More wisdom on "judging" within the church (homosexsuality)

I was paging back through what has become one of my favorite blogs, and found this in a comment under an old post:

I was today reading a book called "Messy Spirituality" by an author who's no longer with us, Mike Yaconelli.

From pg. 48.

"In chapter 9 of John's gospel, we meet a man blind from birth, sitting in his familiar place, begging. The disciples bring up some theological questions about him. They are not concerned about the blind man, what they are concerned about is the theology of blindness. They are not filled with compassion, they are filled with questions - philosophical questions. The disciples attempt to have a theological discussion and Jesus cuts it short. He makes it quite clear that what matters is glorifying God, helping blind men and women see. The disciples are worried about theories and doctrines. Jesus is worried about the blind man."

***

God has been opening a door through several Old and New testament scriptures of late, and with the above passage, brought me back to solid ground on where to stand in respect to discerning Gods message, in general, and specifically as it concerns the homosexual acceptance/marriage debate within many parts of the Body of Christ.

I will try to write it all down here in the next few posts. Good stuff.

Metaphysical Poetry

I subscribe to an email publication called "Enterprise Ethics", and the writer, Carlton Vogt, said this within his most recent article "Symbol & Myth":

Symbols are generally taken to mean physical objects, which in and of themselves have no particular value or meaning, but which point to a greater reality, often invisible or intangible.

So, a strip of cloth hanging from a pole isn't much of anything until we invest it with the task of being a pointer to the national ethos. Then, it becomes a symbol. Two sticks of wood joined at right angles have no real meaning until we make them a symbol of a set of religious beliefs. Then, they point to a powerful reality. A few smears of paint on the side of a building are just vandalism, until we realize that the smears form a swastika and the building is a synagogue. Then, it is no longer simple vandalism, but a symbol of a potent hatred.

...

We have national myths that we tell each other to explain the origin of our country and how we see ourselves. Ask any school child and most adults and you'll be told that the Pilgrims came to America to find religious freedom. The myth says something about what we see as central to the national psyche, but it's not exactly true. The Pilgrims came here to set up a restrictive Puritanical theocracy, and they quite freely persecuted anyone who didn't belong. This is, in fact, a large part of the reason why the Founding Fathers introduced the wall of separation between church and state.

Most religions have myths, often in metaphysical poetry, that explain how the world came to be and our place within it. They talk about how we were "created," "condemned," "saved" or "enlightened" or whatever metaphor the mythology employs. What leads some believers astray is when they confuse the myth with reality and begin to think the metaphysical poetry is strict, journalistic fact.

In my religious tradition, we are not literalists, but I have never had a bible teacher specifically point to any reference in the bible as "metaphysical poetry". Most of us know that there is much metaphor in the bible, but now I am thinking about metaphor vs. metaphysical poetry.

And how does one decide what can be taken literally?

I am still trying to discern God's call for me. One of the things my walk with God has taught me, is that if you want to walk with God, you must walk with His servants. Find those that bring God's Word to life, bring glory to God, and work to do the same. In order to do this, you have to spend time with them, watch them, learn from them. The following is cut from an email from someone I would like to be more like, about someone I would like to meet:

It's Monday morning and another work week is beginning. Check your "to do" list. Were you planning on participating in any activities this week that will change someone's life forever? Would you like to?

If you are like me, even at the end of a bad day you find yourself wondering why God has given you all of the gifts He has. Why the family, home, church, education, and job. Even though all of these things may not be perfect, they are blessings most of the world’s population doesn’t enjoy.

Why were we dealt such good hands when most people weren’t? More importantly, what is our response supposed to be? I don’t know all the answers but I have stumbled across a few people who have some pretty important clues. One of them is Bob Muzikowski. This website will give you an idea of who he is and what he is up to. Start with the HISTORY tab on the left.

www.chicagohopeacademy.com

The Great Banquet

At dinner in the house of a Pharisee, Jesus told a parable about The Great Banquet.

I am blessed that a ministry called The Great Banquet has been hosted these last four years at my church. You can read the web site for more detail, but simply put, the Great Banquet is a 72-hour, locked-in, spiritual retreat where the guests are loved by The Great Banquet community the way God loves us.

You can only be a guest once, but can serve at a Great Banquet any number of times, at any level of committment you feel called to.

As a guest over two years ago, I experienced how God loved me through others, and that gave me a big hint of who Jesus was. It was the greatest weekend of my life.

Not anymore. This spring, I served on the team that was locked-in with the guests. The orientation is serving the guests, not our own needs. I expected the usual "feel good" I get when serving others. What I did not expect was how God would love me while I was serving others!

It was the first time I ever confessed to him and others, all while in His service. I felt cleansed for the first time. I am still a work in progress, but this time God peeled off a whole layer of the onion that is me.

Praise Him.

This mapping site is very Cool. This is where I have been in the world. Should prompt me to travel. There is so much I have not seen.



create your own visited countries map

This is where I have been in the U.S. I should visit the last few and so I can color the whole thing!



create your own visited states map

A Faith-Challenged believer

On the previous post, I thought more about it, and asked myself, why? One event brought my faith into a tailspin.

It began innocently enough. A casual conversation with my brother-in-law... I told him about a friend who experienced a miraculously successful radical surgical procedure for an otherwise-determined terminal cancer. I mentioned how prayers and faith were answered.

My brother-in-law's response was "someday science will explain away religion" and "we will someday understand the mental link to healing". I have heard this before from my wife's family.

On the outside, I made my best "loving response", but inside I was totally losing my cool, wishing to grab him and shake him. The frustration of witnessing my in-law's abject denial of anything they cannot touch and see (or read about in a psychology journal) got so intense that I lost my sense of Grace. Satan was at my elbow in a moment... what if what my brother-in-law said was true? Is my relationship with God just in my head?

I doubted, even when I knew better.

I am better now. It was all emotion - frustration, anger, fear. A little time in solitary prayer, repentance, accepting the current Grace offered, listening to the talks, was all I needed to reconnect. Praise Him!

Faith journey - hitting a pothole

My sister-in-law still checks this blog, bless her, so I had better give her something to read...

Last night, I heard talks from two men of faith whom I am getting to know through our preparation for hosting a spiritual retreat known as the Great Banquet.

The talks were "Obstacles to Grace" and "Staying Power". It appears to me that a large part of the human condition, especially this human's condition, is exemplified in the phrase "How could I forget that?"

Needless to say, I have lost staying power and encountered obstacles to Grace. How can I forget about Grace?!

James 1:23-24 says it well, "For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like."

Guilty as charged. ;-)

Hit by a Train

Listening to Train's "Calling All Angels", these lyrics have me thinking...

'Cause my TV set just keeps it all from being clear - so true.

In a world that what we want is only what we want until its ours - greed, but I like the focus on the mania involved.

I won't give up, if you don't give up - of course I see the obvious "we're in this together" nature of the statement. What struck me is how God would say it: "I won't give up, even if you give up."