as I do at Compassion has made me acutely aware of what happens to those who continually exploit them, and it is ugly. It makes me glad to be on a winning team. Any time there is oppression God is going to even the scores, even if it takes years to do it. God is not bound to our view of time and justice, he is on his time table. If we truly are as Christians going to be active in the public square, we better be about the work of the Lord. The Lord affirms many many times in the Bible that Christians are supposed to be in the role of advocating and working for the poor and oppressed.

In my ideal world, my third way I suppose, the Church would be doing a lot more advocacy for the poor, would be funding health clinics, in concert with non profits and government support. In my ideal world, Churches would forgo owning hospitals and rather would get to the bare bones of the situation and that is taking care of the person in their midst. It does not matter if they are church member, man on the street, neighbor down the road. They all would be able to get care. In my ideal world health care would be practiced by those who want to heal, not those who want to make big money. Now, that is not to say a Dr. should work for free or low cost, but it should be at a reasonable rate. So many Doctors are in the heath care for the money, and that is the wrong reason. Healing is an art form, and it is a calling from God. I believe the best Doctors are the ones who serve out of a sense of devotion and mission.

I know this is a big order and it is one I should refine a little. But for now this is just a thought process going to paper. If we are going to seek justice and love mercy we need to be doing these things in our back yard. We need to look at our neighbors who need health care but cant afford it. I have several neighbors who work for good money but can only get insurance if they pay the whole thing. A family of four is about 1500 a month. No matter how much money you make, that is a chunk of change and it will keep a hard working artisan class in perpetual poverty.

This is my 3 cents, I will have to fish around for the dollar, but what do you think, am I nuts?

William Penn

September 1st, 2009

“… the less form in religion the better, since God is a Spirit; for the more mental our worship, the more adequate to the nature of God; the more silent, the more suitable to the language of a Spirit.”

– William Penn

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