Blah Guy

I did an experiment once.

I went bowling by myself just to see what it was like. It was horrible.

Everyone looked at me as though I was just released from a mental institution. I mean no one bowls alone. Really. I had a strike, and got to high-five some air. Not as fun as real high-fives. Only having yourself on the scoreboard really makes you feel important. Bowling is never made for just me.

I have been living an experiment.

It isn’t working.

This is it. I try and read my bible alone. Interesting is that this is a relatively new phenomenon. History has never done this until now; the bible was written by communities for communities to build communities. To read my bible alone is like playing ping pong all by my lonesome self. It don’t work. It never can.

Should I be devoted to reading the bible. Yes! Should I at times have times by myself that I encounter the word? Yes! Should I never read the bible by myself? No, of course not!

But…

When we read the bible in the marination of community, with others and for others, for ourselves, we read the bible as we should. In community.

Try that experiment and you will find a God who speaks not just in mono but surround sound.

Try that experiment and you will not see a linear God, but a God who speaks in curve and circle.l

Try that…and it will change you.

Ever noticed homeless people always include “God” on their signs?

“God bless this”

“God bless that”

Why? I think they know God is real and are willing to throw him out there just so we can wake up for just a second.

Just a thought.

Wake up

There is small talk that “the office” may spin-off a show for Dwight. Read the article. Every believer in the world should pray that this doesn’t happen!

This week I was the guest of a local radio program. It is the most liberal radio station in Eugene. I loved it.

Born and raised a conservative who is learning to rid all labels and political subscriptions from his profile; I found the experience absolutely enlightening. They as well I am sure were expecting something quite different. They knew I am a pastor at a large (mega large) church in town that tends to lean quite right. With their expectations most likely hover somewhere between low to nothing, it was awesome to witness to Jesus without having to fight for a political party.

I am learning this as well. The people I am learning to love who happen to lean left in their own political fettish tend to be very good at listening. While this is of course not the case for every bobble head radio commentator around today, it is for the people I am beginning to know.

Jesus is teaching me to look past labels. It’s my mind that loves to find and obey them.

The great thing about truth is it doesn’t come by association. You don’t have to know the right people to know truth, although it can help. Truth is God’s. He owns it. He also gives it to people who hate him. Satan is smart.

The most dangerous (good dangerous) Christian is he who is willing to be obedient to truth wherever they find it, whether at a Christian bookstore or not. I would argue that the Christian tradition has a large corpus of truth, it does not have a monopoly on it.

My point?

I am done seeing truth as something we have. Rather, I see truth as something we all have. I just have to shut up and listen.

I think there is a reason God does not speak like a piece of “chain email”? God does not always, and rarely does, speak uniformly to his church. He will give different messages to different people. Not different truth. God does not seem to lie. But he will present truth in so many different ways to so many different people because people hear truth differently. And people always have differing views and opinions on truth. It is like putting a coffee cup in the middle of the room and saying to the people standing around it, “what do you see?” This is okay, yet frustrating at times.

Yves Congar, theologian and overall brilliant guy, argues that the Holy Spirit speaks in two main ways. Personally and institutionally, meaning that he speaks to individuals and groups alike. The problem with this is truth can look so vastly different to both groups.

I have been wondering. Is my preaching an email or a blog?

Do I send people unwanted messages or are they coming to me to learn and sit at my feet? Don’t we always want to create ministries where people who want to come can come in freedom and not oppression?

That is the problem with text-messaging. You can’t text tears. Jesus didn’t text humanity his love. He came and showed it.

Here is a wonderful article written by Bart Campolo. He offers a balanced approach to what I would call a dangerous “sea of salvation” confusion offered by evangelicalism today. He finds a way to see salvation through the gracious eyes of a frustratingly loving God and our own, a balance few strike well. Read and taste.

I must say it is hard to imaging a divine encounter with the Lord Jesus with a sign holding my last name (like a limo driver and the airport) to take me no where else but hell, all the while along the drive telling me he loves me. Hmmm.

But it is also hard to imaging a God who lets his children run nilly-willy with free evil with no level of eternal accountability. That would just be stupid.

Bono is my hero. See him at the NAACP awards.

Makes you wonder what a prophet in the 21st Century will be like. The 5 minute sermon Bono gives here is the best sermon I have ever heard. Why? He takes 5 minutes to say everything. The most profound truth takes no time to get across while the most complex and unimportant takes classes and classes to unpack.

Why will people listen to Bono and not a pastor?

Try this. Maybe it is because Bono is cool with people trying to follow Jesus without them having to be Christians first. I mean, come-on. The guy is preaching Christian truth to non-Christians and they are following. Pastors can rarely preach to Christians and get them to be Christians.

When I watch Bono, I realize that preaching must be more non-Christian. THIS IS HOW OUR SUBCULTURE KILLS US. We confuse people with -ologies. Eschatology, soteriology…etc. People don’t care about that, but they do care about the poor.

Imagine the day the Church (big C) is known for being the number one advocate for the poor.