Transformation

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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What Happens When We Don’t Understand?

Lots of things happen and we try to understand. Some situations are predictable and therefore easy to understand. Others we can make sense of even if it is not the outcome we would normally expect. Then there are the situations far beyond what we would expect. I can, with some degree of accuracy, predict that a child with an upbringing that encourages questioning for the purpose of understanding and involves laughing together but never laughing at the child when the answer is obvious, will do well. Power dynamics in which the person perceived to have the power explains what is not understood in terms suited to the other person’s intellectual limitations and mental capacity will lead to a well-developed adult. If this continues through the teenage years, there is a higher degree of success for the maturing individual and a stronger relationship with all who pour into their lives but…

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I’ve Been Thinking…

Warning – independent thought may lead to cancellation. There are days that I worry what others will think about my thoughts. It is these days that I choose not to think or at least not to think out loud. Other times I deem myself to have reached a plane of philosophical depth that my thoughts, when revealed, cannot be dismissed. Then there are regular days that my thoughts are pedestrian, no, really, they are about pedestrians, how not to hit them at a crosswalk, how not to become one by driving recklessly and losing my licence etc. These are the days when thought is limited to the things that present themselves throughout the day. No depth, just trying to make it to tomorrow.

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What If?

It’s a strange time in my life. I wrongly assumed that the things I have done and continue to do would have reached more people. Somehow, I came to the conclusion that the things I love to do like writing blogs, plays and music, my book, leading worship and preaching sermons would lead to a wider audience. I’m not saying I expected to be famous or even well known. I’m not going to lie; I dared to dream once in a while that I could be more than I am, be someone who’s name came up when people talked about this thing or that thing  but now my dreams can be best described as backwards. Instead of a vision of what I want my future to be, my dreams revolve more around the past and the question, “What if?”

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“Start Children off in the Way They Should Go*…” and They Might Go 

I thought I would make a great parent. I believed I could avoid the mistakes my parents made and find ways to improve on what my parents did right when raising me. I think most if not all people believe that they can at least be as good a parent as their parents or maybe even better. I’m not sure where I ended up on the better than, equal to or less than scale but if the measurement is how many times we called poison control… 

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