On My Mind #2

-
More random lists of stuff I'm thinking about.

Friedman's Fables. I just started reading "A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix" by Edwin Friedman, and I plan on getting "Friedman's Fables" from the library. In the meantime, I looked it up, and found several of them online: The Bridge, The Friendly Forest, and 'Round in Circles. Very interesting; worth reading. Go check them out. RIGHT NOW! Why are you still here? *boot*

God's Impassibility. This is a big one for me; skip the paragraph if you don't care. I, like the majority of modern theologians, or so it seems, have been quick to push away from and deny the traditional philosophical idea that God is impassible; especially that he does not suffer. After all, how can we say this after Christ, the incarnation and the cross? Isn't it plain that God did suffer, already, past tense? And what about Auschwitz? We have all heard the famous story, shared by Elie Wiesel in his book Night; this, if nothing else, lays bare the sheer emotional need for a God who suffers. (if you haven't heard the story: here) It has long made sense to me to throw off the clearly 'greek' notion of a static perfection in favor of a obviously more biblical notion of a dynamic perfection, to remove from my mind a God who seems so distant and replace it with the idea of a God is much nearer at hand. Impassibility has, no doubt, powerful arguments laid against it. Then I read several books by David Bentley Hart and he challenged this notion, claiming that many have not fully thought through the implications of a passible God, a God who does not have apatheia. Instead, as we seek for a conception of God that does not contradict "God is Love," Hart claims that "Only a truly transcendent and passionless God can be the fullness of love dwelling within our very being, nearer to us than our inmost parts" and further, that if God suffers then suffering has a place in eternity.... (David Bentley Hart, No Shadow of Turning: On Divine Impassibility, Pro Ecclesia Vol. XI, no.2). Reading and thinking continue... but I see their point, and so I am left with the dilemma of figuring out how God can be loving, and Love, and active and involved, and yet impassible, somehow. Weinandy claims to have an answer; we will see.

My sick, and yet unendingly cute, daughter, and my beautiful, patient, and pregant wife who is at home with her. Feel better soon Hannah! Hang in there Kristina :) Love you both.

ICON gym night. Finding and booking a gym is getting pretty ridiculous... public school gyms are run by Parks and Recreation services, and they have contracts with people and groups for every Friday night of year for EVERY GYM IN BURNABY!!!! Plus, these people all have priority for next year, and then after that there is a waiting list that I am at the bottom of... yipee! As for Carver, they won't confirm anything until week of, which is great when I like to plan ahead. Frustration building... soothing music ON.

Sermon time: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

Broken hearts... no details here :)

"I met the devil and I stared her in the eyes
Her hair had scales like silver serpents
I, a statue, stood there mesmerized

I took the fire escape and made it out alive
Yeah, I still burn from time to time but I've
a healing hand against my side

Blisters on my feet I crawled back home
Frozen from the sleet burned sand and stones
Nourished back to life by life alone
With one shake of the mane regain the throne"
- Relient K (If You Want It)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Forgiveness: A Hard Word From Luther

-
"Those who follow Christ grieve more over the sin of their offenders than over the loss or offense to themselves. And they do this that they may recall those offenders from their sin rather than avenge the wrongs they themselves have suffered. Therefore they put off the form of their own righteousness and put on the form of those others, praying for their persecutors, blessing those who curse, doing good to the evil-doers, preparing to pay the penalty and make satisfaction for their very enemies that they may be saved. This is the gospel and the example of Christ." - Martin Luther (Quoted by Miroslav Volf, Free of Charge, pg. 161-162)
Read more

A Good Tree Bears Good Fruit....

-
Image
"Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit." - Matthew 7:17-18 "One of the most powerful ways to influence the behavior of a system is through its purpose or goal. That's because the goal is the direction-setter of the system, the definer of discrepancies that require action, the indicator of compliance, failure, or success toward which balancing feedback loops work. If the goal is defined badly, if it doesn't measure what it's supposed to measure, if it doesn't reflect the real welfare of the system, then the system can't possibly produce a desirable result. Systems, like the three wishes in the traditional fairy tale, have a terrible tendency to produce exactly and only what you ask them to produce. Be careful what you ask them to produce." - Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems. 
Read more

A Gracious Reading of Rob Bell

-
The Journey So Far The controversy rages on over Rob Bell's upcoming new book. No matter what happens now, this controversy has effectively guaranteed that 'everyone who is anyone' will need to read this book. Either to find out what is wrong and bash it, or because someone we generally disagree with also disagrees with the book so it has to be good stuff! Then, because 'everyone' is reading it, people like me will 'have to' read it to. After all, I am a pastor, and if many of my people are reading and being influenced by a book, don't I need to know what is going on as well?  Or so the reasoning will go... and perhaps I will read it, who knows. In the meantime, none of this will stop me from continuing to join this fray which I probably ought to have stayed out of in the first place. Onwards, Christian... :) The Latest Salvo The latest salvo has been fired by DeYoung  claiming that not only do we not need to talk with Bell but, more importantly, it
Read more