Sunday, April 30, 2006

out of retirement


Well it's official. Tomorrow I am going back to 'work'. And it kinds feels like I am coming out of retirement. Following Lemieux, Esposito, and Hull. It's kinda sad to end this chapter of the story. I have fallen headover heels in love with studying. Something I swore I would never do. I know Char is gonna complain a bit that i am not home as much and i am sure it will take some getting used the routine again but...

Thursday, April 27, 2006

United

Smile, nod and then after you watch this remember that according to the latest stat still over 12% of Canadians call themselves....
tip of the hat to Nathan

Do you ever...


wonder about evil…
For instance, where does it come from?
Maybe God created it. He could have I guess. If He did that would explain a bunch of stuff. Maybe He created evil to give us an option. Like how would we know how good God is if there is nothing to compare Him to. If there was no such a thing as evil we could have all the free will we like but what would there be to choose from/between. Without evil in the mix, we wouldn’t even have a sense of something being better than something else (confusing?).
But if He did create evil – well then can we really call Him good? We would have to be suspicious that He was only playing a game with us.
Maybe Evil existed before or at the same time as God. This is a really tough one to get your mind around--especially because we believe that God existed before everything. Yikes. But at least we don’t have “God-the-Joker” in this case. This idea makes God out to be the ultimate hero who makes this world to somehow ultimately defeat Evil. We become God’s big scheme to rid the universe of evil. Which leaves us with some problems. We end up being pawns in God’s big war against evil. Not much fun.
We are also left with this nagging sense that maybe evil is bigger than God. Like maybe there is some question about whether He’s gonna win in the end.
Maybe this one of those things that you’d rather not think about and that’s fine but maybe you’ve got some ideas about where this one makes sense for you…

Is it really in you...


Hey at Willmsy's party we talked about all going to give blood together (those of us from Lethbridge anyhow). so I thought I would send out a suggested date and time and have you guys let me know if it works for you or if you are in. Feel free to invite friends. The clinic would like to know how many are going to come so either respond here or email me...
May11th after lunch
I especially hope it works for Willmsy to come cause we wouldn't want Jessi to show you up or nothing...

the manliest man...

UPDATED RANKING
the results so far on this competition for ultimate uber masculinity are...
Jesse
Clinton
Pat
Jan
Yootguy Mark
Teach
Everette
Natasha
and my dear old mom
noticably missing are the Dueck brothers, the two Marks, Tyler, my Dad and brothers, and the ever famed uncle Clinton...
A little insecure in thier identity? Say it isn't so...
Take the test here!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Topic: You Know You're Old When...

here's a link to my second oldest son's new blog. throw him a little support!
Dueck's beware this is a no-can-spell zone...
http://stonecoldgoalie.blogspot.com/

Monday, April 24, 2006

Postmodernism Sunday School Class

don't miss it
May 7th 9:30 am @ CoaldaleMB Church (runs for 7 weeks)
check out this sweet promo video I cooked up for the class...
(it takes a little while to load but i think it's worth it...)

davinci code

sorry guys one more...
Read this i got it from thinkchristian.com
There’s no hidden clues where screenwriter Barbara Nicolosi stands on the upcoming DaVinci Code movie. Read her self-professed “rant” at: Church of the Masses blog.

Three in a Row


I read an interesting quote in Leonard Sweet’s book, Out of the Question…Into the Mystery. The book is arresting, and if a little glib, it certainly is provocative… Listen to these words…
“Biblical faith is not about living a moral life. That’s religion. Biblical faith is not about living the “good life.” That’s capitalism. Biblical faith is about living the GodLife. An abundant life with the living God is living in a GodLife relationship. Obedience in the biblical sense, is not “doing what you are told.” Obedience is living relationally, even “indivisibly,” with the holy One so that we honour, uphold, receive, and follow all that God is and all that God is calling us to become.”
I really don’t like it when people come up with cutsie little phrases like that (“GodLife”) but I think he kinda has a point here. This is interesting based on some conversation Mark and I have had over his up coming message on the sermon on the mount and freedom versus rules…
In the book he also quotes Conrad Gempf in his book Jesus Asked.: What He Wanted to Know. I found this intriguing…
“The God of the Jews and Christians is unlike any other god. Dispute with Jupiter and you’ll have one of those yellow-painted wooden lightening bolts shoved down your throat. Talking back to Allah is likely to get you into even more trouble than talking back to my sixth grade teacher, Mr. Davidovitch. Try arguing with Buddha and he’ll laugh at you derisively for treating any conversation as if it referred to something real. But when you start arguing with Yahweh, he smiles, rolls up his anthropocentric sleeves, and starts to look interested. The strangest thing is that he likes losing the arguments even more than he likes winning them. Jacob, the trickster, is beloved of God. And Abraham didn’t just et away with asking, “What about if there are only twenty righteous men in the city?” The God of the Jews and Christians is the only God that allows his followers to hear him say, “Oh all right, you win.” " (hmmm)

Why Gender Matters

Recently I have been doing a lot of reading around issue of female adolescent socialization and psychology. To be honest I have felt a little like a stranger who really has no business in side this far too complex world. I have read Reviving Ophelia and Queen Bees and Wanna Bees and found them really helpful. You have to understand that I come from a family of just boys (except Mom) and I have sired a family of just boys. So as you can imagine I am/was clueless as to why there seemed to always be they cataclysmic meltdowns in the relationships of the girls in the youth ministry I give direction to. My recent course on Adolescent Development gave me just the ticket/excuse to study this stuff. But by far the most helpful book I have read on gender differences and implications on school, social behaviour and a bunch of other stuff has been Leonard Sax’s book. Seriously, everybody who is a parent or wanting to become one (or pleading with his wife to start being one in the case of Trevor Dormer) should read this book. Of course there are other great books and material out there on this topic and maybe you bloggers could enlighten us all with resources you have found valuable in this regard.
But this posting has lighter side to it as well. (Basically I am throwing Jan a bone on this one). Sax includes a test for masculinity and femininity. I am going to include his test for masculinity (which girls can take too by the way) and if there is interest I will include the fem one too. Here’s what you do. Answer all the questions in your comment on this post and I will tally the points and whammo I will tell you how masc. you really are.
1. When somebody has to take charge/care of things,
a. I put myself forward more often than not.
b. I usually wait for someone else to take the lead.

2. Talking about football, “First ‘n goal” refers to
a. The first team to score in the game
b. A call the referee makes to give the other team positional advantage
c. The first attempt to carry the ball into the endzone.
d. I have no idea

3. It’s easy for me to make up my mind about things, even before I know all the facts
a. Most of the time
b. Sometimes
c. Not very often

4. If I have to do something I’ve never done before, Id rather try to figure our how to do it on my own first, even if I have to work at it for an hour, before I ask someone else to show me how to do it.
a. True
b. False; I’m comfortable asking others for help

5. When I play a game, I often get upset if I don’t win.
a. True
b. False

6. I can get people to do what I want them to do, even when they don’t want to.
a. Most of the time
b. Sometimes
c. Not very often.

7. I think I would look better if I gained ten pounds of muscle or was a bit taller.
a. True
b. False

8. When I am reading, I prefer
a. A quiet room, so I can concentrate better and not be distracted
b. Music or TV playing in the background, but not too loud. I don’t like it too quiet.
c. I don’t care – makes no difference whether there’s noise or not
d. Not applicable. I don’t read much.

9. If I want to do something, and a knowledgeable acquaintance tells me that it might be dangerous or risky.
a. I’ll probably go ahead with it anyway
b. I might change my plans
c. Not applicable – I don’t usually do things that people would consider risky or dangerous

10. I’m smarter than you could tell if you only looked at my grades in school.
a. True
b. False

Last but not least


I raise the glass to my friend Marko. He turned 23 yesterday and we hit Moxies for some nachos and suds. Mark invited Jessica along much to our great delight. Most of ‘the guys’ had not met Jessica yet so the obligatory stamp of approval was needed. And I don’t mean to speak for the rest of the crew but…








Yeah hey Jessica it was nice to meet you.
And Marko Happy Birthday dude.
Love ya.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Ottawa Schmottawa...

Dad here you go
Here's my loyalties for the playoffs









over Detroit
Detroit is too old and they slid into first in a super easy division...












over Anahiem. People out here say it is gonna be a close series but I just don't think Anahiem has that many weapons...
i also really like Carolina's chances they should get by Montreal but...
What do I know...
I mean Gil did not even invite me to join his hockey pool this year so obviously I am being dropped as excess baggage. Maybe he just doesn't like all the trash I throw his way.
So there you go...
Oh yeah sorry about all you freaks who insist on cheering for the Leafs.
Just a heads up - they are out of the playoffs.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

an Invitation...

I am in the process of working on a creative project and would like to invite your participation.
This fall I am planning a weekend artistic symposium. Here's my brain wave:
Pick a word. I've thought of Father, Justice, Peace, Love, Jealousy, Anger, and Regeneration.
Then use this word as a centering concept to guide artistic expression for an entire weekend. I would like to invite painters, musicians, poets, story writers, song writers, bakers, cooks, welders, wood carvers, sculpters, inventors, bloggers, web designers, photographers, teachers. the idea is to allow this one concept to refine our aritistic expression.
Obviously it would be cool to have original material created at a symposium like this. But I would also love to have people with aritistic depth bring established art to bear on the concept. So for instance someone might want to develop a list of all recorded songs pertaining to that word/concept during the weekend - in this way you might call yourself an ipod artist.
I am looking at several weekends in November.
I have dreamed that the end result might be some show case of the collected material in 'show' of sorts. But mostly i hope the power of the collective leaves everyone more inspired and spiritually moved. I want no claim on what is produced nessecarily. I am also not limiting this in any way to people who have attained any specific level of skill in any particular discipline. Let me know if you are interested. You could also help me choose a word.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

What is more Christian?

Socialism or Capitalism?
Is it reasonable to suggest that any particular political/economic system can align itself any more closely with Christianity? Does socialism allow Christian principles to be more closely honoured? Or capitalism?
It is clear that the human nature of greed can destroy any system under which humanity places itself. I watched the docu-drama on CBC on the late Pope John Paul II. Moved as I was by his arduous work for humanity, I noticed how clearly he fought the communist regimes and spoke out against capitalist choke holds on the world.
We have seen socialist ideas much maligned in popular dialogue among Christians. Too often the spectre of communism has reduced the much broader scope of socialist principles to thoughts of corruption – wasteful social programs that do more to curb honest hard work than solve problems. Why bother working if you don’t get to share in the profits of your labour? Doesn’t the Bible even indicate that we will receive rewards according to our actions? And of course there is always the cryptic reference to ‘the poor you will always have among you.'
As most of you know I have most often fancied myself largely left of center in this arena of thought. I know that socialist values especially as expressed in our country and our fair neighbours to the south have also included moral values that seem to go against the grain of common Christian morality. However, for me there is such a great chasm between the world that doesn’t blink an eye at a hair color commercial on television that spouts, “because you’re worth it!” and the world that Stephen Lewis describes where coffin makers are sad profit takers who, “cannot keep up with the demand.”
Perhaps I too am victim of associating capitalism with greed and avarice.
Here are some of the words of Deuteronomy 15 - - ironically the same place that cryptic little phrase shows up…
“At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.
If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”

"I would like to throttle . . . those who've waited so unendurably long to act, those who can find infinite resources for war but never sufficient resources to ameliorate the human condition."
-- Stephen Lewis

Monday, April 17, 2006

the empty tomb...

Like many of you I’ve been thinking about the tomb.
In my perception the tomb, the lesser of the two dominant Easter symbols, has left me often perplexed and frankly looking for more. As a symbol of resurrection it has often been portrayed as the accomplishment of victory. Victory over death, sin, hell, etc. And as such I think I have often dismissed it. Yup. The cross is desperate and painful. The story leading up to the cross is craved into my consciousness. There is blood, scorn, and shame.
The story of the cross draws me to empathize with the injustice of it all. I read it and want to draw my own sword to defend the God Incarnate. I read and I am full of shame at my own denials of Christ. I am guilty of making the cross too inconvenient to really live with everyday. And so till now the tomb has been a suitable escape from my guilt – after all we can let the cross get fuzzy in our vision because the tomb is victory, accomplishment, finality. But then I noticed at what point God declares the job done. It is at the cross. Not at the tomb.
So maybe the tomb really isn’t much of an accomplishment at all.
I mean no disrespect but...
Maybe the tomb is really something far more controversial, confusing, and unfinished then I haver consdered before.
I think about the disciples huddling together in grief. How deep is their grief? Is it like choosing to stay at a job long after it seems wise to do so? Is it like investing your whole life on dream? Only to have it dashed in failure? Perhaps. But even that seems too trite.
Their grief is so final.
It is utter despair.
It is the kind of thing that renders you incapacitated to take on life again. You lie beside your wife and even her caresses fail to rouse the monster taunting you in your mind. He is dead. You are dead. You intertwined yourself so much with him that you could no longer tell who was who. He said cast your net on the other side when you first met him. And by now you could almost predict what he would do. You could almost anticipate his every move. You could even tell his stories and some of your own. And people listened…
But it is all dead. Never had you imagined this. Hope? Gone!
All his cryptic remarks – all his stories. all his controversy. The cross seems to wipe them all away. Everything you’d allowed yourself to wish – dashed.
It seems very clear to me that the disciples were done. Oh I might like to think that they were secretly hoping it all wasn’t true. That they had figured out the mystery of God's redemption plan and were just hiding out waiting quietly for it all to be accomplished. But the more I read the stories – I really doubt it. They were washed out.
And in a way maybe that’s good. Peter sits there. He thinks about chasing around the countryside with this guy. He thinks about how tired he is. His mind aches from thinking and his head hurts from crying and trying to keep himself from crying. Suddenly the boats seem to be the way out. It’s not that he wants to dishonour his dead friend. It’s just that there is nothing left here. It’s not really even a choice. Jesus is dead. There is no disputing that. At least fishing would put bread on the table.
So along comes the empty tomb.
Women come back in some agitated state claiming that Jesus is alive.
Come on.
Women!
Sure.
They are just so messed! It just goes to show that it is high time that we all get on with our lives. Somebody is going to have to calm these women down.
Then He stands there in the room with them. He has this smirky little grin on his face. You rub your eyes – he’s still there. You are euphoric and like a little kid you run up to him and kiss him blubbering and…
“Don’t touch me!”
You stand there. Your mind is spinning. Mirage. Mind games. Please you want to scream!
Are you real?
Are you real?
Are you Real?
Then he is gone…
And you are left with a choice. You are tired and worn out. And now you must choose. He stands there refusing to let you touch him. And after he is gone he dances in your head like a dream you’ve just woken up from. Convinced that it cannot be true? Twenty some odd people never have the same dream at the same time. do you dare to allow hope back. You spent that last few years building, planning, scheming on hope. He would insult the Pahrisees and you would leap with joy inside. This was possible. He really could be...
You had let yourself believe he was the...
MESSIAH.
Do realize what buffoonery this is? Thomas walks back in to the room. He’s quiet for a long time while everybody tells him – the women tell him what happened. He sits there and looks everyone in the eyes. “This all seems to be too good to be true…”
“I’d like to join your excitement but let’s be realistic. Did any of you touch him? Why did he not let you? We have to careful not to let our tired bodies guide our sensibilities. Remember that time on the mountain when Moses showed up. Shucks guys maybe this was just his way of saying goodbye. And do you know what we are really saying. I mean if somehow he actually is alive. We are all dead men. And women! Don’t forget they really wanted Jesus dead. I mean really wanted him dead. Are we are next? Especially if we claim that he’s not really dead. At least now we have our boats – our jobs to go back to. Guys there will be nothing left if we start claiming this story is true. I’m not trying to tell you that what you saw was not real. I’m just trying to bring a little reality to this. I mean unless I can touch his nail prints…”
And then I can see how Thomas’ wisdom carried the day.
Sure he doubted but he was absolutely right. The implications of believing in the resurrection must have seemed ludicrous. A mirage in the room - - you could dismiss. The cross - - you had to deal with. So maybe that is why we see Peter and John back out in the boats. Maybe that’s why the guys on the road to Emmaus were still talking like Jesus was dead well after he had appeared to the disciples. Honestly, let’s face it for as much as the tomb is victory it really is ludicrous.
And so then for me I start looking at the tomb differently. I see how the resurrection forces me (all followers of Christ) to live, breathe as if this impossible thing was actually real. I see how the resurrection raises questions even as it fulfills prophecy. Questions that don't easily get absorbed in the euphoria of victory. Questions that scare the hell out of me and force me to pursue the God behind the mystery. I see how the empty tomb forces the disciples to desperately try to recall all of Christ’s teachings for clues to how and why this was happening. Now they hang on every word.
"Could it be that when he said such and such he actually meant..." This is not a simple decision to make. This is not just solving a quirky little riddle it’s placing yourself smack dab in the middle of the riddle itself. It’s somehow justifying your very life on the mirage that will not let you touch him. It’s belief that exists – completely yet without certainty.
Needlessly the tomb is not a minor symbol for me any longer…
Now just to get those Jesus junk people to start putting the empty tomb on a necklace…
Happy Easter all!

Thursday, April 13, 2006

the elephant and the dj

Did you pick the right religion?
Hardly anyone asks that question anymore. Mostly it seems that people pretty much don’t care what religion you claim to follow – they’ll put up with anything. Then along comes this nasty little religion called Christianity and it thinks it has the other ones beat. In fact it claims to be the only way. Oh no who invited the elephant to the party. Quick put away the china something’s gonna get broke!
The party is going along swell as long everyone can keep their religious convictions to themselves. Nobody minds too much. But if you’ve got some guy making claims about his being the only way well “Houston we have a problem…”
And it’s not the kind of problem that just goes away after a few lagers. If you are gonna set yourself up as the only right way. Not only will you be telling somebody else they are wrong – shoot you gotta tell everybody else they are wrong.
And even if Christianity is the big white elephant in the room – the odds are stacked against it with everybody in the room being made out to be wrong. I feel a rumble coming on…
But let’s stop and figure out how we got into this mess.
Christianity – the elephant – used to be the dude with all the power. Everybody thought just like the elephant. The elephant ran the government – it ran the schools – it ran the community Kinettes meeting on Tuesday night. If you didn’t think and act like the elephant – you couldn’t possibly be right. Easy!
Too Easy!
Christianity made two fatal errors – it got complacent and it got personal. Since it ran everything – it saw no reason to change the way it thought about life. (Now a funny thing about that is if you met a 35 year old guy and he still behaved and thought the same way he was when he was 10 you’d call him dysfunctional). In fact not changing became one of the most important things Christianity could possibly aspire to doing. After all it had control over everything and God must have given it control over everything so it stood to reason that if Christianity would change the way it thought and acted it would lose all the power. And that would be bad. So when other people started showing up and talking about other ways to find truth they were dismissed completely – even if what they believed was actually the same thing or even closer to reality (example: flat earth round earth). So when the elephant finally woke up and realized that it had all these things in common with other religions (things like peace, and love) or worse yet that somebody might be closer to the truth than the official Christian position – it realized it was in danger. Not of being wrong but of losing power. Something had to be done. All of a sudden the elephant was ready to change. It could change almost anything in order to make it different enough from the other religious/secular voices. But with so many competing voices the elephant realized it would just keep whittling itself down to nothing so along came strategy number two.
Make it personal. First of all you make Christianity completely provable and you build a solid wall with well seasoned arguments. Then what you with it is convince people to accept your propositions. And then whammo they were labelled. They were Christians and apparently that was happening mostly in the heart of the individual person. Jesus was/is your personal saviour. And if a person could put all the right pieces of the spiritual code together in the right sequence they got to be in. That seemed to work for a long time.
But back at our party things are getting ugly.
The guy in the corner says, “if your Jesus is your personal saviour why don’t you leave him there and stop bothering the rest of us with your view points?”
Another girl says, “yeah and by the sounds of it we really think the same thing anyway so why are you making such a big deal about it?”
The DJ stops his music and shouts, “yeah I thought you were supposed to be about love and peace and stuff so why are you yelling at me for being a homosexual?”
Seems to me the elephant has lost control. And worse yet nobody even wants him at the party. So here you go write a happy ending to this tail of an elephant…
Will he wonder off into the sunset tail between his legs and moan and groan about how terrible things are?
Will he step on the DJ and then round hose kick the other party animals back into place?
Will he have a sex change, lose weight, marry the donkey in the corner and forget he/she ever believed anything at all?
Will he stamp his feet and pout and cry till he falls into the basement?
Go ahead you can do it…
Tell me how this story ends

Friday, April 7, 2006

leadership

Let me ask all you theologians out there to weigh in on this one if you have some time and take…
Recently, I was in a discussion about the nature of church leadership. We gravitated to the topic of qualifications of a leader. Inevitably to the classic texts used to describe these qualities, 1Timothy 3 and Titus 1. In our discussion it was suggested that people who aspire to the role of elder/overseer needed to have attained these qualities in order to serve. I had some questions…
First can anyone measure up to these standards sufficiently? Do they naturally disqualify themselves because of their own recognition of error?
Second are these only standards that elders, deacons and overseers should attain? If so what does that leave the rest of us Christians off the hook with a different or lower standard?
Third, what can we say about why Paul included these instructions? Could it be that people in leadership at the time (fairly inexperienced in their faith journey) did not live by these standards? In short was this a standardization of leadership or an identification of the existence of a higher echelon of spiritual competence or depth?
What do we make of the idea of the degrees of spirituality? Can you be more/better Christian than someone else? If so what does this say about the nature of grace? Could leadership be based on experience and aptitude rather than a judgement about spiritual prowess?

a little extra sports for ya

the morning cup

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

Stackhouse on "Church"...


"We are stuck with the church. The old saying "You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family" applies to the family of God. In cities in which there are dozens of Christian churches, people believe they really can choose thier church. But the family of God is always and everywhere made up of fallible, shortsighted, struggling human beings bound together ultimately only by thier common allegiance to Jesus and thier commitment to each other in service to him. There is no other kind of church to choose."

and

"English archbishop william Temple once put this sarcastically: 'I beleive in one holy, infallible church of which, I regret to say, at the present time i am the only member.'"
taken from Church: An Insider's Look at How We Do It - John Stackhouse


Waffler asked me about baptism and church membership on the weekend-I think this might be a starting place. Who knows?

let the play offs begin

you can't say porn on my blog....


tell me what you think of this...
Dan King is a crack pot ex-youth guy from a partner church in Lethbridge. He has recently risen to stardom with the 24/7 Prayer Movement. (nudge-nudge-wink-wink)

Monday, April 3, 2006

Youth Pastor hazing...


READ: ARTICLE
it's true. but if you act now we'll send you a picture of a youth pastor and for 19.99/month you can help rehabilitate them. That's right folks for the price of a case of...
i mean uhm for alot less than world vision charges you can support a youth worker...

cat herder...

the IVCF breakfast fundraiser with Gary Nelson (Sat)

-co-author of Future Faith Churches: Reconnecting With the Power of the Gospel for the 21st Century
The morning was a follow up lecture by Nelson on Bibby’s lecture last year (based on Restless Churches) Here’s a few memorable moments;
The phrase: “There was nothing wrong with 1955 but it’s not 1955 anymore.” Repeated upwards of 20 times in course of his presentation.
He said that in the past churches have been oriented in a “come to” paradigm. That is to say that churches expect that people are going to come to them/their building/their gathering. He said, we allowed ourselves to bore people because we believe in loyalty. Because we were/are not able to bring the church to them – we have decentred ourselves as a major catalyst in society.
Nelson sharply criticized the seeker sensitive church. He said the ’we won’t bug you’ mentality has robbed the church of much of its potentially counter cultural influence. He reflected on Bibby’s claim of a heightened ‘spiritual atunedness’ and said that even though this was the case most people do not trust the church with their spiritual search. I was curious about this point because in some ways I can see that but I’m wondering about how we can regain that trust. Nelson suggested that the models of church that are only interested in bringing people in miss out on the reality of church expressed in wherever people of faith exist. He criticized the practice of these seeker sensitive churches in sending “guerrillas out there” to recruit new people to attend the church.
I also appreciated his emphasis on the connection between the nature of the church and the present reign of The Kingdom. He said, “we are to be a taste of what it would be like if God reigned.” He said that in his role as church consultant he was often asked to suggest ways churches could grow. When he asked these churches why they wanted to grow – often the answer was that they did not want to die. Not good enough Nelson said. The Kingdom established is perhaps a better reason to grow he suggested.
He said only in North America do we have the luxury of a dichotomy between social gospel and salvation. Great point.
Yup a good way to enjoy eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and a Danish.
Books I want to check out…
Stephen Lewis Massy Lectures: Race Against Time
Lesslie Newbiggin’s The Gospel in a Pluralist Society
Kevin Phillips’ American Theocracy

greek anyone...

a parable perhaps

weird meat


interesting?