MacBook

I have never owned a laptop. Sure it would be helpful to take notes with when i am in class, but we have never really had the money for one, especially a Mac.
I work 3rd shift and am able to take advantage of "down time" by studying and preparing for 3rd Place. Often I pack up my mac mini and a keyboard and mouse and take it to work with me, borrowing a flat panel there. This is effective but a hassle.

I have been a Mac geek most of my life. Starting my senior year in highschool, I became very familiar with the Mac. I was a journalism major and worked long hours on design and text placement. Although I chose to go in a different occupational direction, I never strayed from my Mac. I am a Macvangelist, telling people the MacGospel everywhere i go. I even converted my father-in-law. But I was never able to attain the holy grail of Macs, a laptop. Through a series of blessings, I was able to find a MacBook for $500 off the original price. I placed the order for a black 13.3 inch, 2G Intel Duo Processor, 80G Hard drive MacBook. It was listed as having only 512M of Ram, but I felt comfortable upgrading that later. Well it arrived yesterday, just in time to load a few programs and head of to school. I ran a system profile just to check out the specs on it. And to my surprise, it had 1G of Ram. I know that doesn't seem like a big deal to some of you, but that was pretty cool when you expected half of that.

It also has a strong wifi card built in, as well as blue tooth, a dvdr+/cd burner, and the capability of running Windoze as well as Mac OS X. I don't know if i will take advantage of running a Microsloth OS on a Mac (seems sacreligious) but i have the option.

I feel very blessed to have this opportunity. It will greatly increase production time for schoolwork and ministry. I can't wait to see what I am inspired to do.

Mars Hill Conference: Isn't She Beautiful Part 2

So the second day kicked of with a morning talk by Rob on the following topic:
A few thoughts on God, Jesus, salvation, judgment, heaven, hell, who's in, who's out, and the end of the world as we know it.

We started off by exploring this basic idea: If someone asked you what salvation was and how you received it, and the only thing you had to provide the answer was the Bible, what would that answer look like.

See, the big issue with topics like this is that we often don't just rely on the bible. We utilize denominational (or non-denominational) doctrine and theology that has it's roots in Professor So-and-so, and Doctor Mumble-Jumble. Even when we say "we just teach the bible," what we typically do is teach our slant on the bible.

This is a big discussion, and one that I don't want to go into here. But here on some of my thoughts on this talk and the rest of the day.

Going to heaven
When the goal of this life is escaping it to a far off other worldly place, we are not doing the present situation or message and justice. Jesus often spoke about the kingdom being here, now, present, with us.

Is that all we have to offer to people? An escapism? Is that really hope?

Is that the best that God can give us? or is that just the best we give God?

Another thought about "who's in" and "who's out":
What do we do about the person who has "said the prayer" but does not live his life for Jesus? or what about the person who has never said a prayer but lives more Christlike than most Christians?

If a prayer, or a ritual is the point, then do humility, compassion, love, generosity...really matter at all?

Is there more than one Jesus being portrayed to people? My Jesus does not look very much like the same Jesus Fred Phelps sees, or Pat Robertson sees.

Maybe some Jesus' need to be rejected.

Some people might actually be on the road to salvation by rejecting your church and what it teaches.

Have you ever noticed that the people who want to label in vs. out are always in?

How is it that even Christians can't agree on what it takes to be "saved"?

A very rigid fundamentalist becomes a very open universalist when a young family member dies.

Where is grace in all of this?

Grace: it is a free gift, there is nothing you can do to earn it, all you have to do is....


What is salvation?
Is it forgiveness of sins?
Is it relationship with God?
Is it safety from hell? What about the hell on earth?

How do you "get" it?
Is it something you say?
Is it something you have to be?
Is it something you do?
Is it something someone else does?
Is it something something someone says to you?
Is it something that someone else tells you to say/believe/do/trust?

When you examine the bible you find that there are "conversion" moments that have involved each of those examples.

If you were asked how someone gets saved, and you only had the bible to answer, you might find many different answers.

Salvation is holistic in nature. Jesus wants to save us...
from sin
from regret
from anger
from hatred
from selfishness
from bitterness
from poverty
from oppression
from ANYTHING that keeps us from the peace of God (Shalom)


Salvation is where Jesus is. If our hearts are truly being transformed, then we will begin to cane about the things that Jesus cares about.


Sometimes the greatest answer is "I DON'T KNOW."

Matthew, Luke (in Acts) and Paul (in Colossians) make a point to stress that Jesus wants to renew ALL things, restore EVERYTHING, and reconcile ALL things. There is more to the cross than individual, personal salvation. Of course that is a huge part of it, but if salvation is only about individual souls, then we miss the whole Gospel.

Jesus often tells parables that warn us. The people who we assume are "in" may be "out" and the people who are "out", may actually be "in."

Quotation from Richard Rohr: "My simple definition of salvation would be when one begins to live in conscious union with God. This of course grows and develops and Jesus makes it plain that this has to begin in our bodies, in our human lives, in our experiences in this world, now, and for that Jesus is surely necessary for salvation. It is not a formula of a mere affirmation but a change of identity"


When we look at the bible, we MUST remember that the story does not begin with sin. It starts with Shalom. Subsequently it also ends in Shalom.

Most of the Creation story is not even about people. It is about God's Creation.
Our planet is something to be cared for because it is a creation from God.

Caring for the environment is not an option for Christians

It is obvious that God wants to dwell with us.
He resided in the temple.
He became flesh and walked among humanity.
The Church is referred to as Christ's Body.
Revelation - Heaven crashing into earth.

Christian life is not about escaping this world, it is about being where God is.

Well there are my thoughts. This was just the first session of the day. And in typical "postmodern" fashion we didn't really get any answers, but we did get a lot of questions and conversations started. I enjoyed that.

I went to a workshop about leadership roles at Mars Hill as well. I won't go into it, but I was a little disappointed. There were specific topics I hoped they would address but they skirted around them.

The night service was mostly a worship service. The band is really good, and Rob gave a great short lesson on the prayer shawl that Jews wore/wear. It really ties into the woman who is healed by touching Jesus' robe. I won't go into that either. I have to save some of this stuff in case I want to teach on it. Haha.

Mars Hill Conference: Isn't She Beautiful Part 1

Today was the first day of the conference and I am trying to take it all in. Rob spoke for 2 and a half hours this morning. Then we had a Q&A session with Rob and Don Golden (the lead pastor, i will talk about that later). I just finished a workshop on narrative theology. The basic idea is that we are a part of a greater story of God's redemptive process. This is a perspective that begins in the creation of a good world. This is much different than the idea most of us grew up with that focuses on the fall instead of God's good creation. What follows are some of the things I wrote down. Out of context they might seem incoherent, but I hope you get the gist.

From Rob's talk this morning:

Paul explains the idea of the Eucharist in Colossians chapters 2, 3 and 4. The Eucharist is what we more commonly call communion. There is a sense that Jesus was telling his disciples not just to do a ritual of eating, drinking, and remembering, but to also give themselves as a sacrifice.

There is no life without death, there is no feeding without a broken and poured out sacrifice.

Is this instruction for a ritual or a command for us to give our lives for others? Break yourselves open and pour out yourself out so that others may be fed and have life.

The Church: the only organization that exists for its non-members.

Jesus' body is the Church. The Church is God's gift to the world.

How are we a Eucharist for these people, in this place, at this time?

What works for "megachuch X" might not work for "small church Y." Bigger is not necessarily better, it just means more. And more just means more problems.

Imitating a "program" is just taking a shortcut so you don't have to wrestle with the difficult questions of really being the Church.

Our gift to people is in not pretending that we have it all together. Or gift is in the middle of pain, suffering, oppression, questions and doubts that we can stand in front and say, "me too."

If someone was fed, someone had to do the feeding.
If someone was blessed, someone had to do the blessing.
If someone received, someone had to do the giving.

From the workshop:

The issue with viewing the Bible as a self-help book or an owner's manual is that we only look to it when we have a problem.

Seeing the Bible as a story allows us to see from a perspective that makes us want to find ourselves in it.

We often have a theology rooted in "the Fall." What is we center our theology on Christ and in Creation?"

When we root our theology in Creation, we long for a New Creation.

The Cross was a symbol of empirical violence, oppression, and hatred that became a symbol of peace, freedom, and love.

Defending what you believe (an apologetic) is only as effective as the way you present it. The best apologetic s love period.

From tonight's teaching:

There's a box?

There are two types of creative people. One says, "look how innovative and creative I am. I am really outside the box." The other says, "There's a box?"

The art of creative ministry is being able to see God in everyday moments.

There are several "arts" to doing "box-less" ministry:
1) The art of tension
2) The art of elimination
3) The art of turning the edit button off
4) The art of expulsion
5) The art of space
6) The art of risk

How arrogant are we to limit God's revelation to us to our time table. We cannot dictate that God show up only during out "study time." He is ALWAYS present, we just need to wake up to it.

Mark Twain: "If I had had more time, I would have said less."

You cannot force creativity but you can provide the opportunity for creativity.

To do this (ministry) you have to be willing to stub your toes and fall down, even if it is in front of others.

Not everybody will appreciate you or your risk. You will have critics. You DO NOT owe them anything.

For every fundamentalist you offend, there will be someone who says, "Wow, now I am listening."

I am excited about tomorrow's schedule. I will post on it when I get home.

I will put all of these thoughts in a better format when i get home.

Snow, Mars Hill, and the Colts!

Well today started off kind rough. I left Dayton around 8:30am to drive up to Grand Rapids for a conference at Mars Hill Bible Church, where Rob Bell is the teaching minister. The roads were pretty bad all the way here. There were patches of clear pavement, but for the most part it was ugly.

I finally got to my hotel at 5:30pm, checked in and walked across the parking lot to Mars Hill for their 6:00pm gathering. That's right, the hotel and the church share a parking lot. I had always heard that the church met in a renovated mall, so I expected it to be really big. To be honest, it isn't that big. Sure they meet in an old mall, but as far as megachurches go, they have the same amount of space as any other one. I would have posted pictures, but I couldn't find my camera before I left home. Sorry.

I sat down and looked around. There was a stage in the center of the room with sections of chairs around it. The music started and I took it all in. Their band is exceptional. Without a doubt they are one of the tightest, and best sounding worship bands I have been witness to. They sang several hymns (rocked out a bit) and a few originals written by their band members. There is nothing sweeter than hearing 4000 people sing together. They average about 10,000 people on a weekend. This service was the last one of the weekend and had several conference-goers attending.

Rob taught on a passage from Luke 17. The basic thought was that we cannot come to God with an attitude of entitlement. It was a good message, and was pretty cool to hear him teach in his element.

I made it back to the hotel in time to watch the 2nd quarter of the Colts vs. Patriots game. It didn't look good going into halftime, but they were able to pull off a come from behind victory!

All in all it was a good day.

The conference start tomorrow. I will post my thoughts as soon as I can.

Two Posts in One Month...I'm on a Roll!

I don't really do resolutions, but I did make a promise to myself that I would blog more frequently this year than last year. This post will be my second in January, that isn't great, but I am trying.

Anyway, I browse through several blogs daily. Some are written by dear friends, others by strangers. One blog that I check in on from time to time (not necessarily daily) is that of Adam Cleveland. Adam is a seminary student at Princeton (from what I gather) and is well read and educated in emerging theology. There is usually a thought about culture, Church issues, or a nice piece of Mac software.

Today I found a great surprise when Adam introduced me to the Love Song/Poem Generator.

With a few minor adjustments to a random love song/poem, we get a modern worship song. Check it out.

You are always on my mind
Your love makes me blind
You are my eternal sunshine
I hope you'll forever be mine

God, you are unbelievably beautiful
Not having met you earlier makes me feel like a fool
Words cannot express
How you have captured my heart with success

God, you mean so much to me
With you I really feel free
Eternal bliss is where I'm bound
In your arms is where it's found

All of you is what I need
Please tell me where it can lead
This poem has come to an end
There are many more I would like to send

I still need a chorus that we would sing 7 times, each one building in intensity, then another one right after the crescendo that is almost a whisper (with the rest of the band dropping out for that really intimate feel).

It might need a little polishing but I think I hear Tomlin's next hit.

Books to Chew On

I wanted to give you a list of books that have been helpful, influential, and encouraging to me in my growth as a more mature, thinking, and responsible Christian. I own most of these books and would be happy to loan them out if you are interested.


Messy Spirituality, by Mike Yaconelli

This book is a great read! It re-enforces the fact that we are not going to be perfect and that we are going to make mistakes. The point is not perfection, it is in attempting to become more Christ-like. This may be a hard concept to digest, but the fact is that even if we try harder than any one else to be perfect, we will never succeed. But we can try everyday to be more Christ-like than the previous day. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has been oppressed by spiritual abuse and legalism.


A New Kind of Christian, by Brian McLaren

This book is for anyone who ever thought, "There has to be a different way to do this." The book is in a narrative form (story-telling), but the concepts that McLaren explains is very relevant. A lot of conservative Christians might take offense to some of McLaren's ideas (I don't pretend to agree with all of his thoughts), but this is a good book to challenge you to find out why you believe what you believe.


Velvet Elvis, by Rob Bell

I admit that I am a big fan of Rob Bell. The one thing that I truly appreciate is his ability to connect the Jewish culture of Jesus' time to the applications in our own life. I greatly respect the Jewish theologians and writers. What I believe today owe's so much to what they taught so many years ago. One thought that many Christians unfortunately subscribe to is "We are under the New Covenant, we don't follow the teachings of Moses and Abraham." This is so unfortunate, especially since Jesus affirms these teaching so many times. We have to remember that Jesus was an Israelite and try to figure out how that influenced his teachings, interactions, and beliefs.


I will add more books later.