Off the Map - 2009

I will be posting a couple of things over the next few days. Off the Map 2009 is in full swing. Last night was the first night, and I took some good notes, reconnected with some good friends. I even took some videos that I expect I will edit and post soon.

My current mood

I woke up with Mac Powell's gravelly voice screaming this inside my head.

Diana Butler Bass on TheOoze.tv

The _____ Children's Fund

Okay, been a while since I posted. Here's my latest thought.

Several months ago, upon the death of Gary Gygax, I posted about the Christian Children's Fund not accepting a donation from Gygax's fans. The CCF eventually changed their mind, and accepted the offering.

Now, however, they're back...again...this time, THEY'RE CHANGING THEIR NAME, and dropping "Christian" from their moniker.

If they had just done that earlier, I wouldn't have posted my thoughts after they didn't accept the money. **BRAD ROLLS HIS EYES**

Hyper-Relationality

As I stood in a dark bar in Kirkland, Washington...extremely glad for the law that keeps people from smoking in such establishments...listening to a handful of local bands, waiting for my friend Len and his band, The Crying Spell, to take the stage, I found myself discussing hyper-relationality. What is hyper-relationality? Simply put, it is the relational aspect of everything that we do. Everything has four relational aspects - to God, to self, to others, and to nature. Everything is connected.

How connected? Well, let's take a walk through the connections here. The producer for The Crying Spell's album is Kelly Gray. Kelly is most commonly associated with the Seattle rock band "Queensryche". However, an older lady in our church knows the "boys" in Queensryche because they went to high school with her son, and she used to feed them baloney sandwiches in her kitchen in Bellevue. Connected.

Scot McKnight in his book "A Community Called Atonement" uses the term "Perichoresis" in reference to the Trinity....Father, Son, Holy Spirit...where Perichoresis is this hyper-relationality amongst the elements of a triune God. He goes on to explain how our hyper-relationality with God, self, others and nature is as equally perichoretical as the Trinity. God calls us into hyper-relationality.

Think about that.

What you do affects your relationship with others. When you buy your groceries, you give money (or perhaps a debit/credit card) in exchange for the goods. That money goes to pay the salary of the checker....you are now relationally connected. That money goes to pay the operational aspects of the store....you are now hyper-relationally connected. You now have food that will, hopefully, sustain you and increase/improve your health...you are now hyper-relationality connected. The money going into the pockets of the checker, or the store, or the other salaried employees may make it into the coffers of a church somewhere....you are hyper-relationally connected.

When you throw away a plastic bottle...no, I'm not getting all environmental on you..but I am....and it doesn't decompose, ever, you are hyper-relationally connected to nature. When the chemicals leech into the water supply, and "poisons" the aquifer, even a trace amount, you are hyper-relationaly connected to all who drink that water, including yourself.

We may say, "What I do only affects myself, or those I am in immediate contact with." We're wrong. We are all connected.

Hyper-relationality.

What do you think?

Microsoft Layoffs and What it Means

Okay, I'm not going to go into anything that isn't already public knowledge here. But, there have been enough requests for information that I had to address the topic.

I work for Microsoft.

Microsoft did a round of formal layoffs for the first time in the company's history on Thursday.

I was not laid off.

1400 jobs were eliminated. 840 of those jobs were in the greater Puget Sound area. Let's put this in context. 96,000 employees worldwide.....40,000 in Seattle/Redmond....1400 is about 1.5% of the workforce.

All of the employees let go are eligible for rehire, and may be able to find something else inside Microsoft. In fact, I know that our team is picking up a handful of people.

I commend the upper management for an incredible job of cutting expenses BEFORE cutting people....closing down building projects....cutting travel.....and so on.

So, there you go. I'm safe. My job is safe. Please pray for those who did lose their jobs.

Waneta Shawhan (1910-2009)

Waneta Shawhan was the epitome of a prayer warrior. From the first time I met her at our church in 1993, until her entrance into a hospice in 2008, she was everything you would expect from one who puts ALL of her trust in God.

She used to tell me, "I can't do much anymore. I can't work with my hands. I can't travel very far. But, I can pray." And, she would. Oh how she would. Her knowledge of the Bible, and her insights into God were unimaginable in their depth. She knew how to examine her own experience and say, "This is what God has done."

One of the last things she "did with her hands" was a quilt for my daughter Arwen's birth. The "Waneta Quilt" is and always has been very special. If it is possible for an inanimate object to exude love...pure.....it's that quilt. Hand stitched, hand cut, hand sewn. And done for one specific person who isn't even a relative.

My good friend, Len, the lead singer of a local rock-band, used to come in to the church and he'd sit on one side of Waneta, while his wife Gina would sit on the other side. Len is tall, but he would just tower over the slight, frail lady next to him. Waneta loved everyone, but always glowed when Len and Gina would sit there.

Part of me grieves. That's always the case. I'm selfish that way.

But a major part of me rejoices!!!! Her pain is gone. Her mind is clear. In this continnuum that is eternal life, she has passed a milestone that is NOT THE END, and has rejoined those who have gone before. LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!!!!!

I'm crying while I write this. I don't know if it's grief, or joy, or both.

Oh, who am I kidding.....It's both.

Visibility, Influence and Execution

I was just having a conversation with a friend of mine about my personal goals for 2009. I want everyone who reads my blog to understand a few things about me. I'm involved in a bunch of things...work...family....more work.....hobbies.....religion.....more family....and so on. As I looked at what I want to do that will drive the next stage in my "public" life, I came up with three areas that are top in my mind.

• Visibility
• Influence
• Execution

My business partners are already familiar with these things. The Microsoft in me is a firm believer in SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-oriented, Time-bound).

Visibility:

I have four blog posts that I've written but not posted yet. They are sitting on my cell-phone, ready to be moved to my blog. Anyway, as a part of my visibility goals, I intend to publish more on my blog; Short posts, questions, writings, thoughts, as well as comment on more blogs from friends. I started commenting more and not lurking last year, but this year I intend to become a regular voice. I will also be doing more cross-posting, getting people from my blog to read other blogs as well. (I did that in December with the notice about Home-PDX from Pam's blog.)

I'm also upping my visibility on Facebook....connecting to friends.

I'm also upping my visibility at work. I'm a strategist, and it is important that my strategies be engulfed by the executives or my work will go nowhere.

Influence:

I often worry that I don't have any original thoughts. I read too much. I read things that people have written and often find myself saying, "That's exactly what I've thought for years, but I'm just not eloquent enough to pull that off." Well, apparently, I've been told that I DO have original thoughts. So, I intend to take my thoughts to the next level. I've had 4 people, close friends, say that they've been praying that I'll write more. Maybe I can help others drive original thoughts.

At work, if my strategies are accepted and honed, my influence will grow.

Execution:

Hard work pays off in the long run, but procrastination pays off IMMEDIATELY!!!

I have been a part of this "conversation" online for nearly 2 years, now. However, I have not let people in on the things I am doing to move the conversation out of the online world and into my daily activities. Talking about life and living life are two different things.

These are not resolutions. These are just my standard thinking. It's important to realize that I ALWAYS think things like this. This just happens to be coming at the beginning of the year.

Not Normally a Calorie Counter

I'm not making any New Years resolutions. I'm not even obsessed with my weight.

My wife and I play racquetball two or three nights a week, depending on our schedule. (At least twice a week)

I'm trying to "cut back" on things just to get my weight down after all of the eating I did over Christmas in Oregon. My mom's love language is cooking. (Conveniently, one of my dad's love languages is eating....it's a match made in Heaven.)

I found on the Starbucks site the nutritional information for their drinks. http://www.starbucks.com/retail/nutrition_beverages.asp

If you are squeamish...please stop reading.

My drink of choice....Double Tall Caramel Machiatto....

180 calories
45g fat
100mg sodium

Oh my goodness, gracious!!!!

Now, "drip" coffee
5 calories
0g fat
10mg sodium

Uh, I guess I'm on the drip for a while. **SIGH**

It's Cold, and There are People Who are Invisible

This is a duplicated post of a post on Pam Hogeweide's blog. Ken Loyd and I met last November at an event here on Seattle's Eastside. I've blogged about him before. He's the one who said that our homeless friends feel two things, that they are invisible, and that they are defective. Why? That's how we treat them.

That cut me to the heart.

Anyway, here's the post from Pam's blog. There's a link to her blog here on my site as well. All I ask is that, in this Christmas season, you do something...anything.....it's cold out there, and NO ONE should be invisible.

-------------------------------

HOMEpdx: Are We Broke Yet?

Hey all, here is the latest email update from my friend Ken Loyd of HOMEpdx here in Portland, Oregon. Ken and his devoted team of HOMEpdx'ers have been loving on the beautiful, invisible folks who live outside, aka The Homeless. Below is Ken's financial strategy and report for how they meet practical needs of our city's poor.

If you live in Portland, consider making a one-time donation or becoming a regular contributor to this vital community. HOMEpdx is not an outreach or a mission. They are a group of people who both live indoors as well as outdoors. It is a missional church in the rawest sense.

If you don't live in Portland, I urge you to consider what ministries and charities in your area are helping the poorest of your city. Consider sending them a little note and a donation of any amount.

Hope everyone is doing well this holiday season. Portland is having some extraordinary winter weather as is much of the country. We are in the midst of a series of three winter storms in a one week period. My friend Erin blogged about why Portlanders have such a hard time driving when we get ice. Totally crazy!

Stay warm!

Are We Broke? You Bet!
by Ken Loyd

We've figured out how this whole nonprofit deal works: A) get money and, B) spend it as fast as we can on our friends without houses in downtown Portland.

We're good, no, read that, just about the best at doing the "B) thing". Socks, toiletries, bus tickets, cell phones, food, clothes, coffee, burritos, ID, rent,and a dozen other spending opportunities wave frantically for our attention every day.

The A) part, however… we're just about the worst at remembering to ask for money.

Wow! Who Would Have Thought this was a growth industry?

It's only taken me about a year and a half to figure out at least part of the problem: April Fools Day 2007 was our first day under the Hawthorne Bridge. We had ten of our outdoors friends show up. We gave them socks, hoodies, toiletries and whatever else we could dig up. Our food team prepared a banquet. We had a great time!

This October our last Sunday under the bridge (we're indoors for the winter) saw us doing the exact same thing, but this time we served over 200 people! We were averaging 100-200 each week. What fun that is! Our food team, as always, was more than equal to the task. Each food team buys the food, prepares, and serves our meals. We, the HOMEpdx core team do the rest. Our cost per person has increased by more than 50% due to higher prices and the fact that we give away a greater selection of necessary items. A 1500% increase in one and a half years shows our success at the "B" part of the formula— serving our friends who live outdoors. The "A"— getting money— 0% increase in income.

I'm pretty sure our balance sheet is out whack.

Common sense says, "Cut back."

However, increased need does not wait for increased income. We, at HOME will continue to love and serve our friends, no matter what. We must. Common sense, I believe, is overrated, if it turns a blind eye to our society's throwaways. (As I am writing this temperatures are dropping in the 20s. Our core team is larger, more talented and working harder than ever. We are seeing our friends truly helped. Could you just walk away from this if you were me?)

Here's where you can come in.
If you choose. You can send a one-time gift. Or, better yet, you can partner with us and let us know that you will be sending a specified monthly amount. With you as a part of a small but mighty team of partners, who knows—we could go from a daily losing scramble to doing some planning! What a novel idea for us. Our year end goal is to raise $20,000 to give HOMEpdx a strong foundation for 2009, which looks like a year where the needs of our friends will increase dramatically.

It's quite easy...you can even donate via PayPal from our homepdx.net web site.

And pray you ask?
Kathy Escobar, from Denver, who serves people who have next to nothing (one step up the food chain from us), says," Don't pray for us. Our prayer team is full. Send money." She was kidding. I think.

Whether you are able at this time and choose to give to our friends without houses through HOMEpdx or not, we'll still be friends.

Love,

Ken
HOMEpdx (a 501(c)3 nonprofit
3934 N Borthwick Ave.
Portland, OR 97227
http://homepdx.net

PS A FEW RANDOM 2008 NUMBERS:
Volunteers 150-200
Meals served: 5,000-7,500
Pairs of socks given out: 6,000-9,000
Burritos handed out: 2,500
Age of our outdoors friends: 14-65
%who live outdoors year around: 85-90
Value of our friends: Priceless
--------------------------------------

Thanks for listening!

Brad

Projection of self

My good friend Levi, namesake of my own little boy, just left. I dropped him off at the airport.

One of the things that we talked about in the short time he was in town was the concept of "projection". Scot McKnight in his book, "The Blue Parakeet", describes a survey he gives to his Bible students in which they ascribe characteristics to Jesus. At the end of the exercise, the students can see that what they have done is ascribe their own moral characteristics to the character of Christ.

McKnight goes on to say that is how we often read the Bible....we all want to be right, so we project our own morality into the Bible. Of course, that's dangerous because it really needs to be the other way around. I'm not done with the book yet, but I don't see that he is denying our ability to interpret scripture. Nor does he ever declare that there is a right (or wrong) way to read the Bible. He simply asks that we be aware of projecting ourselves into the reading.

Levi, a former pastor, used various examples from his own ministry and from other writings.....he added more books to my list....that confirm this "projection" fact.

What do you think?

War...what is it good for.....

Try and read that title without the grunt between “war” and “what”. **GRIN**

Last Friday, I went to lunch with some friends from work. As we drove to the restaurant, one of my workers travelled with me. He looked down and saw a small metal model of a tank; a pencil sharpener, actually. He picked it up and identified it, immediately, as a Patton tank. (M48 for those who are interested in that kind of thing.) He’s Israeli, and little did I know that he served in the Israeli-Lebanon war in the early 1980s….as a tank driver. The rush of memories that overcame him when he saw the pencil sharpener was incredible.

We talked.

I had the tank in my car because I simply hadn’t taken it out. It was my grandfather’s. He drove a tank in Italy in WWII for the Canadian military. His was a Sherman tank, not a Patton, but my aunt has his Sherman model. Grandpa meant a lot to me, and his tales of “The War” were common conversation points. When he died, one of the things he left to me was a copy of the war memoirs of his regiment. Pages after pages of pictures, names, and handwritten notes had me in tears. One, I miss him so much. Two, he had pictures, with faces circled, and comments like, “The first friend I saw die in combat.”

My wife’s uncle was killed in Vietnam. (My father-in-law’s little brother.)

I have friends who are Army Rangers, and have either served in Iraq or are serving. I know others who are just soldiers, but equally important.

I have worked in my career on projects for the U.S. military machine. (One of which I am extremely proud of. Why? It allows the Army to easily determine the location of ANY individual solider in the field within a 3 day period. This may not seem like much, but it’s better than anything they’ve ever had before. It all came about when a U.S. Senator wanted to send a note to all of the troops from his district, and the Army said, “We have no way of knowing where they are.” I am extremely proud that I helped make it possible for families and society to reconnect to individual troops.)

My college roommate is in Iraq right now -- in Baghdad. His wife is left in Maryland to care for their two children, one of whom is borderline Asperger’s syndrome…a form of autism. He’s going to be gone for a year. When he called me at 9:30pm Pacific from an airport in Maine on his way out, I was nearly in tears. He’s almost 40 and is going back to a war zone.

Another college buddy is a helicopter pilot in the Navy.

Another is a pilot in the Marines.

I don’t normally let me feelings be known, but I’ll say it now. I’m not for these stupid wars...Iraq, Afghanistan.

Preemptive strikes are not the right way to solve the problem.

In fact, I don't think there's a human way to solve the problems in the Middle East.

I do know this. I don't care who the politicians are that are in power. I cannot condone war.

Don't get me wrong, I fully support our troops, and will honor them for their service when they return.

I get tired of Christians who are more up in arms over abortion, but turn a blind eye to the murder being done in the name of our beloved country.

Both things break my heart.

I hate war.

CCF made good

So, my former post about the Christian Children's Fund.....update.

They made good.

Apparently, it was a rogue CCF agent.

GOOD FOR THE CCF!!!!

Election Day - Where are we going? And why are we in this handbasket?

Don't forget to vote.

Does the church even recognize "redemption" anymore?

Shame on you, Christian Children's Fund!

Christianity is a story of redemption, isn't it? Throughout the Bible, the stories are about the people of God failing, disobeying, and suffering, only to meet with God's grace...His unmeritied favor...and be redeemed.

Paul, a servant of the Lord, is one of the most famous redemption stories. Saul, a persecutor of Christians, meets Jesus on the road to Damascus, is miraculously blinded, taken to a house, healed miraculously, name changed to Paul. He then runs to the Christian community and says, "Hey, I'm one of you, now! I want to evangelize the Gospel! I have been sent out by our Christ to bring the message of the Kingdom!!!"

What did the community do? First, they were scared spitless. Second, they discussed amongst themselves if this was a trick. Finally, after letting Paul sit for NINE YEARS, they accepted him and he started his missionary journeys as discussed in the book of Acts in the New Testament.

Christian, have you been redeemed? Are you being redeemed? Are you being blessed by God? Awesome, thought, huh?

Now, is it possible to have lived against the will of God and be redeemed? Oh, careful, now. The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Guess who said that? Hee-hee.....Paul.

How should we as Christians manage our relationships with people who have lived, by their own words, outside the will of God, but have turned their lives around? Why is it often hard for us to see redemption in our midst?

So, I got really upset this week by a story I read onilne. Gary Gygax, the creator (co) of the Dungeons and Dragons game, had accepted Christ late in life, had regularly given to the Christian Children's Fund, and then passed away earlier this year. At Gen-Con, the largest gaming convention in the U.S., there was a fundraiser in honor of Mr. Gygax. The money was sent to CCF, and the donation was REJECTED because it was from the gaming community. REJECTED!!! By a community that should be all about redemption! By a community that "sells" redemption for children in poor situations.

I understand their concerns about the values of the people who gave the money, etc. BUT, it was given in honor of a man who believed as they do. A man who had felt the redemptive power of our own CHRIST!!!

By rejecting the money, Christian Children's Fund ostracized, and possibly permanently damaged an opportunity to be Christ to those to whom they would not normally come in contact.

Want to know why people like Jesus, but don't like the church? Yeah, that's why.

TAKE THE MONEY, CONSECRATE IT TO GOD'S WORK, AND WATCH THE BLESSINGS THAT WILL HAPPEN.

Discernment in Community

I am a fan of the writings of Scot McKnight. I also follow his blog at JesusCreed.org.

Given my ramblings on interpretation, certainty, and the like, I was thrilled to read this paragraph in one of Scot's postings:

"Once we are dealing with something not directly addressed in the Bible, we are driven to make discernments the best that we can. I think our discernments can be confident but they must not be confused with what Scripture says directly (like “be holy”).

That means we don’t have “certainty” in this case but instead we have “discernment” anchored in faith and in the good guidance of God’s Spirit, always in the context of the community of faith. I’m nervous about doing this all alone, and the history of the Church clearly teaches us that discernment works best when we work with other Christians who share our general orientations.

Discernment works in community."

I like that. It keeps the gist of what I was saying, but lays in an important factor. We can interpret, but interpretation BY OURSELVES ALONE can get us into trouble. (Now, understand, I've seen interpretation in community lead to broken families, broken churches, broken hearts. So, there's a dangerous side to that too.)

Anyway, thanks, Scot!

Things They Never Taught Me in College

When I was in college, I thought about many things.

Who would I marry? Of course, that was pretty well sealed with my High School sweetheart to whom I've now been married 15 years.

What career path would I have? Once again, pretty well sealed as I had been doing computer sciency kinds of things since I was twelve.

I thought about "business" things.

I thought about "family" things.

I thought about "political" things.

I'm going to change the world. I'm going to make a difference. Life is going to be a wild and crazy ride, but I can be in control.

Then, today, I asked my boss a question. And he sent me this....

"I don't know what you're talking about. So, here's a bunny with a pancake on its head."


Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING in college ever prepared me for that.

You can see this for yourself at: http://heresabunnywithapancakeonitshead.com/

Happy National Punctuation Day!!!!

Celebrate National Punctuation Day®

September 24

http://www.nationalpunctuationday.com/

Now, go forth and read a good book like "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" by Lynn Truss!!!

Inerrant, Infallible: Why We're Not Emergent....

The scripture is inerrant. The scripture is infallible.

Now comes the controversial part. If you have no interest in maintaining a conversation with me or with my friends, stop reading now. If you are purely "sola scriptura" REALLY stop reading now. In fact, here's a link to take you away from this site.

http://www.cnn.com

DeYoung and Cluck, in "Why We're not Emergent" attack this topic and those in the emergent conversation with a fervor. I am exceptionally impressed with their ability to present the issues without dropping to name-calling. They nailed it with the following statement.

"It is possible for Christians to esteem the Bible wrongly and equate the Bible with God, but it is not possible for Christians to esteem the Bible too highly."

The Bible was written by men. I believe, however, that every word was inspired by God. While I horribly dislike committees (today, they are called V-Teams...but they’re still committees.), I recognize the councils that prepared the canon of our modern Bible as divinely inspired.

I, as an emergent Christian, recognize the bible as inerrant. However, thanks to the protestant reformation, and Mr. Guttenberg, interpretation is not inerrant. But, now, let me explain this....from my perspective....

The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. I'm following. Wesley described his quadrilateral of spiritual growth as Scripture, Tradition, Experience and Reason. Those of you who read my blog regularly probably tire of me repeating that. So, my experience is that every time I read the Bible, I am given new, fresh, relevant and inspiring insight. My interpretation of scripture is affected by what I read, what I hear, and answers to prayer. I believe that God -- the Holy Spirit -- provides me understanding of scripture based on what I'm ready to understand. Note: Not WHAT I WANT to understand.

I am open to guidance, but I am not open to a piece of doctrinal scripture meaning one and only one thing. There are sections in scripture that are propositional and True. However, there are others that are NOT propositional, but that doesn't mean that they aren't true.

If I told you that the Staples Center is in Los Angeles, that would be a proposition and a truth. If I told you to go there, that would be a command. If that is all I told you, then there has to be some level of interpretation. Do you drive? Take a bus? Plane? Walk? What if you are overseas? Do you need anything before you can follow my command to go? Who defines what those things are? Who defines when you can go? While this is not a Biblical example, it is. Even the "Great Commission" in Matthew requires interpretation. (Oh, by the way, the moniker "Great Commission" isn't actually used by the writers of the Bible, but was added later by men....just thought I'd mention that.) Now, before you all start jumping up and down on me. I believe the GC is very clear about WHAT we are to do...but gives little on HOW. Take baptism...how many controversies are there on whether it has to be full immersion vs. sprinkling...part of the GC, but up for interpretation.

So, if someone tells me they know EXACTLY what a piece of scripture means, I will thank them for their insight. If I disagree, I may enter into conversation with them. If they expect to blindly accept their comments as TRUTH, and will ostracize me if I don't, then they have lost the most valuable thing they can get from me.

Respect.

Now, understand, a disagreement does not mean that I cannot be persuaded. But, persuasion should be gentle, allowing me to ask questions, allowing for Spirit-led compromise. Not, “You’re a heretic, and you’re gonna burn!” That doesn’t persuade me.

So does this make me a relativist. **SIGH** No, it does not. What it makes me is a “Theological Currentist”. My theology matches where I am currently. I am on a journey, and the Spirit has led me to this point on my journey. There are others who are farther along. There are others who are not as far along. The end result, the destination, is an ability to embrace all truth and to share that truth with others to help them along their journey. I am here and Jesus/The Bible is teaching me here. It’s where I’m at.

Am I sincere? Absolutely.

Can I be sincerely wrong? Even more absolutely.

But, I have every belief that if I continue to search, my God will lead me to that place of understanding, and I won’t be wrong. But I have to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling. Is there absolute Truth? You bet there is…and I’m getting there. But, I’m not there, yet. I can’t honestly say that I will ever be there. But there is absolute Truth.

So, what do you think? Those of you who fall into an emergent bucket? Those of you who don’t?

Note, I didn’t put in any examples of propositions I believe to be true. Thus, some will say that I don’t believe any to be true. Let me make this clear. That’s not true. I just didn’t think it added value to this conversation. You want proof-texting? I don’t normally, but I can for what I’ve said. Once again, didn’t think it added value.

The Knowability of God

Okay folks, sorry that I've been away for a while. The new job was eating up a lot of my time. I am not dead. I am not disgusted with blogging.

Everything is fine. More than fine.....more than bent on getting by.....more than fine....more than just okay.

So, I started a book review a number of months ago, and there is still more to finish. It's taken me awhile, simply because I'm really passionate about the topic. I've actually had this essay on my cell phone for 5 months, and am just getting around to posting it. I do a lot of my blog writing on my cell phone. (AT&T Tilt....full keyboard....) So, back to the review....

DeYoung and Kluck (I have difficulty with who wrote what chapters….so I choose to make them both guilty by association…it seems to be “the way it should be done”) claim that “Emerging leaders equate uncertainty with humility.” Wow, that’s a big accusation. Uncertainty is something you can get over. Humility is something you are. I pray that I NEVER get over my humility. In fact, I pray that my humility will increase!!! AND, AND, AND, I will be proud of that day, when I’m more humble than I am today!!!! Wait, scratch that last statement.

They quote from Steve Chalke about a young man who said to him, “If you academics in your ivory towers have lost Jesus, that’s your problem. I’ve not lost him. I know him. I love him. I don’t need to search for him.” Chalke’s comments on the story are telling.

However, as appealing as this kind of certainty might at first sound, it is in fact rather like the presumed familiarity of which Dallas Willard spoke. To assume that we have got Jesus “pinned down” or “summed up” is not simply arrogant but stupid, and in the end inhibits our ability to communicate his unchanging message to an ever-changing world.

Now, I'm not one to personally say that anyone's views are stupid. They are their views. HOWEVER, I have to agree with the arrogance statement.

I understand their concerns, and share them to a point. Certainty is a valiant goal. I think, however, that when I read the Bible and gain a new insight into a passage of scripture, thanks to an analysis of the context of the times….whether location, political situation, cultural situation, or just a study of the original language itself….I cannot arrogantly say, “Now, I understand what this truly means.” My uncertainty of the Scripture makes it come alive for me. My ability to gain new insight, and even to anticipate what God will teach me, excites me. I hope I never get over looking at scripture with the brilliant eyes of a child! DeYoung and Kluck point to a handful of other quotes from Brian McLaren arguing against clarity, and how reality is “fuzzy and mysterious; not in black and white, but in living color.” That living color is what I’m seeking.

Let me give a brief example. We have a group that meets on Wednesday nights and we were looking at one of Jesus' parables last week. (Wed Sept 3rd...yeah, okay, so I didn't edit all of this on my cell phone) Specifically, the parable of the unrighteous steward in Luke 16. Talk about confusing. Let me paint the picture for you...A steward is reported to the master as "squandering his possessions", to which the master nails him to the wall. The steward realizes he's about to lose his job, so he calls in customers who owe the master, and has them all tweak their bills so they owe less. Are you confused yet? Just wait...it gets better....The master then praises the unrighteous stewared for his shrewdness. To which Jesus says (NIV) "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much, and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?" WHAT? It took 4 people sitting around a table, all looking at multiple versions, translations, and even an inter-linear Bible to try and figure out what that means. We finally landed on Eugene Petersen's "The Message" (which I generally don't like) where Jesus says something to the effect that we are to be shrewd like the unrighteous steward but in ways that are "right". Okay, I'm good with that...but the NIV, RSV, NASB don't make that abundantly clear!!!!! Uncertainty...uncertainty...uncertainty....

There is so much talk about “Mystery” in emergent documentation. And critics treat that as thought it’s a bad thing. It’s not. If we truly seek to understand, we will be given understanding. We may not like it, but we will understand it. (Isn’t that kind of what the scientific method is all about?....oooh…don’t go there, Brad.)

Mysteries can be solved. Someday, we will know what causes cancer. Someday, we will know where socks in the dryer go. (Sock heaven, according to Steve Taylor) If a murder mystery novel told us who the killer was at the very beginning of the book, why would we have any reason to read the rest? Why would we have any desire to put together the clues? Now, before anyone thinks that Brad has gone all Gnostic on us. The knowability of God is not some secret knowledge. God reveals his light to us as we are ready. Did you catch that? As we are ready.

I humbly bow to the one true God of the universe who created all, is in all, above all, who gives me new insight. In humility, I accept Jesus’ words that he has many more things to tell me, but I’m not ready for them. My insights will grow and change. Will I misunderstand things? Absolutely. But, the Holy Spirit is leading me into all truth. All I can do is follow.