Writings From the Grassroots

Monday's Remedy: Awaken

"How long will you lie there, O lazybones?  When will you rise from your sleep?  A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and scarcity like an armed man." (Proverbs 6:9-12)

Have you ever noticed how quickly time passes when you are asleep.  From the moment you fall asleep to the very instant you open your eyes, it feels like it was only seconds earlier that you had fallen asleep.

 But that is not reality.  

The more you sleep, the more of life that passes by.  No one will argue that we should go without sleep, but you can't experience life when you are asleep.  You might have great dreams while you sleep - dreams of a life you could only imagine.  A life different than the one you are experiencing.   

But you have to wake up to make your dreams come true.   

 

A Sabbath Rhythm: Suffering

Desmond Tutu wrote: 

"...suffering can be transformed and redeemed.  There is no such thing as a totally hopeless case.  Our God is an expert at dealing with chaos, with brokeness with all the worst  that we can imagine.  God created order out of disorder, cosmos out of chaos, and God can do so always, can do so now -...."

Our God creates out of chaos and void.  I am not a fan of suffering - but I know that even in suffering, that is not the end.  Even when suffering might feel like death - there is always resurrection after death.  I am not a believer in the idea that God leads us through suffering just to learn 'something'.  However, being human we all inevitably suffer - in that suffering we can give up or move forward knowing there is a tomorrow.

Blog Update/ Design Mess - up!

Hi everyone.  Some of you have noticed that my blog looks completely different than it was before.  I was messing around with the design and completely messed everything up. I hope to have it back to normal in the next couple of days - along with new posts. 

A Sabbath Rhythm: Love

"Give until it hurts, because real love hurts."  Mother Theresea 

Love hurts especially when nothing is returned.  But isn't love in its purest, rawest and honesty just that way.  Real love is when it expects nothing in return.  There should be a warning label on love.  If you love it might not be returned. 

 I wonder if you would still love the same way you to?

A Sabbath Rhythm: Water Part 1

(This post is from my weekly Pastor's Page in my church bulletin - Next week will see the completion of this first part)

I’ve read in the local paper that the IID (local utility company) is thinking of rationing water to the farmers in the valley.  An action that would undoubtedly affect both, you and me as residents of the valley. 

This reminds me of another story.  Two years ago I heard about a man that fills water station in the desert between the Imperial Valley and San Diego.  The purpose of these water station are not for overheating cars or the occasional animal.  Instead these water stations were set up specifically for people walking through the desert in order to come to this country in hopes of a better future.  

The big debate that has taken place as a result of these ‘water stations’ is one side arguing that these water stations help to promote illegal entry into this county.  The other side, though not disagreeing with that premise, propose that though they may not be taking the appropriate steps to enter legally into the US their lives are still of infinite importance and for some of them access to the water in these water stations may save their lives. 

Who is right?  Both are right and both are wrong.  The deeper issue at hand is to whom do you pledge allegiance to?  If to the law of a particular country what happens when that law makes you oppose the way of God.  And if your allegiance is to God, what happens when you faith to God is called into question by a law of the land you live? 

What then?  Make sure to check back here next week to see what the biblical narrative has to say on a topic like this. 

My Hopes for this Blog: Part 1

Initially, I began this blog in an attempt to contribute to the online conversation that was beginning to take place online among self proclaimed progressive (of which I consider myself to be) Seventh-day Adventist’s. 

Of particular interest to me were questions that addressed issues like:

What does the future of the Seventh-day Adventist Church look like?  Will we merely survive as an aging denomination or will we re-envision what we can become?  Will we maintain the same tired structures and ways of expressing faith or will we have dare to express faith in new and experiential ways? 
How has emerging Christianity affected the SDA Church?  Can the SDA church emerge?  And if it does what would it emerge into? 
Is there a need to re-interpret our theological statements for a new time? 

I kept up with this dialogue of emergence (a word I use reluctantly because it means something different to everyone) primarily through books like
Dallas Willard’s “The Divine Conspiracy”,
Brian McLaren’s “A New Kind of Christian”,
Rob Bell’s “Velvet Elvis” (and many many others, I think I have read everything’s emergent village has published in the last three years) and blogs like
Ryan Bell’s “Intersections",
“Johnny’s Cache”,
Julius Nam’s “Progressive Adventism” ,
Reinventing the Adventist Wheel among others.

So this was the situation I found myself in.  However, over the last year and half that I have been blogging I don’t feel that I have contributed anything substantive through this blog. It’s almost as though my blog has needed to find its own identity (we must be living in the 21st century).  What was supposed to be a blog about the future of the church where I serve – has instead turned  into an eclectic mix of surface level post’s about comic sketches, poems and the occasional quote (hardly anything worth reading). 

I have realized that in trying to talk about the future I was betraying a fundamental principle that I live by.  I was neglecting the present.  I have decided that I don’t want to write about the emergent books I have read, or  what I want the future of the church to look like (though these topics do have an appropriate  time and place).  Instead I realized that I need to write not about the postmodern context or about the emeregent church  - but rather I must write from a postmodern experience and as one who continues to emerge – only as long as emergence means that that I continually keep asking the hard questions of my beliefs.

It is my hope that this blog would be a place of meaningful interaction.  A place where the right questions are asked and honest answers are presented.  A place of deeper reflection about these things we call faith, life, God.

Our Call

(This is from the weekly pastor's page in our church bulletin)

What does God require of us?

In a conversation with his disciples Jesus says, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me;  and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;  and whoever does not  take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me;  Those who find their life will lost it, and those who lose their life will find it.” (Matthew 10:37).

That sounds harsh, doesn’t it?  It is important to note that Jesus was trying to make a powerful point.  First of all Jesus, does not want you to hate your parents or children.  That is obvious.  But He needed to make a strong point.  That point being that following Him(Jesus) would not always be easy and that it would sometimes cause us to sacrifice – Sacrifice the very things that makes us who we are and the comforts of this life.  This is evident because Jesus says, “take up the cross” for Jesus the cross was the ultimate act of sacrifice.  He wanted us to live our lives as a living sacrifice, always serving others. That is what it means to take up your cross.

Sacrifice is not just about dying a physical death.  Sacrifice is about putting to death selfishness.  Jesus was selfless, which is the opposite of selfish.  Jesus kept emptying himself daily of anything he felt was owed to him.  He lived his life as though it was a gift.  Perhaps that is how we must strive to live our lives.  As a gift from God, and as a gift to other.   Life is where we get to show the world that God is alive and moving in this world.  We are after all the Body of Christ.

Monday's Remedy: News Slips

Hey everyone.  My blog posts have been very few in the last several weeks.  Not sure why.  One idea is that this time of the year is extremely busy at the churches.  Planning and preparing for the next  11 months and so the blog is the first thing to suffer.  I am hoping to post more about what has been happening in the churches in they days to come.  As for Monday's Remedy I saw this video when my friend Jeff posted it on his facebook profile.  I have watched this over and over and it keeps cracking me up.  I hope it helps get you through your Monday Blues.

A Sabbath Rhythm: Trust

The New Year is finally here, so let’s party like it is 2009. 

As I write this, today, still feels like another Thursday in a long line of Thursdays, followed by a Friday and preceded by a Wednesday - So ordinary.  Which makes me wonder if anything will be different in 2009.  Will something amazing happen, something life changing? One thing is certain, life is what you make of it.  My prayer for you in this New Year is that you would experience life in such a way that you can sit back every day and say to yourself, “Life is good!”  I pray that you would have a deeper experience of faith and that you might even get a glimpse of the presence of God. 

In the Bible mountain tops were considered the places where people met God.  Over time the phrase, “mountain top experience” has been used to describe the experience one has when they are encountered by God.  With this understanding in mind, David asks, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?  Who may stand in his holy place?”  David then answers his own question.  “Those who have clean hands and a pure heart, who do not put their trust in an idol or swear by a false God.” 

Where have you placed your trust?   Do you trust God?  Do you trust Jesus?  Do you trust the Holy Spirit?  These questions are much more difficult to answer than they appear. Trusting means letting go of past letdowns, broken promises, painful experiences and as difficult as that is to do, letting go is the only way to really live.  I pray that you would give God a chance this year.  Let go of things, and grasp onto God.

A Sabbath Rhythm: Endings and Beginnings

(From my weekly Pastor's Page written for my community of faith)
As this year draws to a close, the experiences of the last twelve months are nothing more than a silent echo in the halls of distant memories.  Most of us will go through the year-end ritual of pausing long enough to,

reflect,
recollect,
remember and even
regret…

the things we did and said…the things we didn't do and didn't say.  And now, we shed the stale year now past and embrace the possibilities that the coming year promises.  Some of you might even dare to set resolutions with hopes that next year will be better than the last. 

My prayer for you in the coming year is that you would center yourself around "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise…"  (Philippians 4v8). 

Focus on the things that feed your soul and nourish your spirit.  Learn to love well.  Forgive much. 

May faith guide you every step of the way.  May hope be in plenty supply and may the love of God be abundant.