Refractions and Reflections

The inspiration for a couple of my A-to-Z posts came from Twitter. This is the second. On March 18 Zach Hoag tweeted the following: " In tense places of transition the temptation is to run to a seemingly bigger & better opportunity. But incarnation calls us to deeper roots."   I talked in my M post about the advice someone gave me to "Bloom where you're planted" and said I would talk about it a little further in my Z post. So here it is! In the Spring of 2011 I took a course on the Mission of God in the world. At some point during that class someone mentioned Jeremiah 29 - it may have been the professor, or it may have been one of my classmates. Everybody knows verse 11; but for the first time my attention was drawn to verses 4-7: 4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and...

Because the beaten path is boring. Or maybe it is not always boring...but the fringes usually seem to be less boring. For instance, if given the choice and I'm not running characteristically late, I will pretty much 100% of the time take the scenic route: I love back roads! (Maybe that is why I am characteristically late....) I've also been a loner all my life. I like people and all, but more often than not I can be found doing my own thing, alone, while everyone else is doing their thing, together. Why did I choose this subject for today? Because I was sitting out on my balcony and spotted one of my neighbors who always catches my attention. He looks to be around 60ish, with longish white crazy hair and a long white goatee. Every time I see him he is wearing the same outfit: a black biker's cap, and a black women's jumpsuit cosisting of flare-legged pants and a long-sleeved jacket with pink side panels. He also always has a small purse over his head and one shou...

Today I planted a container garden out on my apartment balcony! Well…I got about halfway done and ran out of containers, so I’ll finish tomorrow. I’m attempting three kinds of lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, jumbo jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. (I think that’s it….) And of course while I was planting I had a profound realization: if I expected anything to grow, I first had to create a space and atmosphere where it could grow. I had to prepare containers and soil in a place accessible to sunshine and water. And lo and behold, another famous Grower of stuff came to mind….   There is a really cool theology book called Portraits of God by Allan Coppedge . In it the author examines eight key roles in which God appears in both the Old and New Testaments to reveal Himself to us. The eight roles God plays in Scripture are King, Revealer, Priest, Judge, Father, Redeemer, Shepherd, and Creator. In His role as Creator He grows stuff.    Genesis and Revela...

"All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you. I never had a selfless thought since I was born. I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through; I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.   "Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek, I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin; I talk of love – a scholar’s parrot may talk Greek – But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin." I have begun to awaken to the wider world of which I am a part. I have begun to realize that the crux of all things meaningful is inherently connected to a solidarity with the rest of humanity. We are indeed all in this together. Is humanity broken? Yes, I believe it is. Is there a solution? Yes; in Christ, I believe there is. But the solution has little to do with good works and nothing to do with formal religion. As much as I grow in my rhetoric of love and social justice, the fact remains that I am still a self-obsessed person in a world of sel...

Since Easter has passed, let’s talk about Christmas, shall we?! December 26 is a national holiday known as Boxing Day in Australia, the UK, New Zealand, and Canada. Many people do not really understand the historical meaning of this holiday (kind-of like Christmas and Easter!), believing it to have arisen from the need to empty the house of empty gift boxes the day after Christmas. Rather, from what I can tell, December 25 th was traditionally the date upon which people exchanged gifts with their equals – family and friends; while the 26 th was a day for alms – when people gave gifts to those subservient to them, such as employees, servants, and the poor. Honestly, I think Boxing Day has a more applicable meaning than our current translation of Christmas Day to the true spirit of Christmas. Christmas honors the historic moment when God became incarnate in human flesh, as the epitomic act of unearned favor, to live and die a human life in order to offer humanity true compassion ...

In my Homiletics class this semester we are preaching from the Book of Revelation. Today was a preaching day, in which several of my classmates orated their sermons to the rest of us. One of them in particular gave me some clarity on an issue I've been struggling with lately having to do with the relevance of preaching on sin. Basically, my struggle has been with the judgmentalism I have perceived in Christianity. MANY times I have needed grace, and many times I have needed time to overcome certain sins in my life. I think I owe others the same grace. And often, I have been condemned and judged by well-meaning Christians for things the Bible does not label as sin; basically, people demand that I live by their personal convictions. And of course, being the stubborn girl I am, I refuse to give in to their demands. Not only this, but I see in Scripture an emphasis on loving God and one's neighbors. I think many/most sins are rooted in the fact that they hurt God or other peopl...