wow…. I am pissed….

wow, I suddenly just realized how pissed I am!

Oddly enough, it stems from a question my brother asked me earlier in the week.  We were talking about baseball and the Yankees whom everyone knows I despise… basically the entire season feels like a waste since they won.  I’m actually not sure if I love the Dodgers more than I hate the Yankees right now… (ok, that’s not very Christian…)

But anyways, we were talking about how Mark Texiera, the Yankees’ 1st baseman left a whole lot of other contracts for a huge one with New York.  And now I look at him and think “sell out”.  Since to me, its like selling your soul to a huge corporation so you can make mega bucks and hang out with ego-maniacs like A-Rod. (OK, Manny isn’t much better probably, but I’m not a big Manny fan).

But he asked me, “wouldn’t you have done the same?” “if someone offered you $12 million to pastor a church and you were making $5 at the one you were at, wouldn’t you have done the same?”

I’m not sure why I didn’t get to answer him, but a few days later, I realized I hadn’t.  But my answer would be an emphatic “NO!”  Well, at least not with the same value structures in place.  If the church I pastor at is all about being an empire and making and spending money, then I don’t want any part of it.  If the church I pastor at is all about booking the greatest guest speakers and buying out things, I don’t want any part of it.   If its all about creating the best programs and attracting people with flash and pomp and coolness, but lacks in any real substance I don’t want it.  I’m not in this to be paid, dangit!  No one who goes into ministry does it for the money!  As long as I can provide my family (love you kitty) with a decent home and few comforts and some savings for the future kiddies education, I’m good.  Anything extra goes into Kingdom work.  So if I did make 12 mil, fine… that sure is heck of lot for the kingdom, but chances are it wouldn’t be at the kind of church that I would enjoy serving at.

The only reason I’d ever want to serve at a big name big money church… is so that I could be on the Not My Job portion of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me as that’s pretty much the only way I’d ever become famous.  But beyond that, I’d rather serve at something down to Earth, with real people and real issues (not saying the others don’t have those, just I’d find it way to hard to serve them),  in a community, reaching out to the neighbors, not towering about in my church building.

It bothers me to hell that when people say about Walmart, “Pshh… who cares if they step on the mom and pops and don’t give their workers benefits.  Its the American Dream! the Triumph of the American Dream!”  Really?  Money and power huh…. (and okay Walmart seems to be one of those love/hate things with benefits and pitfalls, but the princple of what that statement is saying is my point).  If money and power is what drives the church then I don’t want any part of it.  The American dream ain’t God’s dream.  Progress is one things.  Living condition is all well and good.  Empire and might?  That’s taking it too far… that ain’t what God’s Kingdom is about… I’m a sack of garbage and it is a privelige and an honor that God might use me in some small way.  Its not a right, its not a title, and I’m no better than anyone else.  I’d rather be down in the trenches, spending time, building relationships, crying, laughing, celebrating, mourning… being… real… I don’t want to be in an ivory palace…

So yeah this is way more about ministry… just my bro’s question hit at something deeper than I had realized and the Yankee’s win catylized it to my brain…  but in conclusion… I still hate the Yankees

kids sing the darndest things

OK, so I was at my friend’s place today and there were some little Asian kids humming aa song together… and it was “Pomp and Circumstance”, the song they play at graduations.  Now first of all, I hate that song because I hate graduations (bring your DS or PSP to those things!).  And I hate the title of Pomp and Circumstance as if graduates are somehow more elite than other people.  Not that achievement shouldn’t be celebrated, but the word Pomp seems to imply an air of superiority.  But the fact that little Asian kids started, in a group, humming this song together made me laugh and die a little on the inside.  I’ve always ranted about how Asians concentrate so much on achievement and academics, so much so that it can be detrimental to one’s spiritual and emotinal health.  But to see little kids humming the graduation song…. STOP THE INDOCTRINATION!!!

I will like the new Star Trek Movie as long as…

it stays pretty faithful to the characters (they don’t go off and do something completely outlandish)

there is a little bit of intelligence (I know the movies focus less on the cerebral trek stuff anyways, so that’s fine… as long as future trek stuff isn’t just action)

they don’t destroy the already established canon. This is the big one. If they make it clear that all (or at least most) of the TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY stuff (Enterprise wouldn’t matter as it all happened before this era) stays intact, that is, the time travel in this movie doesn’t too crazily mess up the timeline, its fine. Some changes would be fine. Obviously, since Kirk’s dad ill die earlier than he should have, there are some changes, but overall, nothing should change in any major way. I’m iffy if they decide to make a new timeline because it sort of flies in the face of the previous one as well as risks erasing that timeline (see a season 6 DS9 episode called Time’s Orphan)

OK, nerdy post, but yeah, keeping my fingers crossed!

Questions from Sharry

Sharry has some great questions to try and tackle. If you guys get the chance, take a stab at some answers (don’t worry, you don’t have to back everything up with scripture).

1. why do bad things happen if God existed?
I know it’s something about God’s grace and love He gives each of us choices. And He planned everything before we were born and through these bad events, we see that we need God and that He exists. but evan was telling me that God does not ever have bad intentions or plans planned, so i don’t understand how God could already plan everything out but not plan the bad things and yet they happen…it really doesn’t connect for me.

2. what is UP with the trinity?!?!
i don’t think Jesus EVER said he was God or him and God and holy spirit were one, so where did the trinity idea come from?! is it just the writers of the Bible making it up? if they were then we’d be believing the wrong thing!

College Group Questions – 2-21

1. The genealogy of Jesus in 1.1-17. Verse 17 states there are 14 generations from Abraham to David and 14 from David to the exile to Babuylon and 14 from the exile to Christ. Count the generations and find out how many there are…
a. Possible explanations: scribe missed some (does not correspond with 1 Chronicles 3.15, The risen Christ is the 14th, others? Not quite symmetrical, include david twice?
b. What do we make of Matthew skipping some!!!
i. Significance of 14s (7×6). Christ = coming near the 7th 7
c. What do you make of the inclusion of women (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, who isn’t mentioned…) as well as less than savory characters?
i. How do you feel about that?
d. What is the Siginifcance of “Son of David” – will be mentioned 10 times
2. 1.23 has a prophecy! Let’s look back at the reference: Isaiah 7.14 and see what it says! What gives?!?!?! That has nothing to do with Jesus! Explanations? Significance?
3. Compare Matthew and Luke’s version of the birth narratives… who focuses on what? Without needing to necessarily harmonize the two, which is, in this case, essentially fine, how does Matthew’s focus on J figure into Jesus’ role?
4. Try to imagine yourself in Mary’s sandals… how does the news affect you? HS? Where have we heard this before? Significance?
5. Questions on Mary and Joseph’s relationship and possible divorce?
6. What can we take home from what we learned today?

Theme to look for: fulfillment of God’s soverign purpose

Ever seem like…?

Nothing is right in the world? Like your job, your vocation, your relationships, everything just seems a bit off. Like we need to defragment life or something. Or maybe its more than a bit off, but really off. Like you need to punch something… hard.

And being a nerd I felt like this movie scene hit me…

Luke: But its a whole ‘nother year!
Uncle Owen: Its only one more season…

“Bush stuns Evangelicals”

OK… so I didn’t actually listen, but from what I hear, Bush said that not everything in the Bible may have literally happened.

Well… as an evangelical, I say an emphatic “meh”. I’m not certain everything literally happened either. If he meant Jesus and the resurrection, fine, I’ll have a bone to pick with him. But it just goes to show really… CHRISTIANS, wake up! YOU ARE NOT MARRIED TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!!! You can be republican, but they’re not standing for everything you believe in. Some of them don’t even care! I’m not saying the Democrats do either… but get with it, God is not R or D. He’s freakin’ his own party! (Ain’t no party like a Holy Ghost party, cause the Holy Ghost party don’t stop!)

The Covenant Laundromat

So I was at the Green Lake Conference Center in Wisconsin and while searching for the Frisbee Golf Course, stumbled across this sign and had some random photoshop fun

(read in voice of an Elite). No! I washed a red shirts with my whites! AHHHHH!

times when the Bible spoke…

College group, feel free to post here  in comments times that the Bible spoke to you… thanks!

Questions for college group – 8-23

Notes and Questions for Galatians 5

5.2 – But Timothy was circumcised in Acts 16… why would Paul allow this? What’s the point?

5.11 – Why is the cross offensive?

5.13 – How can we serve one another in love? How is this a freedom? How does this go against human nature (what Paul talks about soon after)?

5.14 – My Old Testament professor says that in many prophetic books there is mentioned justice and rigteousness. We have taken them to mean those rather abstract ideas, but back then, it meant doing right by the people you were in relationship with (ie your neighbors and other Jews) and to act decisively for them (ie judging the poor). How might Paul be talking about the same thing? If this is true, what does this tell you about the interaction b/n the old and new testament? Where have we perhaps gone wrong in the church?

If the law can be summed up this way… what are we really doing by doing as Paul says? Who else self-described himself this way and how did he do it? What can we learn from that?

5.15 – How do these tie together? What devouring ties into the freedom of sin? What is the relationship between this and the things Paul soon mentions?

5.17 – What does this tell you about people and about God?

5.18 – What is Paul’s practical application that makes light of this seemingly hanging verse? What is it that works and what doesn’t when combating the flesh? Why is that (think Biblically and practically)? Think back to 5.6

5.19 – Do you agree with all these? Do you question some of them (that’s okay!)? What might be problematic about these especially in light of community?

5.22 – Should anything else go here? Why? How might these be helpful in community and what might that look like?

5.24 – How does this verse make you feel?

5.26 – How might these things happen today?

Theological and Practical Reflection: Raymond Brown points out that there is freedom in Christ and yet Paul here lists a bunch of things that are like rules… much like law… He asks what is the interplay between responsible freedom and clear directives that border on law? Can we find any overarching guidelines in Paul’s letter? Or is there something just Biblically thematic?

Let’s talk about Freedom. What comes up in your mind when that word comes up? We live in the US. What does freedom mean here? Is that Biblical (yes, no, partly?)? What are different types of freedom and how do we describe our freedom in Christ?

What are ways to live by the Spirit – How do you need to work on that? How can we better embody these?

And lastly, a random thought having to do with what we’ve been talking about.  A lot of the Jewish laws are not inherently sinful, such as touching a dead body.  It simply made one unclean (which doesn’t mean sinful).  It went against the nature of God and thus you could not immediately enter God’s presence.  But in 1 Samuel 14, some men are sinning because they ate blood from their meat.  Perhaps it is NOW sinful because of the law.  It isn’t inherently sinful for doing it, but because the law says so.  How does that interact with what Paul says?  Perhaps it is only that it is not trusting in God by obeying Him that makes it sinful, and not the act itself?