read this on opensourcetheology this morning and it made me laugh hard.  describes me all too well

I may be totally off base here. And yes- I'm cynical and my brush is exceedingly wide.

[NOW PLAYING]
Talby from the album "Blue Screen Life" by Pinback

article on rick mckinley & imago dei

READ IT HERE

good article

found this article by floyd mcclung and thought it was excellent.  some great foundational points on church planting, and a broad theological landscape of the implications of inaugurated eschatology for life in the kingdom in general.

Quote from Thurber

James Thurber:
"There are two kinds of light--the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures."
[NOW PLAYING]
Tribe from the album "High Wire Live" by Willy Porter

cheaper than *bux, and free wireless

katie and i are in main street coffee in ardmore. they serve Coffee For Independent Thinkers and it is fantastic.

i'm just beginning to read James Brownson's book Speaking the Truth in Love. brownson's objective is to integrate nt studies with missiology in order to answer what he believes to be the most significant hermeneutical questions the church is faced with. hopefully, i'll have time to read some more this evening and maybe post some thoughts tomorrow on our way home.

NetNewsWire???

katie and i are having a blast at home. i hope everyone had a great christmas.

i was hoping to spend a bit of time here setting up an RSS reader. i know that the new safari is supposed to function as an rss reader, but i don't know when this will be available. in the meantime, i have played with shrook a little and netnewswire. does anybody have opinions on these programs?

i like the fact that shrook looks/functions like a cross between iphoto and finder, but nnw seems like the easier one to use. i still don't know how to set up all the feeds within either one of them i love the tabs function in nnw; and with a bit of tinkering, i think i could cut the time i spend reading news and blogs on the web in half.

if anyone has any suggestions, drop me an email

the for carnation

just picked up their self-titled album from a friend and i absolutely love it.  definitely some of the darkest music i have heard in a while, but a nice change of pace for me.

my afternoon news reading

here are the two things that were most intriguing to me:

Indoor Nudity Now Prosecutable
THIS could be the greatest tragedy I have ever heard.  Quinn not moving to Mexico anytime soon
Santa banned for being a Christian symbol (read here)

sweet, niebuhr, wright, and 'oh my gosh it's freezing!'

the wright lecture has sent my mind blazing in a thousand directions.  then, while i was sitting in jerry root's office yesterday i paged through Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives.  the size of the book drives me crazy (not # of pages-- the size/shape of the book-- kind of like some sort of cutting edge hermeneia commentary), but i was surprised at how much i enjoyed the format.  all the writers interact with one another throughout the book.  it isn't one of those "we wrote this together, therefore everything will say 'we' and 'we' [dude, it's the royal 'we'] will never let you know who is writing what.' 

instead, each of the contributors wrote their section; then each of the contributors comment on each essay (think counterpoints series but it is set within the text-- very helpful i thought).  anyway, despite the squirreliness of len sweet, i genuinely enjoyed what i read.  perhaps i'll look more at it in the future.

the one thing it did do though was drive me back to wanting to understand niebuhr more.  i'm taking the book home for christmas, and i also dug up a great stackhouse article on the whole thing.  and, i think i recall resident aliens having a lengthy critique of niebuhr-- so i'm taking that one home too. 

did i mention that i'll be reading this in oklahoma?  where it is not -4 degrees?  have mercy.  i haven't even gone outside today.  but it is pouring through the windows and reminding me that my faithful & aged car has NO FREAKING HEAT.  anybody that wants to come chauffeur me around today, give me a call.

advent blessings

because my wife is the greatest nurse in the world

i spent all morning telling the customers at starbucks that THIS happened on Katie's unit.  this goes to prove what pauss always said about working at starbucks.  if we make mistakes, people get angry.  if katie makes mistakes, people die.

thought you guys might enjoy reading this article.  i wish i was the smallest man in the world.  unfortunately, i'm rapidly approaching the world's fattest

Poem by Taylor Mali

Chris Seay (mis)quotes this poem in his Reformission sermon, but I absolutely loved it, so I dug it up.  Read Totally Like Whatever here

Would You Be 'THAT' Guy?

Would You Be 'THAT' Guy?, originally uploaded by slimninja.

ok, one more post, and them i'm heading home. the question for the afternoon is this:

1) Would you be willing to be "THAT GUY". yeah, the one with the big headphones on-- say, at starbucks, on the plane to dallas, sitting in the library?

now, i have never been that guy, and have never been willing to be that guy. but, do the bose noise canceling headphones change your answer in any way? are you willing to be "THAT GUY"-- yeah, the one with the bose headphones on that may look like a complete jackass but doesn't have to hear you sound like one?

i think i'm in. i'm willing to be that guy.

in case you're not in the Christmas spirit

O Holy Night (or click here to stream in iTunes)

why we didn't get this guy to dgv this year is beyond me. tragedy. tragedy.

(gladd sent this to me and i uploaded it to my file server. we'll see how long this site holds)

'Transforming the Culture', N.T. Wright

[read the lecture Wright gave at the Latimer Fellowship HERE]

Wright's lecture, delivered as a main address at the 1999 AFFIRM conference in New Zealand, is an excellent starting point for a proper discussion entailing how the Christian community engages with culture. Wright begins the lecture with the work of Niebuhr being the foundation. Though brief, this gives significant background to the discussion, and provides a manageable framework for his analysis.

Also by way of introduction, Wright creates a working definition of 'culture' (which is a necessary precursor given the multiplicity of use and misuse the word carries). Once his terms are defined, he outlines his argument around the threefold concept of cultural engagement through affirmation, confrontation, and subversion-- cues he takes from his read on the Apostle Paul's life within the cultures of Judaism, Hellenism, and Rome.

Wright's analysis of Paul within this rubric can essentially be summarized in his words regarding Paul's Athens address in Acts 17:

"Affirmation, confrontation, and outflanking exposition: if you want to interact with and transform your culture, study he Areopagus speech and see how Paul went about his task, then go and do likewise-- if you dare. Affirm what can and should be affirmed, confront what can and must be confronted, and outflank that which is looking in the right direction but which then turns back and settles for second best"

Wright begins his conclusion with a transition from analysis to integration,

"Well, if that is what Paul did, what should we be doing?...The question is not, how can we change the culture overnight. We can't and won't. The question is, what should we be doing that will speak into our culture with the word of affirmation, confrontation and subversive outflanking?"

Wright then correctly makes the transition to framing this question within vocabulary of the missional vocation of the church and the natural process of The Continuing Conversion of the Church (my reference to Guder, not Wright's) as the community of saints continually bring their lives to bear under the Gospel. He continues,

"Now if we are truly engaging in these tasks and others like them, we will find that to sustain a transformative engagement with our culture will require the church to have its own culture transformed...Reformation of the church, transformation of our own culture, the equivalent if you like of Paul's transformation of Judaism, must proceed as Paul's did, not for its own sake, but as the reflex of our mission to the wider world."

In light of this direction, Wright's concluding exhortation urges Christians to do the hard work of coming to terms with 'the power of symbol and story'. This is not, Wright maintains, a call to render the cultural trappings of the Christian faith within the closed community (I imagine that Wright may include our beloved CCM industry in this category, but on this point he is not explicit).

In closing, then, I wish to echo the words of Wright,

"If we are concerned to unlock the door of hope that leads us into the twenty-first century in the power of the Spirit, we must as Christians learn again how to use the symbols, how to tell the stories, how to enact and encode symbol and story together"

May God make us faithful as we approach advent and the new year-- giving us hearts robust with worship and adoration; and a new resolve to seek out the issues in our own lives, churches, and cultures that require affirmation, confrontation, and transformation.

brunch @ ballydoyle

DSC01339.JPG, originally uploaded by slimninja.

missional leadership institute

don't know if any of you have run across this, but alan roxburgh is running what looks to be like a consulting service.  the missional leadership institute.

more on the avc website

unless the site simply isn't supported in my browser, it appears there is a great deal yet to be published.  furthermore, the url indicates that this is a "demo" of some kind-- perhaps currently hosted on the server of the company that created the site (solerant looks like a texas company that has done many church web sites).

i wish that they would have focused the design on keeping everything within one window.  i know some people don't like frames, and others have different opinions on flash altogether, but i wish i didn't have to launch a small pop-up from within the site, only to be linked to another window.  this clutters the desktop (again, might be my browser).  i'm sure there will be a host of modifications over the coming days, but, all in all, applause.  i was so tired of the old site.

the thing that i do like thus far is the animated explanation of the new logo (see it here).  there should be some sort of 1 mo grace period to get grapes off of everything vineyard.  i like the new logo.  don't know how we'll incorporate it into the dgv stuff, but i like it.

[NOW PLAYING]
Breathe from the album "Jammin' Java - Vienna, VA - 6/20/02" by Willy Porter

at last, a new avc website

check out the new avc website HERE.  i haven't had time to really check it out, but i'm glad they finally got rid of the old one.  hopefully, we will publish the new dgv site to the web before the new year.  i'm so ashamed of the old one, i won't give you any links

re-found albums

i don't know if you can call it loosing them. they're all in my case logic. they're on my hard drive. i backed it up yesterday. that's why i call them re-found. i love digging up an old disc, and finding the same joy i found the first time i found it. so, here are my current top-five "re-finds". i thought i'd maybe be able to inspire you to re-find some of your own, or go out and buy these for people for christmas.

• Here Come the Snakes by Crooked Fingers. lyrically, one of the best albums i own.
• Whole 'Nother Deal by Don Chaffer. waterdeep's website shows that lori has done a new record. i'll have to listen to this album until i can afford her new one, and the new 4 piece waterdeep record.
• A Rush of Blood...Coldplay i haven't listened to this in a long time. why?
• L moe. i refound this one when i burned their tin cans album for a friend. i haven't kept up with moe. since the last time i saw them in college, but this is the band as i remember them. tin cans is an interesting story of re-finding in and of itself.
• Sonic Temple The Cult. i don't care what you say. i used to LOVE these guys. i dug up this CD from a pile @ my parents' house like a year ago and just ripped it to the computer a few months ago. like a double re-find.

a thought from the bishop

"What would it mean if, instead of trying to explain the gospel in terms of our modern scientific culture, we tried to explain our culture in terms of the gospel?"

(Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture)

cell phones and wifi on planes

saw THIS article on AP.  the wireless wouldn't matter for me because i'm too fat to fold the tray table down.  and, can you even begin to imagine how heinous it would be to have people all around you on a plane talking on the phone?  lord help us all

$77.50 in tips for the DGV

good time.  good night.

meet kevin davidson

DSC00575.JPG, originally uploaded by slimninja.

attention everyone. this is kevin davidson. he is quite concerned that his picture isn't anywhere on the web, so i have decided to make him famous. smile kev, everybody loves you

healing & magazines

interesting coincidence that we received two magazines yesterday that both have extensive articles on prayer. us news features a cover story on prayer (an interfaith exploration on what they term, "the rhythm of the soul") and katie's advanced nursing includes a lengthy cover story on the healing power of touch. spent 33 seconds skimming the us news, and i'm eager to get home tonight and read both of them.

christmas orientations (no theological humbugging)

in response to mike's concerns (read them HERE), i can only offer a few things.  i think most of my uneasiness about christmas in the church is the fact that it sneaks up on us like a surprise visit from relatives.  i don't for this reason suggest that we bail on the holiday (in fact, all of you should send me gifts-- or join forces to buy me the bose noise canceling headphones).  here are just a few thoughts as mike has gotten me thinking:

• first, i don't know how you guys are living at your church, but i think one of the first 'orientations' we need to have during advent is to preach sermons that bring our people into the historical tension of the moment that Jesus was born into.
• we should work to direct the eucharist (we do this every week, if you only do it occasionally i don't know how you do it) to continually force our hearts to reckon with the fact that Jesus came to die.
• we should work to draw the imaginations of our people into the filth of the nativity.  in fact, the more i think about it, Jesus' birth is one of the reasons he was so offensive to people-- a king with no pedigree?  bah...i know the clapp quotation sent you into the nether regions, but i think he has a point: christmas is most often portrayed in the church with elaborate productions, ornate costuming, choirs singing anthems, etc-- in short, really clean and majestic.  what must be emphasized is that the majesty of the story must be defined in terms of  the upside down nature of the kingdom-- and the extreme 'absurdity' of the way God has chosen to accomplish redemption.  a poor boy borne into obscurity,  called a bastard by the gossips in his neighborhood, amidst the slaughter of countless babies just like him, born to bleed and die on a roman cross (i've been reading col. 1 today-- this is the hope laid up for is-- this is the gospel).
• hmm...perhaps also we could work to interact with each of our particular environments during the holiday season to talk about idolatry and brokenness within our culture that humanity needs to be redeemed from-- not what christmas needs to be redeemed from.  THIS is the purpose of the incarnation anyway.  where are the obvious points of brokenness in our city?  how does the incarnation speak to this?  specifically?  i'm hoping for more articulate responses than, "see, jesus was born to set you free".  give me the christmas message as it speaks to poverty, injustice, abuse, and-- within the church, apathy.
• i agree with your point on the necessity of origins.  but the origin of the story needs to start before "a creed being issued by caesar augustus"...i would love to see us start in november and talk about the apostasy of the jewish people, the covenantal grace of God, and the cries in the hearts of the people asking God to come break into history and vindicate his name, deliver his people from exile, and provide restoration in the fullest sense of the word. 
• finally, i admit a personal peccadillo here (and you thought i had none).  i'm annoyed by christmas in some of the same ways i'm annoyed by valentines.  i'm not annoyed by the commercialization of the holiday as much as i am how we are giving and gracious during this season, and dang proud of it-- completely ignoring the fact that we are selfish bastards for the duration of the year.  i include myself in this.  i don't know how to fix it.  when we are focused on "blessing" people year round with the intensity we are during this season, i'll be much more excited.
  
  have i missed it?; have i avoided what you wanted to hear?; is my heart wrong in the matter?; all i know, is christmas is about to slap us in the face as a church-- no doubt many of us are buying gifts for people, decorating the house, cooking, etc., but we haven't really paused to reflect on why we're doing all of it.
  maybe that's what i'm hoping to see re-directed in the church.
  
  
  [Now Playing]Priest Alley Song by Red House Painters

to appease daling

FESTIVUS

there. is that what you wanted?

procrastination

well, i'm either supposed to be working on grad school apps, or writing the final wedding thank you notes. but, i'm not in the mood to do either, so i figured i would share a few thoughts with you:

• i spent at least 4 minutes at lunch today with katie wondering if i could generate enough force to jab a chili's steak knife through my heart and end my life. there was a large table of people next to us who were exchanging 'christmas stories: how you can pass out candy canes with tracts on them; how you can use mistletoe to share the gospel (mistletoe grows on dead wood, the cross was made of dead wood); and how, though they felt playing cards was strictly forbidden by the bible, they had found some tracts that both looked like playing cards, and had bible facts connected with playing cards (four suits, four gospels, etc) that they were sending to the troops in iraq. i told katie that there was no way we were praying before our meal-- i didn't want these people to think that we were "like them"
• i have been listening to the charles mingus box set and it is, quite possibly, the greatest six jazz albums i own. i would recommend you check them out.
• i read a book today by lewis and wilkins called the church of irrestible influence. i have no idea why i bought it. i don't care for the title in the first place, but it is by a pastor in arkansas that i have heard a good deal about, so i wanted to check it out. he actually has some great stuff on leadership in the book-- i.e., the dire need of the church to engage in intense leadership development (really, the only reason i paid for the book). all in all, LAME. the book is maybe a better history of bridges throughout the world than it is anything else. if you want any of the leadership stuff in it, don't buy the book-- i'll send you mine

[NOW PLAYING]
My Jelly Roll Soul from the album "The Complete Atlantic Recordings 1956-1961 Disc 3" by Charles Mingus

morning prayer

a good piper prayer to put me in my place this morning:

"Lord, help me to make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am"

compliance noted

thank you tiny and good night

Ultimatum For Tiny

enneagram personality test

i don't know if any of you have seen this, but i had first become aware of this test at 9types and had become more interested in taking the test when i saw that doug pagitt had posted his test results (generally, much of what doug does is interesting to me, save his latest display of 'coolness'). anyway, two months ago, i took the test. my results were very close in 3 categories (type #1, type #7, & type #8). if your scores are super close, they let you take the test again for no charge, but recommend that you wait a few weeks. well, that has happened to me 3 times. i am constantly displaying some sort of obese tapestry of three personality types-- the only difference being which category is the actual highest of that particular test. therefore, these results say one of two things about me:

1. i am schizophrenic
2. i am the perfect blend of 3 very annoying and domineering personality types (which makes me the paradigmatic husky, jerkwad, renaissance man)

i hadn't taken any sort of test like this since i was 15 and my parents were trying to justify a reason for putting me up for adoption (actually, many enduring insights have been with me along the way since that day my mom drove me to dallas and i took a battery of personality type tests).

i just thought i would make you aware of the test if you have $10 and some vain curiosities to satisfy today. obviously, tests like these don't prove anything-- but i find the categories in this one helpful, and the extended test interpretations are interesting if nothing else.

read here for a 2002 time magazine article on eight popular personality tests

[NOW PLAYING]
A Letter To Elise (MTV Unplugged) by The Cure

"Let the Pagans Have Their Holiday"

i just re-read this chapter in clapp's book. it is only four pages and the main thrust of the chapter is that the only way for christians to reclaim the significance of christmas is to reorient our lives around the church calendar-- which points perpetually to easter, not christmas. here are several paragraphs from the essay:

Christmas celebrated without the events of Easter overshadowing is too easily sentimentalized and secularized. A baby in a manger, angels hovering overhead, cattle lowing nearby-- surely this idyllic world needs no redemption. A dechristianized Christmas is the ultimate Pelagian holiday; for at what other time of the year can we seem so certain that, merely with good feelings and good will, humanity can save itself? Annually, in fact, newspaper editorials and television commentators say exactly that, pleading that all the world needs is to spread Christmas cheer throughout the year.

But Easter-- Easter is on the other side of a cross with nails, of confrontation and beatings and death, and then, only then, resurrection and new life. Christmas we can easily teach to our kids (and to ourselves) without blinking, free of strain or discomfort (provided we gloss , as we usually do, such details as Herod's slaughter of the innocents). Easter is harder, for it requires facing death, the shortcomings of the disciples, the bloody lengths God must go in order to rescue a confused, hateful world from itself.

(Clapp, Border Crossings, 82).

a few thoughts at the end of the week

happy friday to everyone. just had a few thoughts that i wanted to share before i try to be somewhat productive for the evening:

• today is dan weber's birthday.
• i totally had my day made today by none other than the starbucks corporation. they gave all partners who have carried an average of 20+ hrs for the last year a christmas bonus. my check today was a nice surprise.
• tiny now has a blog. you can access it HERE
• george was at starbucks today and reminded me who it was that wrote the article "let the pagans have their holiday"-- it was rodney clapp in his book Border Crossings (maybe i'll look at it later tonight and make some comments later).
• everything is now official. ballydoyle irish pub will be hosting several downtown dg starbucks partners as guest bartenders next wednesday (december 12) from 7-9pm (link to ballydoyle here)
• interesting article on bitTorrent
• ourTunes is a sweet little script. would have been much cooler if i would have had it during college. it definitely would have made boring classes a bit more tolerable.
• red eye article on the club shooting in ohio. i could be the farthest thing from a metal fan, but i think there is a place for cultural reflection here.

ballydoyle hosting starbucks guest bartenders

, originally uploaded by slimninja.

Wednesday, December 15

myself, joe, pauss, rebecca (will be making a return appearance), dooley, and kyle will be tending bar at ballydoyle.

come out and hang with us. open mic starts @ 8:00, and all tips will be donated to charity

more on the presence of the future

tiny, you're making me think (read his response) but i think something you have said has not only troubled me, but has in many ways proved my point. you say,

"Our great hope isn't fully realized right now, but it isn't
simply realized in the "spiritual" realm either"

do you really believe this? i guess i would first have to ask you how you define the "spiritual realm", and how you're using the word "realize"-- but within the confines of the conversation, it would seem like this was a reference to my discussion of heaven.

isn't this precisely what heaven is? fulfillment (ultimate realization, not just "simple" realization) of all the promises of God? my hope will be consummately realized in heaven (otherwise, where is it fully realized?) this is why i was wanting to incorporate the language of final vindication into the discussion of justification and the gospel.

as you understand it, what is heaven? do we experience something there that is consummate in the sense that other earthly things are proximate? -- even the great and glorious in-breaking of the kingdom we see here? (maybe this isn't the right way to describe it.)

even if we are going to use the language of resurrection-- we have to work to develop a framework for interpreting Jesus' resurrection as 'first fruits', which creates the necessary tension of living between the ages. resurrection is a profoundly helpful metaphor as we seek to contextualize the gospel (as is new creation, i'm with you...)-- but we have to create space for final resurrection also. if i remember rightly, they allude to this in StormFront. that is, they speak of paul's words in 1cor 15 of jesus' final destruction of death.

1Cor. 15.25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 1Cor. 15.26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

have you read anything in this vein of thinking (or, have THEY written anything) that deals with other pauline texts like these?

Rom. 8.23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
2Cor. 5.2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 2Cor. 5.4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

this "groaning" in my opinion has somehow slipped off the map for most of us. we aren't oriented in this direction, and we aren't seeking to make this a gravitational center of our proclamation.

anyway, you've got my mind blazing in a thousand directions. i'm grateful. this is a bleary eyed first round response (maybe my mind will have some clearer thoughts in the morning)

what else you got for me?
[NOW PLAYING]Priest Alley Song from the album "Songs For a Blue Guitar" by Red House Painters

@ quinn's reception

DSC01231.JPG, originally uploaded by slimninja.

just found this pic as i'm heading to bed. tiny and i have always been fascinated with fire.

thoughts on the "already" of inaugurated eschatology

katie and i are on a date at caribou coffee (you've got to hide someplace) and i'm almost finished reading Brownson et. al, StormFront. the book is actually quite good. essentially, Brownson and company attempt to recreate a contextual narrative of the gospel for the 21st century. George Hunsberger's forward (brilliantly titled, 'the story that chooses us') describes the authors' intentions to be faithful to the biblical narrative, and "render it fresh for this new time and place" (vii). he sets the framework of their story with five signposts of our current context:

• we live in a swirling storm
• we live in a contest of allegiance
• we live in a life and death communion
• we live at the intersection of powers
• we live in a crucible of practices

you'll have to read and decide for yourself whether or not they achieve their goal. personally, i think they do quite well, though i'm frustrated by their repeated out-of-hand rejection of forensic language as it applies to justification (it is almost treated as a necessary rejection to achieve an appropriate contextual theology)-- i think they accomplish their task well (i have loved every volume of the gospel and our culture series).

the thought that is bouncing around in my mind currently is how all of us may be on a path to missing the mark-- just as we have criticized those who have gone before us. i think that the authors correctly identify the historical reduction of the gospel to what happens to you when you die. i love the rediscovery of the present implications of the gospel for the lives of Jesus followers. may God permit us to avoid the sectarian attitudes that have preceded us (the world is going to hell in a handbasket, why bother). however, as i read, i wonder if our generation has over-corrected (swung too far-- pick whatever image you want) this error and we are now emphasizing the "already" of the kingdom of God too much.

now, i don't at all mean we overemphasize the presence of the future with respect to the ministry of the Holy Spirit (though, granted, many have and do within their own respective movements today). i think we still have much ground to gain as it pertains to the power of the gospel for ministry and healing now. rather, what i'm thinking of is how our generation of theologians and church planters (i don't locate myself with emergent by any stretch-- though i identify with many of their driving passions) has reclaimed perhaps too much of the "already" of the kingdom.

how many young churches do we encounter that are actively and intentionally cultivating a passion for heaven? we hear good redirections toward issues of social justice and arenas in which we can witness the beginnings of the reconciliation of all things to the Father-- here, in our midst. we talk much about the local church as the canvas on which God is painting the story of his redemption. we mention often in sermons and conversations that the gospel is more than your individual soul going to heaven. add some to the list yourself...

I see much work being done to direct people's attention to the primacy of the local church in the eternal purposes of God. but, i could be wrong, i don't personally remember preaching much over the last year about the glories of seeing the risen Jesus face to face. maybe i have, and maybe you're hearing clarion calls for this all over the place. maybe there are books that restore balance between the two that i'm not familiar with. i'm just not seeing it. i wonder if we have put too much emphasis on the now?
in fact, as i read the authors of StormFront describe the necessary birth of apocalyptic within the Old Testament-- i wonder if we are headed on a similar trajectory within the course of our history. that is, with so much emphasis on the "already" of the kingdom and the "already" of the purpose of the gospel, it seems like we have lost the concept of vindication before God as an essential component of the gospel. perhaps the authors here will make mention of the significance of "vindication", but the absence of such language in their discussions of justification thus far lead me to believe that they won't.

as we seek to faithfully tell the story of the gospel, what is required of us that we don't permit a cultural reduction of the value of 'community' (for example); or an evangelical reduction of salvation applying primarily to your death to determine how we recast the story? the price for our parents' reduction of the gospel is clear. what will be price we pay for minimizing the future orientation of our redemption?

now, as i close, perhaps somebody wants to weigh in and suggest that this tension is solved (or perhaps that this new movement of church planters does not commit this error at all) based on the reality of resurrection...but i'll leave my own thoughts on the matter for a later time

sound like any of your holiday tips?

sounds like martha stewart...and many of our christmases

25-Christmas - Christmas is a special holiday for families, and gift giving. Encourage home made gifts be made by every one in the family. There is nothing that expresses love more than an item that you took time to fashion. If you choose to have a Christmas tree, why not try a potted one? It will last for years and years, and grow with your family. Stringing popcorn, cranberries, cinnamon sticks, or even a breakfast cereal (Kix, Cheerios) can make a nice, natural alternative to the usual metallic garland.

(from the "Guide To Pagan Parenting")

"Umm...Glory to God in the Highest...Oh, look, a train"

those were Katie's words last night as we drove through a local church's parking lot "Festival of Lights". currently, the santa(s) and the north pole lighting exhibit are much more elaborate than the nativity (not to mention the awesome train...right next to the neon angels announcing "Glory to God in the Highest"), but the sign claims that they will have a live nativity on the 10th and 11th of December-- so, in the words of Carl the greenskeeper, "i've got that going for me".

obviously, i have been thinking much in recent days about the real point of convergence for the truth of the gospel of the kingdom during this season-- reflecting on patterns of syncretism we have developed as a church over the years; and trying to think how the church-- especially one in an affluent chicago suburb-- can work to faithfully proclaim the coming king.

is this the season that the church should work hard to join the masses in giving? is this the season that we should be preaching sermons on redeeming the holiday that is rightfully ours? (where, btw, did i read an article on halloween entitled 'let the pagans HAVE their holiday'?) it is in times like this that i miss the anglican communion i was a part of during college-- where even the colors and the altar dressings reminded us of the significance of the seasons.

why do i hear the church talk much more about "blessing" in the language of presents during this season? i guess this would be a much more comfortable posture if we were seeking to explore the implications of "blessing" people with presence throughout the rest of the calendar year. furthermore, are we really trying hard to work out the redemptive-historical implications of advent in march? are we encouraging our people to give presents in feb because of the lavish grace we have received in the historical incarnation of this man Jesus?

i have also been reflecting a great deal on the concept of "blessing" in light of the "curse" that Jesus took upon himself on a roman cross. this made the eucharist much more weighty to me as i shared with our people last sunday. it seems, like in most areas, that we have much to learn about faithfulness to the story-- especially at christmas.
what are the sermons that we should be preaching leading up to the glorious mystery of Jesus' birth? following? how can we work to tie the redemptive-historical significance of his coming to a broader period than advent? i loved what we did in our church last year-- preaching "who is this Jesus" from christmas through easter. i felt like this formed a solid connection for our people, and helped us pull focus through the seasons. what are the practices we should embrace as communities? is giving extra money to the homeless shelter during christmas the direction we should move?

may all of you encounter Jesus in this season of the celebration of His birth
[NOW PLAYING]
Look-Ka PyPy from the album "Out Of The Madness" by Derek Trucks Band

dinner on kate's birthday

DSC01299.JPG, originally uploaded by slimninja.

sunset on kate's birthday

DSC01294.JPG, originally uploaded by slimninja.

ecto wins big time over blogworkz

i have played with a couple of blogging programs, and ecto has definitely won my heart. i will delete blogworkz immediately and profess my love to the new program. don't know how much they will charge me to license it, but i'll pay. it has spell check and everything.

pipe smoking tips

thought this might come in handy for gladd or dan-- or anyone else who wants to join me at Tribeca on Tuesdays. How To Smoke a Pipe

because the movie isn't that interesting

sitting here watching a movie with kate...she is sleeping, and i have seen it a thousand times, so i thought i'd let you in on a few of the things i've been browsing as the movie rolls:

don williams' new site seems like it might have some good stuff on it

the most terrifying hamburger i've ever seen

and, with that...i'm going to bed too.

looking for a christmas gift for me?

i'm on my way to work, but was thinking about a conversation i had with a friend from ivp yesterday and he got really excited when he talked about Eckhard J. Schnabel's new book. according to my friend, schnabel and marshall both see the center of the history of redemption to be mission-- one from the perspective of background, and the other from biblical theology. both came out at the same time (though i think marshall has been working on his book for 12 years or something). you should go to amazon and order 2 copies of both of them (one for you, and one for me...one for you...one for me)

just heard driscoll unleash on false concepts of "the land" and "israel"...ok, mark-- sorry about the vehemently comment. you say jesus is israel, you can mispronounce whatever you want.

off to the bux

read this on tony jones' blog (and another thought)

don't know the guy at all, but read THIS on his site and i'm pretty sure it disturbs me. any process theologians want to weigh in?

daling, any thoughts on this one? (not that you're a process theologian...ok, maybe you are)

listening to driscoll's morning session from the reformission 2004 conference (get it here), and his work in genesis would make beale do a some serious beale-fu. essentially, driscoll evaluates '11 false gospels' through the book of genesis that are, in his estimation, repeated in every generation. though he is attempting to work with narrative, his biblical theology is profoundly deficient. parts of the framework are there, but his chosen path of 'repeated fall' instead of understanding the formulaic repetition of the adamic commission throughout the narrative generates profound reductions as he draws the line further. my only other question for those of you who listen to it is, how do you pronounce 'vehemently'?

mp3 from acts 29 network reformission

conference is now online HERE

i'm putting it on the ipod right now for my trip to and from wheaton.

enjoy

a quick note before i sleep

in the middle of reading the newest us news article on phobias and had to laugh. i don't know if these are on the web version of the story, but the print article lists several phobias that people in the west are struggling with. i list a few here for my enjoyment:

arachibutyrophobia | fear of peanut butter's sticking to the roof of one's mouth
homilophobia | fear of sermons (maybe the reason it's hard to get people to the dgv)
onomatophobia | fear of hearing certain words
ephebiphobia | fear of teenagers

i'd like to see fear factor deal with those.