God

A Little Time Away.

I miss writing but it never hurts to take some time away. It isn’t as much about rest as it is about perspective. Sure, we all get tired out. We all need time to recharge. Still, sometimes we are ready and raring to go but where we are going isn’t always where God wants us to be. Even when we are headed in the right direction, how we perceive what God is doing can be through the eyes of our own desires. Other times we perceive what is happening to us as not of God because God wouldn’t allow that to happen. Then comes the hybrid version of both, the lie we sometimes tell ourselves; we were heading in the right direction but because something unexpected or unwanted happened, evil has derailed what was once God’s plan. Our eyes still can be blinded by our world view and our understanding of how God views our world.

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What is Church Really Supposed to Be?

There has been a remaking of church in my lifetime. While change is inevitable, all change is not necessary or good. I struggled with a concept that at one time I could have supported. I am unsure why I entertained this definition of the purpose of the church, but I am sure of one thing; the concept of what the church does, embraced by many Christians, is actually lazy Christianity.

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Everybody Needs a Little Jesus

A pinch of this, a dab of that, and I can be palatable to those who call themselves Christians and still be popular with those who do not identify in this way. A little Jesus will get me sober. A little Jesus will comfort me when I mess up. A little Jesus comes in handy when I need to feel that I am more than just me. A little Jesus means I can be what I am while claiming to be something more.

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There is an Old Saying…

… there are a lot of old sayings. For some, old means outdated. For others old means tested and true. Some will scoff, others will listen and apply, still others will avoid anything remotely linked to the wisdom of the past or even present day. From Shakespeare to Plato, from Jung to Nietzsche, from Grandma and Grandpa to schoolteachers or preachers, there will always be old (maybe not very old) saying(s) that are adopted or rejected not because we have thought them through but because we have relegated them to live or die in our minds based on how comfortable or uncomfortable they make us feel. Maybe the graveyard in our brains is full of life cut short because I don’t like to feel uncomfortable.

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Take the Cult out of Culture

The dictionary defines culture as, “the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time” (merriam-webster). There are variations of the definition, but they all point to a way of acting and interacting based on shared values/beliefs in a group of people. To have a culture is to have an identity or at least the beginnings of an identity on which we can build who we are and how we interact. I am fine with an accepted set of values defining how we involve ourselves in each other’s lives especially when they are based in the Bible. But even in communities of believers, it doesn’t take much to go from biblical culture to biblically based unbiblical behaviours.

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The Good Old Days

Oh, the good old days when everything was perfect; how I long for the days of my youth when life was simpler and cheaper. Well, to be honest, one of the reasons life was simpler was because I didn’t know how much things cost because I didn’t have to buy them, which is part of the reason that life was simpler. Sunday was church day, Tuesday was laundry day for clothes and Thursday was laundry day for towels and sheets. Dinner was at 6 PM, lunch always at noon. All I had to do was put my dirty laundry in its place and it would show up clean, and respond to my parent’s call for food and it would show up on my plate. Oh, The good old days!

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