Sex, Religion, Politics, and the Weather

That covers most of the stuff folks like to chat about, doesn't it?

First off, the weather. It's hot and humid here in Houston, just like it is every summer. Those of you who don't live on the Gulf Coast have a very different concept of "humid" compared to us Gulf Coasters. We giggle when we hear you use that word, because what you call humid is so dry to us that we break out the lotion to keep our skin from cracking.

So, I was mowing the yard, and sweating "profuciously" as an old friend used to put it, and was feeling a bit cranky. So, I started listening to the Gigolo Aunts on the phone to lift my mood. I got a bit of a smirk when the song "SuperUltraWickedMegaLove" came on, wondering what exactly Messrs. Jared and Douglas Wilson (no relation, AFAIK) would think about that song about seeking love through personal ads. Which brings us to sex. And the big kerfluffle brought on by insensitive and hurtful language used by the Messrs. Wilson in a Gospel Coalition blog post by Jared.

The Hermeneutics of Grief: Part 3

Sorry, folks, but I have to begin with a bit of a rant at some of those who would call themselves brethren.

Has John 13: 34,35 been removed from the Bible? Why does it seem to be doctrinal tenet for many Christians to spend so much time and energy telling other Christians that they're going to hell? If that's what they call "loving one another", then no wonder much of America wants nothing to do with church or Christ. We shoot our wounded in the street, then say to the passers-by, "Come on in, and getcha some of this 'love'!"

What precipitated this rant was a letter received by a minister and writer that I've recently come to know. He is also currently battling an aggressive form of brain cancer.

The Hermeneutics of Grief, Part 2

To recap from yesterday:

Recently, in a discussion forum I frequent, a Russian Orthodox priest who recently lost his son to suicide made the following comment in a discussion about salvation.

I know ... I am a grieving father ... but maybe that grief provides a hermeneutical key by which to properly interpret Holy Scripture.

What didn't get mentioned yesterday is that Father Alvin's son died an unbeliever. In effect, an automatic sentence to eternal damnation and torture, according to the prevailing wisdom from the "churched." An entirely different, and sad, commentary on much of the church is that many would feel no compunction at all in telling Father Alvin that his son was damned to hell.

The Hermeneutics of Grief, Part 1

Recently, in a discussion forum I frequent, a Russian Orthodox priest who recently lost his son to suicide made the following comment in a discussion about salvation.

I know ... I am a grieving father ... but maybe that grief provides a hermeneutical key by which to properly interpret Holy Scripture.

This got me to thinking about grief, and what our faith and practice could look like if we use grief as a hermeneutical tool.

Isaiah tell us that Christ is "a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief." His heart was broken at all of the lost souls, the starving beggars, the social outcasts, those despised for their diseases. He saw deeply into all of our pain, suffering, and grief, and was moved to do something about it.

"“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Taking up one's cross is a tremendous suffering and sorrow in the literal sense, so it stands to reason that we should be willing to look at it the same way in the figurative sense.

To use a hermeneutic of grief properly means to look at His teachings to us through the lens of His sorrows and grief, and not our own, lest we make discipleship merely a form of narcissism. His gaze was outward, looking at others, and what He came to do for them, not for Himself.

Prisoners

Sometimes when I'm bothered by something, it takes a few weeks of rolling around in my sub-conscious to become clear as to what exactly is disturbing me and why. Once it get sorted out in there, I find it easy to put into words.

The Disconnect of Connection

I came across this video of a TED talk by Sherry Turkle on Richard Beck's blog this morning. As I listened to it a couple of times at work, I realized how addicted I am to the illusion of relationship and community that social media can foster.

Some quotes from the talk:

"People text or do email during corporate board meetings. They text and shop and go on Facebook during classes, during presentations, actually during all meetings. People talk to me about the important new skill of making eye contact while you're texting.  People explain to me that it's hard, but that it can be done. Parents text and do email at breakfast and at dinner while their children complain about not having their parents' full attention. But then these same children deny each other their full attention...And we even text at funerals. I study this. We remove ourselves from our grief or from our revery and we go into our phones. Why does this matter? It matters to me because I think we're setting ourselves up for trouble -- trouble certainly in how we relate to each other, but also trouble in how we relate to ourselves and our capacity for self-reflection. We're getting used to a new way of being alone together." 

Ideo...

Gloria in excelsis Deo...


Sin and death are defeated; Christ holds the keys to death and Hades in His hand.

Through His death, our sins are forgiven.

Through His descent, the Good News was made known to all of the lost souls for all of time.

Through His resurrection, He brings us eternal and abundant life. Not tomorrow, nor in some future time, but right now.

Nothing Saturday?

Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday...

Nothing on Saturday?

In all of the western Christian traditions, very little is said about the day between His death and resurrection. I suppose it's just another one of the insidious ideas of John Calvin that has permeated throughout the church.

It's a very different thing for the Eastern church, though, and for what the Bible says, no matter how little it may be discussed. Nor, for that matter, Calvin's opinion that Christ couldn't have entered Hell because He would have been under God's curse.

For your consideration...

"Your God Is Too Big"

I've been perusing the archives at Richard Beck's blog, Experimental Theology, over the past few weeks, and he has become my current favorite author. As a psychologist, and not a theologian, his view on many things about the church and Christ are vastly different from what you would normally hear from a pulpit or read from a preacher. Radically different than the religion that I grew up with, Beck's insights have created some cognitive dissonance within me concerning my theology, and have helped me to better understand some things that I have always felt was wrong with religion and churchianity.

This post on his blog, "Your God is Too Big", is well worth your time to read and contemplate. 

Going to Town

Entering the city, He was just a man on a donkey.

No reason to take notice of someone coming to town on a donkey, yet many had gathered to welcome Him.

Some had been with Him for a few years, most only knew of the things He had done; the daughter of Zion stood blindly.

Yet her King came not to seek glory for Himself, rather for His Father's name.

"I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." Those who could recognize the King heard the Father of the King speak.

The Father's name, glorified in the miracles of the Son; glorified again at the Cross and the Resurrection. Yet again at the Ascension.

Glorified again today in church buildings around the world, praises and song lifted up to Him.

But glorified most when His teaching of love opens eyes to see pain, moves hands to help suffering.

Let His Holy Name be glorified in our hearts and actions always.