I just got on-line banking. I know, you must be thinking 'you are just now getting on-line banking?? where have you been? you paelentalogical, archaic fossil.. I bet you still listen to cassette tapes!' (and you'd be right).
Anyway, as I've been enjoying the thrills of tracking exactly where it is that Chrissy has been abusing our debit card, I've actually found myself somewhat mourning the fact that I no longer need to interact with human beings to meet my banking needs. I've had to say goodbye to my favorite teller at my preferred Bank of America branch.
On-line banking has given me convenience, but has cost me relationship.
The same is true for so many other aspects of our society. I pay-at-the pump when I buy gas, happily circumventing the gas station attendent. I buy most of my stuff on-line saving me the hassle of being around people at the mall.
I use the self check-out line at the grocery store. I read other blogs to get the opinions of those I'm interested in hearing from. Heck, I even buy gift cards for gifts these days... see, now I don't even need to bother knowing you well enough to find out what you really like and don't like, do it yourself!!
Maybe I'm going overboard here, but the on-line happy, entertainment-addicted, consumption-oriented, full-throttle paced suburbanite culture that I'm part of seems to be steadily losing its ability to enjoy meaningful relationships and community, and yet is, at the same time, starving for it.
I myself often feel that I have more contacts than real relationships and have more appointments than shared experiences with dear friends. What gives? How do we bridge this gap?
A couple of thoughts... which are by no means comprehensive..
1.) Know why we long for community:
Because of creation. We long for community because we were created by a community (check out the pronoun usage in Gen. 1.26). A Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created you.. a 'we' created a 'you' and you are not complete until you find other 'yous'.
2.) Know why we struggle with community:
In addition to the obvious cultural shifts and struggles I wrote about above, there is also the inclination within our hearts to cover up, cover over, and to hide our true selves from others. This is a hangover from the fall of mankind into sin. When sin entered the world, the first responce of Adam and Eve was to cover themselves.. (see Gen. 3). We are no different. We fear being found out and exposed and rejected as unlovely.
3.) Know where freedom is found:
In the Gospel we learn that God made a way for us to experience both reconcillation and restored relationship with Him as well as the possiblity of true community with other Christians in the church. The way of the world is to live by the 'pecking order' (a barnyard term expressing the relational patterns of chickens!). We tend to build our identities around what we have, how we look, how smart we are, who we know, or some combination of the above. This neatly puts us into cliques, social strata, clubs, and castes. It divides us. The cross does away with the assumptions that this system is founded upon. It exposes all of mankind as hopelessly lost in and of themselves and offers hope if you come to it with nothing but your need.
Well, what do we do with all of this?
I long for the gathering to be a community.. imperfect and messy as it is.
A place to belong.
A place to process your story in relative safety.
A place to wrestle with the pressing questions of life without feeling like you're being indoctrinated.
A place to find love, friendship and truth.
That can only happen when we hate our own sin worse than we hate everyone else's,
when we make a commitment to belong and to serve, not to just be entertained,
when we ask God for the grace to see the same potential in others that He was able to see in us.
will you join me in this journey?
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
Know What I Mean?
Isn't it getting to be pretty outside? I'm so glad that spring and warm weather are right on our doorstep. There seems to be an undercurrent of excitement all around. There's a good scent in the air (even if it makes you sneeze) and the flowers are beginning to bloom again. All of this makes me certain that our government is out to get us and spoil anything good for us. . . Why else would they stick "tax day" right in the middle of all this spring-time splendor!? That's right, it will be here soon, so get ready! H&R Block would love me right now. . .
What if I decided to cheat on my taxes this year? What if I had absolute certainty that it would never be found out? It's an unrealistic, hypothetical question, but humor me. What if? This isn't a blog about whether I should or not. Just sit and think for a moment about all the implications of that act. It is a lie that no one else would ever know about. The question I want you to ponder is not "is it worth it?" Instead tell me what I am saying by cheating on my taxes? Am I saying anything? Let's then imagine that you find out, but you are the only person on earth who will ever know.
I blogged recently about communication. You can find that here
. With some presuppositions from that blog I'd like to explore this question a little. You come to me and ask why. First, in the idea stage I might say to myself, "I needed this money. No one else would know. I am not hurting anyone else. The government will never miss the paltry amount that a waiter pays anyway." Then, I would likely repeat my thoughts word for word. I might even have a very compelling reason. Perhaps I would tell you I had a child who needed an expensive medical procedure.
You would receive that communication. Although, you heard the exact words that I spoke, you would interpret my words through your own filter. In a split second you would imagine what it's like to be me. You would piece together fragments to create back stories and conversations between me and others that lead me to this decision. Maybe you would have sympathy or maybe not. Maybe you would agree with my decision or maybe not. I think that you would interpret all of my reasons to mean, "I didn't want to pay taxes, and I thought I could get away with it." Even if you interpreted it differently, my point is that you would categorize my communication under your own heading, and not within the framework that my words provided.
Most of our comprehension of communication stops here. In fact, I think we are each struggling mightily (if struggling at all) to push beyond this point in our understanding of meaning within word and deed. But I submit to you that there is another facet to this farcical situation. First there was the conception, the idea, my reasoning and thought process. Then there was the realization, the words and actions, the actual cheating and verbalized reason. Then there was the reception or perception of what the realization actually meant. However, all of this is meaningless and we are completely lost if we do not have some sort of actual concrete standard as to what it means to say or do anything.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we are called to a certain standard of communication. We are called to recognize that when we act and speak outside of His will as revealed in the Bible, we are in fact communicating something far greater than we may ever have previously realized. Cheating on my taxes communicates that I do not respect the government or authority; it communicates to others (even if they never hear me say it) that I believe I am held to a different standard; it communicates to God that I do not trust Him to provide for my needs as He has promised in Scripture. My sin causes me to scream at the top of my lungs (even when I look around to make sure no one sees) that I am not on God's team. Sin communicates a sort of pride that declares me as God over my life. Sin communicates that I live life on my terms and God must accept me for the good person I am. This sort of communication is much clearer than the usual sort of babble that spills from our mouths.
As I said, I think we are all struggling with this reality, eventhough it may never have been put in these exact terms. The actuality of our communication will match the ideas of our hearts and minds, and the words and deeds of our lives when we are perfected by Christ in the end. And take heart, believer, He promised that this will happen! As we struggle to work out our salvation together and learn to love our Savior all the more, let us pay special attention to what our words and lives are REALLY saying to our Lord and to the watching world. It is only because He has given us His Word and His Idea, that our words and ideas can find meaning in their (our) alignment with His character. Struggle on, church!
What if I decided to cheat on my taxes this year? What if I had absolute certainty that it would never be found out? It's an unrealistic, hypothetical question, but humor me. What if? This isn't a blog about whether I should or not. Just sit and think for a moment about all the implications of that act. It is a lie that no one else would ever know about. The question I want you to ponder is not "is it worth it?" Instead tell me what I am saying by cheating on my taxes? Am I saying anything? Let's then imagine that you find out, but you are the only person on earth who will ever know.
I blogged recently about communication. You can find that here
. With some presuppositions from that blog I'd like to explore this question a little. You come to me and ask why. First, in the idea stage I might say to myself, "I needed this money. No one else would know. I am not hurting anyone else. The government will never miss the paltry amount that a waiter pays anyway." Then, I would likely repeat my thoughts word for word. I might even have a very compelling reason. Perhaps I would tell you I had a child who needed an expensive medical procedure.
You would receive that communication. Although, you heard the exact words that I spoke, you would interpret my words through your own filter. In a split second you would imagine what it's like to be me. You would piece together fragments to create back stories and conversations between me and others that lead me to this decision. Maybe you would have sympathy or maybe not. Maybe you would agree with my decision or maybe not. I think that you would interpret all of my reasons to mean, "I didn't want to pay taxes, and I thought I could get away with it." Even if you interpreted it differently, my point is that you would categorize my communication under your own heading, and not within the framework that my words provided.
Most of our comprehension of communication stops here. In fact, I think we are each struggling mightily (if struggling at all) to push beyond this point in our understanding of meaning within word and deed. But I submit to you that there is another facet to this farcical situation. First there was the conception, the idea, my reasoning and thought process. Then there was the realization, the words and actions, the actual cheating and verbalized reason. Then there was the reception or perception of what the realization actually meant. However, all of this is meaningless and we are completely lost if we do not have some sort of actual concrete standard as to what it means to say or do anything.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we are called to a certain standard of communication. We are called to recognize that when we act and speak outside of His will as revealed in the Bible, we are in fact communicating something far greater than we may ever have previously realized. Cheating on my taxes communicates that I do not respect the government or authority; it communicates to others (even if they never hear me say it) that I believe I am held to a different standard; it communicates to God that I do not trust Him to provide for my needs as He has promised in Scripture. My sin causes me to scream at the top of my lungs (even when I look around to make sure no one sees) that I am not on God's team. Sin communicates a sort of pride that declares me as God over my life. Sin communicates that I live life on my terms and God must accept me for the good person I am. This sort of communication is much clearer than the usual sort of babble that spills from our mouths.
As I said, I think we are all struggling with this reality, eventhough it may never have been put in these exact terms. The actuality of our communication will match the ideas of our hearts and minds, and the words and deeds of our lives when we are perfected by Christ in the end. And take heart, believer, He promised that this will happen! As we struggle to work out our salvation together and learn to love our Savior all the more, let us pay special attention to what our words and lives are REALLY saying to our Lord and to the watching world. It is only because He has given us His Word and His Idea, that our words and ideas can find meaning in their (our) alignment with His character. Struggle on, church!
Friday, March 09, 2007
Martin & Laura
Many of you know Martin and Laura Elvington from our community, but you may not know that last spring Martin had brain surgery to remove a tumor that was in the central area of his brain. In order to get it out they had to go in through his nose, this caused a great deal of trauma to his nasal passages. He was in and out of the hospital with infection and complications, but finally shunts were put in his brain in order to drain the build up of fluid, so that he wouldn’t need to check into the hospital, and his body would rid itself of the excess of fluid. This is a pretty typical solution, but still brain surgery.
Last fall Martin went the radiation to keep the tumor from coming back, and has since been feeling better, and getting his bearings back.
This past Wednesday we got word that there had been some drippage from his nose, they determined that it was a CFF drip which implies that is wasn’t just a stuffy nose, but actually brain fluid. They determined that probably one of his shunts isn't functioning correctly and will need to correct that. This means going back into his brain. Although this isn't horribly complicated, it is brain surgery which can open him up to infection. The following is the latest we heard from Laura:
"i have a few new pieces of information. they are almost positive that he has a malfunction in one of his shunts and they open to do surgery at the beginning of next week. until then, he will have to have a lumbar drain (out of his back) and just hang out here this weekend. he's in no pain right now so we are just praying that he can get thru the weekend without contracting some life threatening disease (like last time). i guess that's it.
Laura
Although they didn’t do the lumbar as of last night since they needed to do a cat scan first, surgery is still looming and they are still doing tests and figuring out the best thing to do.
I believe it is safe to say that they covet your prayers at this time. Thanks in advance for them!
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