Whose am I

As a Christian,  I am not my own. I was purchased - with a price. Though one segment of a life dedicated to thanking God for buying me back is being a servant of all, I am not the property of others.  I belong to the one.  The true one. The "I Am" that created,  maintains,  feeds with goodness,  and will judge all who call themselves by his name... and all that don't. 

For the longest time I have (in my effort to live as a servant of all) made the confusion inducing mistake that central to the servant-life is giving every effort to gauge the feelings and opinions of those around me. That, somehow, it is my responsibility to figure out how people are broken and adjust my healing process to fix them. This can be exhausting, and quite honestly destructive.

I believe I am supposed to constantly gauge how my life's temperature is in relation to God, and as a result I will be a servant of all.  I am not required to be a temperature gauge for everyone around me.  I am not the cure for all that is broken. I have found the cure. I am not the cure.

I want to live as a great subject in this theocracy.

There is nothing that fails like success

Instant gratification it is truly one of the most destructive diseases of our day. If I give up playing a sport because I lose a game, or if I quit playing an instrument because I missed a note... sounds stupid.

Nothing in this world is so unwise than the celebration of worldly wisdom. This celebration is so founded on fluid thought that it can only be celebrated by a man or woman willing to let go of everything they have thought up till now for whatever is shiny and new in front of them. In this pursuit, there is so little tenacity that the core of what is needed for wisdom is lost the moment a new thought is presented.

As our modern political field is teaching us, there is nothing so unproductive and hollow as the pursuit of immediate victory and the necessary follow up abandonment of every core belief because of the latest poll.

There is nothing that fails like success.

Orthodoxy

What could be better than bracing yourself for living by an eternal perspective that is lived as a stranger and foreigner in this world, only to realize that we are actually coming home to a life we have longed for. The mixture of familiar and unfamiliar is a tension of words that can only be welded together by a life desiring what should be, and finding it is on the other end of effort that is focused merely on removing self imposed obstructions to the life longed for.

I have discovered nothing beyond what has been discovered before. I think I am the first to embark on a path that I struggle alone, only to find I am the last, uncovering volumes of the spiritual masters who have laid a path to follow. I see myself pressing to understand why so much is out of sorts only to realize I'm only inventing an inferior copy of Christianity that has been in place for centuries... things I might have learned from my sunday school if I'd only listened for personal application rather than assignment of blame and articulation of who should receive application.

Orthodoxy in these words means the Apostles Creed and the general conduct of those that hold to it.

Christian, do you love the church?

How do you feel about the church? Do you love her as the bride, or do you hate her for all her faults? The church is the bride of Christ, and I have to admit that if you're going to really upset me, you're going to talk smack about my wife. How do you think Christ feels about our conversations about his bride?

I do get it - she frustrates me. I have a number of experiences that I've had that area over the top negative. I can identify with other's bad experiences and how they could have so easily been avoided by the bride, but through selfishness or unawareness were not. There is, of course, the fact that I am a part of the bride. That is almost more frustrating because I think, "that's not how I would do it... why would they give the church such a bad name". There are times I see what she does and can't comprehend how she processed the world around us and responded the way she did. I almost feel embarrassed about how our world sees the church.

If someone comes up to me and says, "I want to be friend with you, but not Stephanie (my wife)" My response is, "good bye." Even if we're talking about anything else and their the one to bring up points about here that annoy them. I really don't have time for that person anymore. The points that tear me up the most are when she feels bad and says negative things about herself. She is the only one that I can't legitimately defend her to. It doesn't matter if it factual or not - I hate to hear anyone speak negatively about my bride. If you have something bad to say, focus on yourself.

Can you imagine how Christ must feel? We are his bride, and he gave his life for us to be able to be presented to his father.

Process everything you have said about the church per the last week, month or year and imagine having your in-laws tell your spouse that type of statement about you

Who am I becoming?

The Bible as the Sabbath

So in the time that I've been reading through the old testament with my wife, I have realized the legitimate response that those who opposed Jesus had (based on what they understood as God's teaching).  The Sabbath was a core part of the teaching everything they knew was built upon.  The rules we consider to be pointless - were central to everything that they knew as God's instructions.

As I processed this truth (from the Jewish law) and how they responded to Jesus - I can only apply it to our day in that:

We can understand how confused they were at Jesus' actions if we replace "Sabbath Law" with "The Bible Says".

- The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath

- The Bible was made for man, not man for the Bible. 

So, sitting here trying to figure out how to use the different channels that have been put together for http://ChristEverywhere.org & realize that it's not going to be put together & then launched, but rather (in this new digital reality/paradigm) a general framework is put together & then it is consistently updated because the digital landscape changes - so we must change with it.

Tonight is the launch for ChristEverywhere.com Saturday sermon.  I look forward to it.

So I think Blogger is a great place for me to catalog the (theologically questionable) thoughts that go through our heads. Einstein said "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."  I guess sometimes it's a messy business trying to figure out that which is incomprehensible in this realm.  We can muddle through.

this sun

reminder for this week. Matthew 5-8. It will make the conversation better if most everyone's read at least part of this section.