In class we were asked to describe a “spiritual experience” outside the church. A time we experienced the divine or the holy with no direct reference to scripture, or Jesus, or Christian tradition.
I wasn’t sure what I would write about. I think I’m pretty guarded about this kind of thing. Not from talking about spirituality, but from opening myself to these experiences. I’m overly cautious about attributing random things to the divine, unless we’re talking about bacon cheeseburgers. But I settled on something.
My heartstrings are not very accessible, but name a Pixar film, and I can generally tell you which scene will make me weep. Read the rest of this entry »
At some point, once I’ve stripped my faith down to Jesus, cutting through the layers of denominations, traditions and labels, I’ll have to pick the layers back up again—the creeds, the systems, etc.—and figure out what to do with them. But now I have an opportunity to piece them back together, perhaps a little differently than before. Maybe there is one whole tradition that is worth taking on. But maybe another is only worth holding onto halfway.
Were the Reformers right on? The Arminians? Could they both be? Or neither of them? Am I able to walk away from a debate with the best of both sides? A little bit of John Calvin? A little bit of John Wesley? A little bit of Rock ‘n Roll? I’ll admit I want to be this way, but I tend to know what I think and what I want (theologically, politically, gastronomically, etc.), and to stick with it.
I’d like to change that. Read the rest of this entry »
A good amount of what I’ve taken away from seminary these last few years has been the experience of having instructors who, rather than merely providing all the necessary information and checking the right theological boxes, have provided some interesting questions.
A favorite of mine came in one of my Church History courses. Jim Bradley, who easily rivals Moses for the whole Humblest-Man-On-The-Face-Of-The-Earth thing, asked us: “How far can you strip back your identity, and still call yourself a Christian?” He was talking about the layers of identity we pack on outside of a simple faith in Christ.
You’ve got layers. I’ve got layers. We’ve all got some layers. Like an onion. Like an ogre. Read the rest of this entry »
I was in a meeting recently when someone asked me to talk about my passions. I went on for a while (probably too long) about how concerned I am about communication. I want the Church to understand itself well, and to understand others. I want us to be sure we know how people are thinking about us, and just how important their perceptions really are.
The asker listened to me patiently, and when I was done said: “But are you passionate about Jesus?”
All I could do was smile and say, “Yes.” But several hours later I had a list of things I wished I would have said (“I’m in it for the money!”).
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I haven’t been blogging as long as those folks who claim they maintained dynamic websites back in the Bronze Age, hosted on supercomputers in their basements. But I did open a Blogger account back around 2002, so that should count for something, right?
I always fancied myself as a writer, even in junior high, which I think is something a lot of us do, especially those who don’t want to work very hard, but still give the impression that they are “thoughtful” or “interesting.” More often than not, people enjoyed what I wrote, which was a constant source of struggle for me because of a severe lack of confidence, and a fear that you are all liars.
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