Wives submit to your husbands!

I’ve actually been thinking a lot about the submissive nature of Christ and his message, demonstrated ultimately by his death on the cross. Been thinking about the fact that though he was God he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he made himself nothing and humbled himself by dying a criminals death (paraphrase of Phil. 2:6-8). Two weeks ago we looked at Matt. 16 in our Bible Study with the High School students. It’s the passage where Peter proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of the living God, a claim that was explicitly revolutionary against the oppressive Roman regime that dominated them. Then, Jesus delivers the shocking news that he is going to lay down his life in a way that seems to give power to the regime. Much to his disciples surprise, his revolution turns out to be one of subordination and humility. I just finished reading a very enlightening article by a gal on the subject of Paul’s writings about wives’ submission to husbands and how he was actually reenforcing Christ’s message of winning by losing, not promoting male dominance.

I’m not a hater…

…but for someone who supposedly takes the bible so seriously (unlike those other people), Mark Driscoll sure takes a very hard stance on a pretty wacky interpretation of 1 Timothy 5:8. I’m not trying to be nit-picky, but this passage is referring to taking care of the widows in ones household, it’s not a reproof of men who stay at home with the kids while their wives are away at work. If he wants to make the point that men shouldn’t be stay-at-home dads, he’s going to have to provide other scripture than this. This is proof-texting at it’s most absurd, and for Driscoll to say that this passage is so conclusive on the issue that if a situation of the kind arose in his congregation it would be a case for church discipline, well, I think he’s taking it a little too far. Check it out for yourself:

Question: Even if this passage can be taken to mean providing for ones immediate family… Then what constitutes as provision? Does work away from the home provide more than changing diapers, cleaning, feeding, or other things children need?

Any thoughts?

Anyway, not trying to pick on Mark Driscoll. I just think we need to be more careful with the scriptures, especially when we feel so strongly about an issue. In those kinds of situations we tend to impose a lot of ourselves and our own culture on God.

But I do think we need to be talking more, as ministers and church people, about ways to help families connect with each other, especially for kids’ sake (I think the Driscoll’s are right about the shame of children/families being neglected due to overworking).

Thrice’s The Alchemy Index

Never really been all that into hardcore music like Brian, so I was as surprised as anyone to fall madly in love with Thrice’s fifth musical endeavor, The Alchemy Index (made up of 4 EPs, each representing one of the following elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Air). 

Product description: “Thrice’s boundary pushing continues with the second installment of the Alchemy Index series. Volumes 1&2 (Fire & Water), released in October of last year, were met with tremendous critical acclaim and fanfare. Fans and critics were especially impressed with the Water side and just how far the band had pushed the parameters of what they can do as professional musicians. The Earth and Air series show two more sides of the band that anyone has yet to see. The Earth side will showcase a more stripped down, raw element of the band, while Air will expose a more soft rock side. One thing is for certain…no one really knows where Thrice’s music is going, and their fans seem to like it just fine that way.”

The first song on the second disc, “Moving Mountains”, comes straight out of 1 Corinthians 13. Come by, I’ll play it for you. It’s beautiful and convicting. I might become a Thrice fan after all. Brian will be proud.

Religulous was rediculous

I read this great review by Steve Holt on Bill Maher’s movie, Religulous, and it convinced me to convince the rest of our church staff that we should all go see the movie together in order to be better informed in the conversations that this film is sure to stimulate. And though Maher’s examination of religion is  unashamedly unfair and intentionally one-sided (through rigorous editing), there is a lot Christians can learn about the kinds of questions and concerns being leveled against us and other people of faith. The movie had a myriad of affects on me: sometimes I laughed till I cried, sometimes I was totally annoyed, but also there were times when I was really convicted (especially by Maher’s accusation that many of the world’s dominate religion’s obsession with Apocalyptic theology may turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy–either because we are so convinced that this world won’t remain after Christ’s return that we feel like we might as well destroy it, or because the fear of so much being at stake makes us fight the religious wars we are so fond of, i.e., Iraq, Ireland, the Crusades, etc.).

Here’s to Ireland!

Did you know that my two favorite bands (U2 and The Cranberries) and my favorite beer (Guinness Extra Stout) are all from Ireland? So, here’s to Ireland, the emerald island!

An alternative to spiritual consumption

The message we get loud and clear from God coming to earth as the man Jesus, is that we (our world, our culture, our people) are in great need of being rescued. Isn’t that the Bible’s main theme (Old and New Testamant)? God rescuing people? I believe it is, and that is why I believe that as Christ’s body incarnate on earth, indwelt with his Spirit, his church’s work is to do the same. We are in the business of rescuing and transforming the world culture and making disciples to Jesus and his kingdom’s culture. That is the mission God has sent us out on (Matthew 28:18-20).

The church doesn’t exist for the church’s sake. The church is for giving itself away. Something that exists for its own sake consumes and takes in order to build onto itself. But like the yeast in Matthew 13, which continually gives itself away, so is the kingdom of God. As Christ-followers, we first give ourselves away to God, then to each other, and then to those outside of our groups in acts of love, justice, and service. We do this in imitation of our Christ, who gave himself away to us when he said to take and eat the bread, that is like his body (which he broke for us), and to take the wine, which is like his blood (that he poured out for us) and drink it. Take it, he says, it’s me. I’m giving myself to you, for you. And when he asks us to pick up our crosses and follow him, he is asking us to do the same.

Brian and I want to help Christ-followers to do just that. We don’t want our ministry to consume in order to build onto itself, and we don’t want to sell anything for anyone else to consume either. It’s not about consumption, or marketing or relevance. It’s about making disciples into the sacrificial way of Jesus.

We don’t want to do youth ministry or church ministry or any ministry anymore if it means selling a product to spiritual consumers. We want to invite people to join us in committing to follow Jesus, and then show them how to give themselves away like he did.

The rich young ruler in Mark 10 wanted to get heaven from Jesus. Jesus told him to risk everything and follow him. The young man couldn’t do that so he went away sad. The religious expert in Luke 10 wanted to get heaven from Jesus. Jesus said to love (God and neighbor), but this man wanted to know what he was going to get out of that arrangement (he wanted to know who was going to be his neighbor). He missed the point. 

Three GREAT articles on the subject:

-Spiritual consumption vs. kingdom culture production on futuristguy

-Two different kinds of following (taking and giving) on NextReformation

                                            and

-Denominations/church shopping as consumerism on Jesus Manifesto

Also, Andrew Jones on YouTube talking about the kingdom of God as yeast.

Some things that have inspired our dreaming…

The Fourth Sector (Social Enterprises) and other things of that sort. Also, the words of Jesus to guide us in how to accomplish these things:

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Edit: 

I think outreach is a silly (and not necessarily biblical) church word. Service and discipleship, these are good words.

Sweet Dreams (beyond Emergent vs. Fundamentalist)

There is a time and a place for criticism. It’s not always and everywhere, or never and nowhere, because either extreme leads to terrible generalities. I tend towards one of these extremes (bet you can guess which one!), but that is only half the story. Yes, there is a “something” that’s wrong, but there is also a dream of a better way. It’s time for sweet dreams. I’m taking a much needed break from “what’s wrong with the church.” There seems to be no logical place to stop once you get going on this subject, because there is always plenty to gripe about. And then, when is there time to dream and live the better way? The blogosphere is filled to the brim with “what’s wrong with the church,” and then of course, the knee jerk reaction to this which is “you only say that because you’re a heretic.” I’m bored with these two topics, to be honest, and that’s why I’ve gotta move beyond them. Forget emergent vs. fundamentalist. What do you dream for the church? That’s what I’m gonna be blogging about for the next few weeks… Please feel free to comment.

Taking Steps

My mom woke me up this morning with news that my dad took a nice long walk around the hospital, his first in 12 weeks.

Keeping your cool online…

Good stuff. I have a lot to learn.