Hell...

What is it to you? Is it a distant place that your mind rarely wanders to and when it does - it shudders? We've put hell out of our minds because we have bought the ticket to heaven with a prayer or a raised hand. So why think about it?
Or is it that place - like we've all been told - of perpetual burning that haunts our every action? That thought that wakes us up in the middle of the night and makes us shiver and immediately confess all the sins we did the day before...
Is hell that idea that bolts us into fear whenever doubt and questions surface in our spiritual journey? Is it a place where punishment and eternal torture are the just rewards for a life of evil? Or will it be a place where the hardest most agonizing thing will be separation from God himself?
I am not really interested in a debate about whether or not hell exists - as much fun as that might be. But I wonder if there is one aspect of hell that we all too easily overlook and discount...

Hell on earth.

Honestly I really don't listen to this kind of music but as I was flipping through the stations this morning I heard this song. What stuck out to me was one particular line.
(warning: the material covered in this song is about sexual abuse, drug addiction, gang violence, and other disturbing images)

Runaway Love (Ludacris and Mary J. Blige)

now this is the lyric that sticks out:

(NAME) stuck up in the world on her own
Forced to think that hell is a place called home

Now it is way too easy for a song like this to glamourize and exagerate the condition of life in our society. So we can pretty easily allow our desensitized brians skip over this. But in some weird and twisted way the world of pain is calling out to anyone who will really listen. They are asking for the way out of hell.

"Anybody around here that could show me the way out?"

I CAN SEE YOU BUT...

you never say anything...
I know that there are a number of you that read this blog at least sporadically. (Technorati is cool little tracking program) I know that some of you have just started reading my blog postings in the last little while. Maybe some of you are to nervous to comment on anything. Maybe most of you are in the same boat - if you could just actually figure out what these ramblings are all about you might have an opinion. So let me make a personal invitation to you:
There is much speculating that I do in my posts. I hope you can hear my own admission that I am far from having all the answers to all these things. That is precisely why I post the things I do. I value your input. There's a real good chance that I might be off the mark with things I post. There's also a real good chance that I have said stuff and asked questions in a way that hopefully challenges both you the reader and me the writer in our thinking. If I need to be 'set straight' please feel free to do so. I will try hard to be fair to you.
For me this blog is sort of discipline. You see I really want to the congregational tradition of forming our lives together as we sharpen each other.
So if you're new around here...
Welcome here - this site is always best enjoyed with a large cup of coffee.
Peace

Mmmm Java

tasty and pretty at the same time...

something to aspire to...

Mennos in Med School

Seriously you gotta check this out...
parental advisory - mature mennonite content!

there is a funny story tied in here...
Jeff Klassen the Menno in Med School used to be/still is in a hard core band that came and did tiny show in our youth room several years ago. As I was bouncing around the room with the 9 other people in attendance in the room I fractured my ankle jumping off a riser. I was alwasy disapointed that we didn't have more lead time to set up a bigger turnout for this show.

The Great Global Warming Swindle

got an hour and half on your hands like I did saturday night and this might worth a gander...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6Wr1hcIp2U

ht: jc

Now, it should not surprize us that this film exists at the same time that Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth is surging into popularity. And because environmentalism is such a strong force in popular culture it shouldn't surprize us that this film also elicits a mostly negative response. What should surprize us is that would let AIT to use the word truth in the way that they have. If we were smarter we would all be aghast at the brash retorical use of this word to evoke a political perspective. Saying that LET ME BE CLEAR I am not the one to be making judgements on which scientific perspective is superior and better able to reflect what is actually happening. But the worst thing about both of these films is not that they are doing good or bad science it is in fact they are claiming to unequivocally hold the truth on this issue. (And have used overly emotional rhetoric to accomplish that...)

What I mean is that once a person engages the brain several things become perfectly clear almost instantly...

1. It is stupid to to be wasteful with the resources that we have been given in nature.

2. Our capacity to exploit natures resources (and even its essence) is greater by far than at any other time in history.

3. There are numerous cases of abuse of nature that should not only shock us but move us to ardent redress of these mistakes.

4. Personal actions are political statements. (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)

5. It is important to take precautions to avoid disasters caused by wacky weather.

6. Smog is disgusting.

Of course when we claim to possess the truth so completely as both of these shows do, the temptation is to pick sides. We reject everything about one or the other option. This is a senseless personal position. And it is completely irresponsible on the part of any of these scientist who wish to have an honest discussion about what is actually happening...

Something I found interesting...

What questions come into your head when you see this picture dear reader?
“Why would anyone take a picture of a sign advertising the thing we eagerly avoid?”
“What sort of establishment would use pain as a feature that should attract customers?”
A few of you might be thinking…
“Do they have anything on special this week?”
Well, good questions all but not necessarily well informed ones. You see, I am quite certain that this establishment even though it clearly uses the word pain to describe the nature of its commerce DOES Not in fact have much at all to do with that concept. I have some inside information about this photo that reveals that it was taken in France. Most of you will remember that the French word, “pain” actually means bread.
Phew! That’s right this is a bakery we are looking at here folks.
But that made me think of something interesting. Jesus said. “I am the bread (le pain) of life. He who eats of this bread will never go hungry.” There is a peculiar connection in my mind between the two understandings of the word in each language. Well, I think of the broken body of Christ represented by bread in our communion ritual. In some ways you could call it the pain(ful) bread.
But I also think of something else Jesus said, “Take up your (own) cross and follow me.” I think what is marvellous about Jesus is that he shows us how to BEAR the weight of pain that we all drag around. In fact Jesus says at one point, “If you are tired of dragging your burden around – I’ll help you bear it – if you’ll let me.” For me what is remarkable is that Jesus does not suggest that he remove our pain. It seems to me like what Jesus is suggesting is that we should actually enter into his sort of pain (taking up our cross) and in that experience life in its most fulfilling (Jn 10:10) aspects. Almost like consuming and entering into his pain brings us life. And that’s a little different way of thinking about the BREAD of LIFE.

If you’re interested in more on the issues of evil and suffering and all that check out Ryan’s recent post.

Tony takes on George....

and wins
mostly...
...seems to kinda duck on the Clinton question - a little bit.
I love how he brings it with George...

ht to Tanya for the late night call

More of what do they hear?

McKnight gives more of his take on this book.
Personally, I identified most strongly with the disciples in this case. But of the things that I have to ask based on Mark Powell's study is why to clergy identify mostly with Jesus? Is it perhaps that we have this subverted Christ complex? hmmm!

Sterling was offering to loan out his shoes

for us to walk in for awhile to better empathize with educators...
After this story
Any takers?