Welcome to the Story

new site coming . . . [test]

Go to HumanForSale.com to find out how much you’re worth.

I’m worth $1,698,500. Yes thats almost 2 million dollars.

Arrested Development

As previously rumored, Showtime has indeed picked up the series Arrested Development for its fall run of tv shows. And what was in the beginning expected to only be 12 episodes as now expanded to 26 episodes. The show is indeed alive. Now lets hope they don’t mess with it to much.

This is about as impressive as it gets for an artist.

KT Tunstall

Go watch her video that is in the left hand scroller. It will automatically start playing. And if that’s not fancy then I don’t know what is.

listening: pinback, jack johnson & the curious george soundtrack, the bravery, the arcade fire

reading: the new testament and the people of god by n.t. wright, the secret message of jesus by brian mclaren

viewing: lost season 2, gunner’s palace

I like the idea of being for the world. I used to be against the world. But I’ve decided the world is a very good place. And I really like it. I used to be opposed to it. Or at least against the things that weren’t Christian. A lot of Christians kind of have this dualism. Where God is in heaven and everything is good. And humanity is on earth where everything is bad. And it makes it worse because humanity is depraved.

But a lot of things have been reminding me that God is not in heaven where its good frowning down at the world that is bad. But that God was and still is involved deeply with his creation and he indeed sees it, and it is good.

This is not to say that there is not suffering and places of pain and spaces where good has receded. But there is a louder song being sung. A better painting that takes shape. And He says that it is good.

Welcome to the world. How can you not see the goodness of a baby’s smile, the twinkle in the eye of a romantic couple, the simplicity of watching a movie with friends, the subtle, grandness of creation. Its there. We just grow accustomed to moving by it. To focusing on the pain, and the hurt. To wishing God would come to remove us.

God is coming, but not to take us away. He’s coming back here. To restore.

I find God, or kavod as a friend likes to call it, in conversations, in a good drink, in a good book, around a fireplace, in a car, at the beach, over good food, in marriage, in a great song, on a plane, in growing a beard. Yes . . . life is good. Rich and full and beautiful and good. Not full of depravity. We choose what we want to see. And I’m not saying its easy. But there is a choice on how we choose to see things. As we perceive them to be or as God sees them . . . as they are.

So I am FOR the world. Because God is FOR the world. And that is such a better place to be than where I was.

My friend Gina had this posted over at her blog. As much as I hate little quizes and tests, this one is actually pretty decent, only 20 questions, and takes 3 minutes.

http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html

I’m 85% dixie/southern! Can you believe it? I thought I was better than that. I thought I had left all that. Its hopeless.

Some men see things as they are and ask why?
I dream of things that never were and ask, Why not?
- RFK

PART THREE (random thoughts and ideas from Wednesday morning’s session)

Original sin – it is ours before it is mine
We are shaped by it prior to our individual decisions.

We are thrown into this fallen system before we even begin or have a chance to act as “individuals”

Relational Theology
We’ve had systematic and narrative theology. Perhaps another helpful addition would be that of relational theology.

The content and relationships are both necessary.

In most traditions content dominates. So that when disagreements arise, there is the inevitable clash. And the relationships suffer.

When in the biblical texts, the emphasis seems to be on the relationship instead of the content or “issue”. Whereas we are terribly occupied with the “issue” at the expense of the relationship.

It’s this objectifying of the person which turns the person into this content instead of this relational being.

So more time should be focused on the character and procedure of relationship than on the disagreement on the issue.

In this light, what kind of values guide the interchanges and boundary making?

“We live in a pornographic culture.” – Eugene Peterson
Simply meaning, we objectify people and we focus and turn them into content.

We see each other through content instead of through relationship. We try to pinpoint and pin down and narrow and find out what people believe on a litany test of things. And oftentimes we do so without regard to the relationship.

There can be no doctrinal orthodoxy without first being good friends.

And what we need in most issues of conflict is not a doctrinal statement but a relational statement.

As it relates back to issues . . . we have to begin to realize that the other person is larger than the issue or the culture they symbolize. Even more so with our enemies. And as we negotiate these relationships we must do so with healing as the ultimate objective. Anything that doesn’t take into account this ministry of healing is quite possibly missing it.

Christopher Columbus said as they prepared to exit their ships and enter into the Americas, “In the name of the Trinity, we will enslave these people.”

There was belief in the Trinity but there was the poor treatment of people.

We need to correct or adjust our image/reading of God in the Old Testament with our image/reading of God in the New Testament.

Most people are obsessed with the punitive, with God as a grandpa with a shotgun.
Or they over sentimentalize grace and treat God like Santa Claus.
There is no proper balance and balance is needed.

On giving . . . there is a huge tendency in us all to give in ways that only benefit us. Most of us do not give adequately and even when we do, we do so in ways that are self serving, even as manipulation.

We should seek to give a little more than you receive. And be in the process of giving a little more than you are receiving.

Gospel has authority over the church.
I believe in God because of the gospel and not because of the church.
I don’t believe in God because of the church.
I only participate in the church because of the gospel.

Traction
Theological Imagination

On the thought that “After the cross there is no more retribution.” My good friend Seth wanted me to explain it a little bit. And I “think” what I am “thinking” on this might encourage more thinking. Deeper thinking. Thoughts? Ideas? Additions? Subtractions?

At least how I am taken it, and “musing” on it . . . is that in the cross of Christ, something new happened in the way God relates to humanity. And how correspondingly, humanity should relate to humanity. That on the cross Christ absorbed violence and retribution, and how his voluntary action has set a pattern of voluntary action on our parts. To enter into the way of peace. God now desires to relate to humanity on terms of peace and not of war. Terms of justice and not judgement. Obviously this recasts a few things in a different light, i.e. hell, the Book of the Revelation, judgement. I’m not saying I’m there, nor agree with the statement. However, I’ve begun to think about the possibility of such a theory of the cross. This is not to say that there is no justice. But justice defined by Jesus and the Jewish tradition, is much different than our view of justice which is usually associated with retribution by means of violence. Where we view God as an angry old man with a shotgun. Instead of a suffering servant who enter into humanity to die “in our place” on the cross as a way of absorbing God’s past, present, and future wrath. I think we tend to think of the cross dealing with God’s past wrath. But I think there at least exists the possibility that on the cross, the present and future were dealt with as well.