BST's Blog

My brain is tired. I have a had a great week. I am just tired of processing. I feel like watching Dumb and Dumber or Ron Burgundy. Mindless.

This morning my learning community studied scripture with Brian McLaren and another Brian whose last name I can't recall (that's the trouble with being partners with McLaren). It was a great session. Some of it I was on board with and some not. That's the thing about all this. The power of community and discussion with regard to spiritual matters is never to all come to the exact same conclusion. I challenge anyone--no matter how conservative the church--to admit that everyone in their family of believers is in total agreement on every issue. It's not realistic. So--why should we run from organized religion into another form of organization where everyone has to think alike? (Not that anyone said that today, just something I'm thinking. Some people seem to think that all post moderns or emergent types think the same--not true). It was cool to approach scripture as a narrative story. One guy suggested that it might be like a God breathed play, piece of art or even a family album. I love that imagery. Yes, it's God breathed. But we can't camp out in one verse and make a doctrine out of it to the disregard of the rest of the story--any more than we could turn to a page in a family album when someone was three years old and study it and think we completely know them based on that one picture. Ridiculous, right? Well, we're certainly guilty of that when it comes to scripture...especially in the CofC. (although we truly don't hold the patent on that!) When we think of scripture as a narrative, it helps us put things into context with regard to God's story. This is our family history. All of it--not just bits and pieces. The mass genocide in the Old Testament, to Jesus' teaching of turning the other cheek. McLaren suggested that we know things by their fruit. Certainly those who practice what scripture teaches have much more credibility--like Mother Teresa. Scripture is best interpreted by itself and through the fruit it bears.

Not everything this week has resonated with me. Yet, I have really enjoyed the open discussion in a setting where it's safe to disagree. Why we have to polarize people really confuses me. Some post-moderns shake their fingers at the "moderns" sitting in their churches (some really making a difference in the lives of the poor and hurting, I might add). Some "moderns" shake their fingers at the post-moderns who long to seek after spreading the Kingdom of God in new and exciting ways thinking it needs to look just like they have always looked. Why can't we just say to those who are making a difference and excited about spreading the love of Jesus and ministering to the poor and oppressed, "GO FOR IT!! More power to ya!"???

Maybe the next movement after this whole emergent thing will be to combine all of these things, and be full of a little less talk and a lot more action. Perhaps that's what's happening now. I really hope so.

On a different note, Matt Elliott helped me find a website this week called blogbinders.com. Check it out. You can take your blog and turn it into a paper back book. For those of you like Stephanie Gross, Clarissa, Stephen, Val and others who write things for your kids to read later , it would be a great way for you to keep these writing and pass them on.

Tonight my mom took the whole family out to Houston's. YUM! We went from Houston's to Ben and Jerry's. It was a lot of fun and some GREAT food. So much for the calorie counting tonight.

I pray that some of this writing about Emergent has been coherent. Some of it has not, I'm sure of that. Sometimes you just have to say things out loud or write about them before you really know how you feel about them. Sometimes, even then, you aren't quite sure. I am not that concerned about landing on absolutes. The only absolute I need is my faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He's called me to serve. I don't even really understand the extent of that calling. I may never know. But what an adventure to seek it out! I hope I haven't offended anyone in these posts. It's not really my intent. I just want to share what I've heard and what I'm trying to process as all these things rumble around in my head. Thanks for allowing me to process with you.