Vacationing

I've been Virginia for the past week. My family makes an annual pilgrimage to the east coast to visit family. We are history family, always interested and investigating the history of the areas that we visit. This year we made it to Gettysburg. Wow, what a place and what a visitor center! They have truly done it up right. It is just over 146 years since the great battle took place. It seemed rather poetic that it rained most of the day we were there, a rain that is both gloomy and cleansing. It reminded me of my youth living in the mid-west. When the rains would come they would bring a melancholy, but they would also bring nourishment to the ground. The same seemed true at Gettysburg. We visited the 20th Maine monument on little round top. It was a meaningful place for me having seen the most recent Gettysburg movie. Orders were given to hold the line there at all costs. With great tenacity and ingenuity the line was held. Gettysburg became the turning point in the Civil War, even though it cost more than 6000 American lives, plus wounded.


It is important to me to visit these sacred places of our collective history and to pay honor to those who served and died there. In the place where Abraham Lincoln gave his Address there is a great monument. Surrounding the monument are the grave markers of many of those who died at Gettysburg. They are laid out in a half-round facing the place of the speech. I could almost hear Lincoln consoling a nation and the dead giving their attention.

Throughout the bible we are told to remember, both what God has done and what those who came before have done. Remembrance is an important thing - for we remember the good AND the bad of the past. It is not just the history of our nation that we need to remember, but also the our personal histories as well. All aspects of our history need to be addressed if we are truly to be healed. After all we do serve the God of the wound. Jesus is the God who took the pain of the world and transformed it instead of transmitting it. Jesus, naked and battered on the cross, is the one who said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." The God of all creation does not throw the anger, fear, and hatred of the world back at the world, but instead transforms it by His love. Even more than that, he calls us to follow in his way. As we learn by following in His way we become able to transform the pain and brokeness of our own lives into love and compassion for all of God's creation.

Unintended Consequences

I wear many hats: assistant pastor, adjunct professor, property manager, husband, father, etc, etc, etc. I have a hard time multi-tasking. I do it well for a while, but then my life gets too busy and complicated and it all seems to fall apart. Eventually I am able to pick up the pieces and take care of my core priorities. One of the tools that I use to keep all of this in motion is my cell phone. I've been an early adopter in many kinds of technology, but the cell phone has been one that I put off for a long time. I am coming up on the end of my first 2-year contract. One thing that has become apparent to me is the way that the convenience of being able to call anyone, from anywhere, at any time has changed the nature of the way that I related with others, especially on the phone. I've gotten into the habit of having short quippy conversations with people on the phone. They tend to be very practical. After one recent call I realized that I had called a friend, pumped him for the information that I needed and then hung up! I felt horrible afterwards and have made a commitment to no longer use my phone in that manner, but rather to connect with others and build them up. Sure, I will always need my cell phone to get information, but if that becomes the primary function of my call, then who will want to answer when they see me on Caller ID?

Tuesday Reflection for Week 1

Tuesday's class was very stimulating for me. Being somewhat new to the emergent conversation I am excited at engaging the material and other students in the class and see what is created. It's been 6 years since I graduated with my MDiv, so getting back into graduate work is going to be a bit of a challenge, but I am excited.

The questions that Newbingin raises concerning theologizing about western culture helped to put into words something that I've thought about quite a bit over the years. As my wife and I seek to share the good news of Jesus with our neighbors we have been asking these kinds questions. We are asking what the good news is to our neighbors in a post-christendom, postmodern setting. I've always felt disconnected with the traditional modes of evangelism, e.g. 4 spiritual laws. To reverse the quote from Ryan's book, I've felt like I was asking people to a gay bar when I invited people to church. But when the question of exegeting the culture and the lives of those whom I am in realtionship with who do not yet know Jesus I see the issue of evangelism in an entirely different light, one filled with hope.