First let me put an end to some nasty rumors...I am not dead. I just took a break from blogging because I didn't have anything interesting to share.
Until now...
Go to www.thechurchyouknow.com and watch all of the videos. If you are a church goer you will laugh a lot and then feel sad because everything they are saying is right.
See you again in another 5 months or so.
Tim
I have been so stinkin' busy with school and with trying to find a new job that I have not posted on here in quite some time. Well since I have a post that is school related I thought I could make the time.
I started a project for a class I am in at Fuller called Theology and Hip-Hop Culture and I want to ask you to participate. The project is called "Hip-Hop is..." and I am inviting people to finish the sentence.
How would you finish that sentence? What does hip-hop mean to you? What do you see as both the positive and negative of hip-hop culture?
You can put your answer here as a reply but really what I would like you to do for the project is to make a video of your answer and post it to YouTube. I made a little video explaining the project and then finishing the sentence myself. You can watch it here or below. Also be sure to check out intheremix.com which is a group blog designed to engage hip-hop culture that Jason created (same classmate that made Letters From Leavers).
Thanks for your help.
The video
Bible Map is a website that I stumbled upon the other day that has all of the geographic locations mentioned in the Bible hyperlinked to the google earth satellite technology so that if you click on "Ephesus" or "Jerusalem" you will get a satellite image of what that area looked like during Biblical times. Okay so the images are from modern times but it is still a cool idea.
Favorite
The guy who plays the old man is hilarious. Plus I grew up on a street named after Millard Fillmore so in a weird way it brings me home.
Least Favorite
The stupid chevy commercials with the John Cougar Mellencamp song "This is our Country" that plays over and over. It won't go away. Yesterday in church we were talking about subversion and asking "What is subverting our country?" We wanted to recognize the conversation in the media and in culture about America's ideals and what we view as an enemy to those ideals. My neighbor was bold and wise enough to mention "immigrants" as something that Americans think are subverting our country. For whatever reason at that very moment this stupid song popped into my head. Talk about subliminal! I even mentioned it during the service, that this song, probably not intentionally, but it is saying it nonetheless, "This is our country! Not yours! Get out and don't ever come back!"
Have you seen any immigrants in a chevy commercial lately? Me either. Just a bunch of white cowboys.
Here is a better version of the commercial. If this aired it would be my favorite.
Today (and every March 22nd) is World Water Day. Four of every ten people in the world do not have access to even a simple pit latrine and nearly two in ten have no source of safe drinking-water. So far today I have already drank one bottle of water, used a toilet with running water a few times (I know...too much information), washed my hands, taken a shower, and gone to a fast food place for lunch that has 2 soda machines with water piped into them. This is a privilege that we can't take for granted.
To learn more or to help out go to water.org or water.cc.
Stuart Murray's book Church After Christendom, which I have been reading for my Theology and Culture course at Fuller has been a very insightful read.
The idea of the Church operating from the margins in a subversive, prophetic manner intrigues me.
Murray on acknowledging that the Church is now marginalized in the West:
Acknowledging this is a matter of honesty, not defeatism. Responding to the challenge of post-Christendom without accepting this marginality is counter-productive. We are not starting at the right point, so our assumptions will be skewed and our expectations unrealistic. Furthermore, our self-image, attitudes, tone of voice and ways of relating will further damage the already tarnished reputation of an institution associated with a fading culture characterised by oppression, moralism and hypocrisy.
When the church becomes a powerful institution, a particular way of telling the story solidifies and attains normative status, marginalising alternatives. It can also function as a control mechanism, enhancing the church's status.
Marginal post-Christendom churches may rediscover a radical gospel that subverts condescending 'need-oriented evangelism' (that leaves unchallenged an unjust status quo) and reconnects evangelism with social justice. If the gospel is truly good news to the poor, we have not been preaching the gospel, for the rich and the powerful have not found it disturbing and the poor have not found it liberating.
A classmate of mine and I have started a website for a project for our Theology and Culture course called Letters from Leavers. It is place for people who have left the Church to write a letter to the Church about why they left. The site has been up for less than 48 hours and we already are receiving letters, and they are so fascinating to read.
I am also pretty excited because I know that the site is causing a buzz among some emerging church leaders. Andrew Jones of tallskinnykiwi fame even linked to us!
Anyway check out the site and write a letter if you feel so compelled. If you don't have anything to write you can just read through the posted letters. A very interesting read.
The Bride and I are looking into possibly serving God in Glasgow Scotland next year with an organization called NieuCommunities. Check out the link if you are curious about what we are looking into but if you are a person who prays at all please be praying for us as we seek to figure out the next few years of our lives and how to best bring glory to God with what he has given us.
I was listening to this Joseph Arthur song today in the car and it reminded me so much of the message of the Hebrew Prophets, especially the first part of the song. However I do think he is missing one of the important ingredients that the prophets had...hope. Joseph Arthur is not Jewish or Christian (as far as I know) but I do think that the children of God would do well to pay attention to and reflect on this message.
Anyway here are the lyrics to All Of Our Hands for you to read and ponder.
All Of Our Hands
Until we feed the starving, blood is on all of our hands
Babylon is burning and there is no promised land
Until we clothe the naked all of us are damned
Dreams are just for savages calling themselves men
And in time fire will rain down
On our head
The sky will open up
And life will be bled
We are all the same spirit, we are all the same love
And still somehow we've chosen to slaughter the white dove
There is only one energy just different sets of clothes
For human beings to dress up and protect what no one knows
So in time fire will rain down
On our head
The sky will open up
And life will be bled
All of us will fall into the same hole
And all will reunite into the same soul
The death that we allow is the death that is our own
The murders we commit are committed in our home
So in time fire will rain down On our head
The sky will open up
And life will be bled
Murdered by indifference, murdered by our greed
Murdered by our riches taken from the ones in need
Murdered in our churches and murdered by belief
We who just do nothing shall be murdered in our sleep
In time fire will rain down
On our heads
The sky will open up
And life will be bled
Truth is just a word said to the ones who plead
What will we get back when we plant a poison seed?
Consumed by our consumption that can never be enough
The hungry are attacking, they are swallowing our blood
And in time fire will rain down
On our head
The sky will open up
And life wil be bled
The victims are now victimized and the world is inside out
Everyone is terrified the faithful are in doubt
Religion is a gimmick we want back the god they stole
But everyone is fighting to go deeper in the hole
Some believe salvation comes when the world is gone
But we have been forsaken, there is nowhere we belong
So in time fire will rain down
On our head
The sky will open up
And life will be bled
Some ruminations I jotted down on the Kingdom of Heaven. Enjoy!
Heaven on Earth?!
"This, then, is how you should pray:
'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.’”
Matthew 6:9-10
Would Jesus want us to pray for something that is impossible? Is it even within the realm of possibility that God’s kingdom and God’s will would be displayed on earth as it is in heaven? Hasn’t God given up hope on earth? When I look around here on earth, there is no doubt in my mind that for the time being, God has allowed earth and it’s residents to not always perfectly reflect his kingdom and his will. If you think everyone goes around seeking first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, you would be delusional. Of course the Bible assures us that life in God’s kingdom is the best way to live but the combination of pride and free will keeps God’s kingdom from being perfectly displayed on this Terrestrial Ball. But does it have to be this way and will it change any time soon?
It could be said that a kingdom is a region in which what the king says goes. Therefore, the boundaries of a kingdom would be defined by the obedience of the subjects. If you obey the decrees of the King or represent him and his characteristics, you are probably doing so because you are within his kingdom. You look to the King as your leader, protector and provider. Heaven, no doubt, is a place where everyone knows who is in charge. But how far does God’s kingdom stretch, and is planet earth within the boundaries of the kingdom of God?
The kingdom language of not only the Lord’s Prayer, but of all of scripture gives us a mixed answer. We find in the scriptures tension between the kingdom of God being “already” but “not yet.” John the Baptist main sermon was “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near” and Jesus himself repeated this phrase often, as Matthew 4:17 tells us. The word in Greek which is translated to “near” in English is translated elsewhere in the Bible as “approaching” or “came close”. One gets the sense that this term implies the moment when the two things that are coming near meet, but it just hasn’t happened yet. This “coming near” would suggest there will be a time when, as Rob Bell puts it, “Heaven crashes into earth.” But if Jesus is teaching us to pray that God’s kingdom would come, is it safe to assume that it isn’t as “near” as it could or should be?
What in your life is outside the reign of the kingdom of God?
What in your church is outside the reign of the kingdom of God?
What in your community is outside the reign of the kingdom of God?
What in your school/work is outside the reign of the kingdom of God?
I believe that living as a Christ follower is less about trying to hang on through this life until we make it to our final destination in the sky and more about living in such a way that God’s kingdom becomes more and more evident here on earth. I believe that when Jesus tells us to pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, that he actually expects that to be a reality, that earth could actually be a place in which what God says goes.
God hasn’t given up on earth. He wants earth to be a part of his kingdom. He wants his will to be done here; he wants his people to live in obedience to him here perfectly, just like it is in heaven. There is a day that is approaching, that is in fact very near, in which God’s kingdom will be a perfect reality on earth. Until then let’s not only pray that it would come, let’s live a life that brings it closer still.
This is a picture of my favorite tattoo of mine. I originally got the idea from the liner notes of the album by The Mars Volta called "Deloused in the Comatorium". Seeing the picture reminded me of rescue and salvation and specifically it reminded me of the story of Peter's failed attempt to walk on water. He has to call out to Jesus while he is drowning and Jesus saves him.
I have 3 other tattoos that I may or may not post on here later.
