July 2010
17 posts
revisiting rules
Rules do not teach us how to live.
They serve a valuable purpose—they define parameters, they keep our wandering and far-reaching brokenness in check.
But they do not teach us how to live.
Life would be easier if there was some step-by-step manual of how do live. Imagine it: someone could make a fortune convincing people there was a plan about…
…who to marry and how to...
“God, joining together humans and God in the incarnate Word, becomes what we are...”
– Scot McKnight, A Community Called Atonement
illuminated by another
If you were born a slave and raised a slave, what life would you know other than slavery?
Would you understand life outside of the rhythms, rules, and suppressed freedom of slavery?
How could you?
If every day of life was slavery, from sun up to sun down, and if every person you knew only knew the same life—more than just your body and time would be enslaved.
Your imagination would be...
“We must let go of ourselves in such a manner that we can become a dwelling place...”
– Peter Rollins, How (Not) To Speak of God
Book of the Month: August
I posted it on Facebook and Twitter yesterday, but it’ll stay up a little longer here. In August I’m going to be reading Rich Christians in An Age of Hunger by Ronald J. Sider and tweeting/blogging about it, as well as welcoming feedback and conversation when available. Feel free to buy it and play along. If you’re going to order a cheap copy off of Amazon, I recommend buying it...
“Why did the omnipotent and loving One not do something about the tsunami before...”
– Miroslav Volf, Against the Tide
absurd is what remains
There’s something powerful about absurdity. Something impossible, unexpected, or unlikely. This, at its core, is the story of Abraham.
As such, it is the story of us.
Think about it. An unfertile, childless, wandering Middle Eastern sheepherder named “Abram.”
His name loosely translates into “father of many.” Which basically means that he was a walking...
“Prayer does not stop with “amen.” It rises to its feet and walks...”
– Scot McKnight, The Jesus Creed
“For Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by...”
– excerpt from The So-Called Letter to Diognetus, 125 A.D.
The Birth of Two Kingdoms →
A must read for the weekend.
The Kingdom of God looks like...
Less of sinful humanity, more of the Creator’s generous presence shining in the darkness.
In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, the audience interacts with Jesus’ view of reality. He’s painted a beautiful but haunting description of those who God is near to (the Beatitudes) and interacted with the formative power of the Torah’s commandments and misinterpretations.
...
June 2010
17 posts
The Kingdom of God looks like...
Loving people towards wholeness because God is doing that very same thing with you.
The 5th chapter of Matthew closes with a curious admonition from Jesus.
After quoting and then re-working various commandments from the Old Testament Law, Jesus quotes an aberration (likely a quote from a Rabbinical commentary) of the Law from Leviticus: “You have heard it said you shall love your...
“The Kingdom is now here, now there…in every event of reconciliation,...”
– Kennon Callahan
Back On My Feet is Coming to Dallas-Ft Worth! →
Having read about this story in Runners World 2 years ago and fundracing for them at the Cowtown the past 2 years (including the 50k!), I’m stoked that Back On My Feet has decided to expand to the Dallas area in 2011. Here’s to hoping there’s a team based out of downtown D!
The Kingdom of God looks like...
Creative, non-violent assertion of our God-given image.
Theologians and thinkers have called it the Third Way.
Not violence.
Not passivity and submission to domination.
But active, creative, non-violent assertion of your God given humanity and dignity in the face of oppression.
In Jesus’s great Sermon (see Matthew 5-7), he addresses the issues of retaliation. Moses had given the Jews...
“Like the disciplines of fidelity & charity, simplicity & generosity,...”
– Andy Crouch, Culture Making
“Remember that the basic act of salvation from God’s point of view is the...”
– Dallas Willard
The Kingdom of God looks like...
Fidelity.
In a world of ever-increasing fragmentation, participation in the Kingdom of God is about growing in fidelity and consistency.
Just as the Torah is the defining thesis in the reclamation project that was Israel, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was his manifesto on what this New Humanity looks like.
In the 5th chapter of Matthew’s take on the sermon, Jesus shortly addresses...
May 2010
29 posts
parenting!
Me: Do you want to watch TV?
Emery: No, let's jump in my room!
Me: Seriously?
Emery: It's going to be fun!
“There is an alternative both to being constricted by human rules and to having...”
– Miroslav Volf
“Perfect love is to love the one who made you unhappy…unhappiness is not to...”
– Søren Kierkegaard
The Kingdom of God looks like...
Denying instant gratification that whores our souls and rapes the image of God inside of us and others.
Sorry for the graphic language, but it sort of fits with the topic.
In Matthew 5, Jesus is driving home the intent of the Law—to re-create people & a community that is the reflection of the love, grace, justice, and even holiness of God in the midst of Creation.
Why? To be light...
“It is difficult to keep a revolution of freedom and justice under way when there...”
– Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination
“What gets most of us through the tough times, as well as through everyday,...”
– Kennon Callahan
The Kingdom of God looks like...
Humans affirming and even actively restoring the value of other humans.
After Jesus speaks to the Law/Torah/Prophets and re-ups their value in the Sermon on the Mount, he then proceeds to bring up and subsequently dismantle the commonly held views of some specifics of the Law: murder, adultery, retaliation, giving, etc.
In Matthew 5:21-26, Jesus is specifically taking on a command...
“Audacious prayer, which perseveres unflinchingly and ceases not through fear, is...”
– Martin Luther. Luther taught that prayer should be living, powerful, strong, mighty, earnest, serious, troubled, passionate, vehement, fervent and ardent. Overwhelmed yet?
“The centre of my responsibility is determined by the call of Jesus Christ which...”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics