Web Theologian

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[Thanks Rohit Srivastwa! Image CC-licensed by xkcd.com.]

>It just dawned on me. Though we were doing community development work
in Oakland we were still very much takers. There are a slew of
generous people who we never adequately thanks, I know they didn't
give for that reason but for our sake we ( I) should have. Thanks.

My hope is when friends, family, and others think about us they will
think of us as generous givers. To God be the glory. Amen
Sent from my iPhone

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Great football weather in Seattle. Go Seahawks.

>Here is my checking if it works.

Sent from my iPhone

>The next best thing to hitting your goal is to have a generous boss. Today I got my new iPhone, and am having fun with it. Will write more later!

>The new church nomenclature. – By Jesse Noyes – Slate Magazine

The corporate world has gone granola. Business executives prefer the term community to customer base, and companies extol their “holistic” products. In the current commercial zeitgeist, where millions of consumers are flocking to Facebook and paying higher

Erik Crown writes- Insightful article about current trends in evangelical churches. The differentation presented between fundamentalist, emergent, and megachurch movements showed the author really did his homework.

” But there’s nothing wrong with these young bodies of believers tapping cultural fads and lingo as they return to such an ancient idea of Christianity, so long as they earn it with fruitful action.” This is where we as the church can fall short with this tapping in. As I think about, any monkey can know about YouTube. It takes wisdom not simply point to a social object but rather engage it, use it. The church has done that with Christmas. Yes pagan roots, but guess what – JESUS HAS WON. God is God and he reigns, therefore the common grace that was present in pagan longings for eternal life and to not be depressed during the winter find fulfillment in Jesus. It is such a part of our culture we forget and often don’t think about how powerfully the church engage both the pagan Solictice Rituals!

There was a book given to me called “American Jesus”. And it traced the different snapshots of Jesus that have been emphasized through the history of our country; Rasta/Happy Jesus, Manly Jesus, Womanly Jesus, Pick you own adventure Jesus (Thomas Jefferson’s contribution). Over and over again you had the author talk about these movenment and how they went off the deep end, then he would keep coming back to except for the Calvinist/Reformed type the just kept reading the Bible. I am very grateful for the grounding that our tradition gives us when it comes to cultural movements. The word can powerfully engage YouTube, facebook, I know what you did last summer X . When we are grounding in it the Places we will go are limitless. I would like to see someone write a cultural movement book on the American Church.

One last note, we don’t only short change engaging culture with tapping into fads. I know as a pastor I have and I see others use stories from their lives in this way. Stories about our experience or families can be life changing and powerful, or they can simply make us look cool as the one’s won told them. I guess what I am saying is there are idols all over the place, in the church and out the church and we all fall prey to them.

>132:1 Remember, O Lord, in David’s favor,
all the hardships he endured,
2 how he swore to the Lord
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter my house
or get into my bed,
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
we found it in the fields of Jaar.
7 “Let us go to his dwelling place;
let us worship at his footstool!”

8 Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.
9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
and let your saints shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

11 The Lord swore to David a sure oath
from which he will not turn back:
“One of the sons of your body [1]
I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my testimonies that I shall teach them,
their sons also forever
shall sit on your throne.”

13 For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling place:
14 “This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless her provisions;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16 Her priests I will clothe with salvation,
and her saints will shout for joy.
17 There I will make a horn to sprout for David;
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
18 His enemies I will clothe with shame,
but on him his crown will shine.”

This is a strange Psalm. At least to me it seems like David has passed and everyone is worried that God is going to leave them. So they remind God about how good David was, and how much fun the ark was.

>49 Remember your word to your servant,
in which you have made me hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
that your promise gives me life.
51 The insolent utterly deride me,
but I do not turn away from your law.
52 When I think of your rules from of old,
I take comfort, O Lord.
53 Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked,
who forsake your law.
54 Your statutes have been my songs
in the house of my sojourning.
55 I remember your name in the night, O Lord,
and keep your law.
56 This blessing has fallen to me,
that I have kept your precepts.

Hope in the law is something that we do not generally put together. The law was so much more than discipline for the wrong you do in your life for the Psalmist. Rather it was a place where he found life, and found it fully. This is not a plea to have the Ten Commandments posted around public life so people have to look at it. But rather it is a reminder to me that the law is not always painful, it does not always mean jail time. Rather there is an understanding of the law that can lead us to worship. That it allows us to see and understand a wonderful part of God.

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26 He sent Moses, his servant,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them
and miracles in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and made the land dark;
they did not rebel against his words.
29 He turned their waters into blood
and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
even in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
and gnats throughout their country.
32 He gave them hail for rain,
and fiery lightning bolts through their land.
33 He struck down their vines and fig trees,
and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
young locusts without number,
35 which devoured all the vegetation in their land
and ate up the fruit of their ground.
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the firstfruits of all their strength.

37 Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold,
and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed,
for dread of them had fallen upon it.

39 He spread a cloud for a covering,
and fire to give light by night.
40 They asked, and he brought quail,
and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
it flowed through the desert like a river.
42 For he remembered his holy promise,
and Abraham, his servant.

43 So he brought his people out with joy,
his chosen ones with singing.
44 And he gave them the lands of the nations,
and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil,
45 that they might keep his statutes
and observe his laws.
Praise the Lord!

>A World of Translation Work: Harry Potter in Translation#links