http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=147

In a brilliant and very short article Lark News offers one of the most insightful and comprehensive commentaries on what’s going on in the church today in so many places. Abuse, expectation, influence of money in demands and leadership, hitting with satire both sides of the pulpit.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=148

Here’s the game:

• Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!


• Find Page 123.


• Find the first 5 sentences.


• Post the next 3 sentences.


• Tag 5 people.

Now this is going to be a bit of a surprise. Sure, someone might think Patrick will have some theology musing or spirituality suggestion or at least a tale of derring-do upon the high seas. Nope. If I was on my bed, I would lean over and open my book of Complete Works of O. Henry. But since I’m at my desk, and not near my bed, my nearest book is utterly a bit random. It’s one of my Amazon Vine books for the month. I get a couple free items each month from Amazon.com. All I have to do to keep getting items each month is post a review of what I’ve received. Some months I get electronics. One month I got power bars. This month it was books. One was the first volume of a biography of Napoleon. But that’s not the one closest to me. No, closest to me is even more outside my usual. It’s The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria by Randall M. Packard.

While not exactly the most heartwarming reading, it’s actually quite interesting, especially for folks concerned about global welfare and politics. But, for a longer review, I’ll wait till I finish the book and post my dues on the Amazon site.

For now, it’s just the sentences. Page 123, sentences 6-8:

“It contributed to a major reduction in malaria mortality in Italy, which declined from 490 per million in 1900 to 57 per million in 1914. Yet morbidity rates over the course of this period, while fluctuating from year to year, remained essentially constant. Despite the hopes of Grassi and Celli that the massive distribution of quinine could lead to the eradication of malaria in Italy, the quinine campaign had little impact on transmission.”

I’ll let you know how the book ends. I think the butler did it.

I guess I’m supposed to tag people.

Some names then. Jim, Peter, Christina, Erik, Debby and well, anyone else who reads this. I loooove knowing what people are reading. So if you decide to follow up, post a link in the comments and let me know.

Oh, and just because I’m curious if I was typing this while sitting on my bed. Here’s the bit from O. Henry, near the end of his story “The Ransom of Mack”.

“He will,” says I.

“There was lots of women at the wedding,” says Mack, smoking up. “But I didn’t seem to get any ides from ‘em. I wish I was informed in the structure of their attainments like you said you was.”

Indeed.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=149

As the primary approaches us this Tuesday I am faced with an existential question that is undercutting my very identity.

In writing online and in print, in discussions, motivations, instincts, and interactions I’m pretty much aligned with the emerging/missional church.

Yet, I do not own a Mac and I won’t be voting for Obama.

Is there still a place for me among such people? Or am I outcast, one with them in peripheral issues but not really authentic, because I clearly don’t get what really counts? I worry about my emerging soul.

For I type this on a PC, and lean towards McCain.

Is there hope for one such as me? Is the tent big enough for a guy with Windows and an R labeled ballot?

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=150

So a curious thing happened in 2007. I ended 2006 rather burned out. I had a book written, but no word on if it was going to be published. I felt a bit brain dead, isolated, and otherwise unfocused. I felt stuck and I felt I needed to push. Potential ministry possibilities were staying flat and quiet. I couldn’t seem to get any connections to spark or any directions to open up. So I started looking in to PhD programs. In history. The process for this required me to get in touch with old professors. And getting in touch with one old professor sparked my taking a couple of classes early in 2007. I get two free audits a year as part of my Fuller Seminary Alumni Rewards program so I took a class on Pursuit of Wholeness (mostly uninspiring and tending towards psychobabble) and I sat in on a class on Jurgen Moltmann’s theology. It was a PhD class. After a presentation I did on the Coming of God, the professor heartily encouraged me to to pursue a PhD under his guidance.

While this had been in the back of my head I had basically pushed it aside after graduating with my M.Div in late 2002. Ministry is what did it to me. I loved working with people, disciplining, wrestling with real life situations and approaches. When I had entered seminary in 1999 I didn’t know which path aI wanted to take, and went through three years setting myself up for either ministry or academics. By the year after I had finished I was burned out with both. Not because of a lack of interest or passion in the subjects. Because of the politics that seemed to be much more influential in both directions. I’m bad at politicking. I’m bad at saying what should be said as opposed to what I think. I keep opening my mouth at the wrong times, or not networking as I should.

This pushed me into other directions, and after seeing there was no life there, I went towards writing. My interests continued towards practical ministry, even as my reading regained an academic influence. Most ministry books bore me, to be honest. While most academic books ignite thoughts of practical application. There’s an engineer in me wanting to come out, I think, and my tools and materials are theological.

No doors opened, or have opened, in ministry directions, other than a wee little curious conversation that’s happening in Pasadena each Sunday at Lucky Baldwins. But a door did open in academics, and as I kept peeking through, the door remained open, with increasing curious encouragement.

So I applied to Fuller, for a PhD in systematic theology, where my dissertation, as recommended by that old professor would focus on emerging church theology and Moltmann’s theology. A curious blend of both academics and practical ministry study under one of the foremost scholars on the Holy Spirit in the world.

Well, in the past I thought I had to choose either/or, but with this it might be a wonderful both/and in what is increasingly, I think, becoming one of the institutional centers of emerging/missional church thought.

I got the application in early this year. Yesterday I filled out all the financial aid applications. It’s the latter that is the bigger thing in my mind. I have utterly no money for more school, and I’m still in debt from past schooling, which while pushing me deeper and farther in study and discipleship and spiritual growth, hasn’t at all pushed me farther in finances or income.

If God wants me to take these next steps, go through this seemingly opened door before me, he has to provide a way. I would have to move back to Pasadena, and that ain’t cheap. And I’d have to pay for all the costs of school and books.

So, if you’re thinking of me when you toss some words God’s way, could you pray that he opens the door for finances to go this direction. If there’s no money I can’t do it. And I can’t get more loans. I’m not so sold on this to mean that I’d be utterly crushed if it didn’t work out, but it would be nice to know that as many prayers as possible are out there for me to be confident that how it works out really is the best.

I’m working on a new book now, and hope to have it done before summer no matter what, but I can’t help think it would give me a bit of a boost to know there’s a new step and stage waiting for me not too long after, and the money enough to do it without more financial angst.

So, if you would, pray for financial aid decisions being made on my behalf during this next month. That or encourage everyone you know to buy 5 or maybe even 6 hundred copies of my book.

I’ll keep updating on this as I hear news.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=151

For those of you who have read my book you’ll recognize this paragraph from my “thanks and acknowledgments”:

Following this I began attending a most unusual church, NewSong. It was the first “GenX” church, and considered now one of the beginnings of the Emerging Church movement. Dieter Zander was the head pastor and worship leader. His leadership brought some of the most dynamic and passionate young men and women together, inspiring many to seek new creativity and excitement about God. From him I learned that the old patterns of church weren’t set in stone, but there were ways in which God could reach me and those like me in new, fresh, life-changing ways. At NewSong I got involved with a small group that to this day exemplifies Christian community in my mind. The earnest and dedicated pursuit of God that brought sharing in all parts of our lives made me realize there really was something to church that extended way past sermons and singing. Thanks to Dieter and those in the Claremont Care Group I knew there was something profound God was doing in the church, if we just stepped aside and let him do it. They taught me to enjoy dancing.

Dieter Zander went on to work at Willow Creek for a while, and then returned to the West coast where he began a ministry in San Francisco, reaching out to people who had no connection with the church, and often an antipathy towards it.

A few days ago I got this message in an e-mail:

During the night Val discovered that Dieter had had a stroke. He could look at her but not speak. She got an ambulance and they took him to the nearest hospital, Marin General.

Because it was impossible to determine the time of the stroke the doctors said they could not use the more benign approach of a chemical injection that dissolves blood clots. So they had to enter the brain surgically. Judy’s and my guess, based on the timing of various phone calls is that the operation ran about three hours, this morning early.

Val had tough decisions to make and releases to sign. At present, surgery having just ended, they are trying to stabilize him and get him to where he can breathe on his own. They are using blood thinners, too. No longterm prognosis has yet been given.

An update the next day said this:

Good News - Dieter had a restful night and has made it through the first 24 hrs. Dieter had a CAT scan today and there is no bleeding in his brain.

Concerns - There is substantial swelling in the brain. Dieter has a mild case of pneumonia and He is not able to breath on his own

Please pray:

1. God would cure the pneumonia

2. Dieter would be able to breath on his own tomorrow

3. The swelling in the brain would go down

4. Complete healing

5. The shivering Dieter is currently experiencing needs to stop . The hospital staff communicated this is causing his body to use energy that he can not afford to lose

Val asked if he would include in this e-mail how much she appreciates knowing that people are praying for Dieter and further requested prayer for the boys as well. Dieter and Val’s sons are Kyle - 19, Conrad who will turn 18 in 3 weeks, and Christopher who is 15.

Today I am told Val, Dieter’s wife, is having to make some very crucial and difficult medical decisions. So prayers are very much appreciated.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=152

In an earlier post I asked if I could still be allowed in emerging circles even though I’m not voting for Obama (and didn’t) and I use Microsoft Windows. Anyone who has followed this blog for a while can understand why I’m not voting for Obama (can agree on goals while disagreeing with methods). The choice of operating system is a little more rigid. Emerging people use Apple. They have Apple parties, are caught up in Mac momentum, and otherwise live the Apple OS lifestyle.

This raises a curious question. Given the emphasis on poverty and justice issues, as well as a dissatisfaction with so much typical Evangelical Christian Right politicking I get why there’s a trend towards Obama. Even if I disagree on core issues, I look at the foundational traits of the emerging church and can see why the balance of issues might swing someone that way (even as I get very strong admonitions on other issues that say someone should never consider a Democrat at this point in their platform).

I don’t, honestly, understand the Apple enthusiasm. Or change that. I understand the Apple enthusiasm entirely. Only it’s the same kind of enthusiasm that helps me understand why someone would choose a mega-Church. Apple is proprietary, elitist, expensive, judgmental, and almost entirely run by a single man who founded, then saved, the company. Yes, there are less errors, often run faster, have better multimedia support, much better included software, and are more stylish.

How is that reflective of emerging principles in any way, that seem to be so important in other categories of life? Indeed, I might be willing to say that Apple is a betrayal of everything the emerging/missional church stands for and those that use such computers are technological hypocrites.

Now, of course, that would be a fair bit of hyperbole to say that. I don’t really care what computer anyone uses, and probably if part of my work didn’t involve working with education and their funded windows computers, then I might consider a Mac myself. But, I’m not sure that’s because of my principles, or because I’m already feeling a fair bit of an outsider in emerging circles for various reasons and wouldn’t mind at least a little conforming.

But if I was really emerging/missional in a way that influenced all my decisions I’d have to go with Linux. Not least because I could save money, use the same hardware I have, and not pour more money into the technological envy-trap.

I’m curious now. Because, even though I’m being a fair bit silly in my forceful opinions here I’m wondering how owning a Mac computer could be justified using solely emerging/missional principles. I’d love to hear serious or funny responses. Make me think. Make me laugh. Maybe you’ll even make me change my mind.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=153

I was asked if there were any updates about Dieter.

There are.

I forgot to post this when I got it–there’s a website the family set up for regular news: Zander Updates

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=154

I’ve changed the picture at the top of this page. It’s one of my favorite paintings, maybe my favorite. I remember about seven years ago going to the Getty Museum for the first time. By myself if I remember correctly. Just wanted some inspiration. I walked through the rooms and there was this small painting near the corner. It hit me. It reflected something deep within my soul. I stood and stared at it a while, not as much thinking about it as much as feeling its quiet energy.

It spoke to me, more than I knew at the time. And maybe it still does. Like a reminder. A direction. An encouragement.

I don’t really know the words to describe what exactly it was saying. But I thought I’d put it up as a regular reminder. Of course, I did add the title, and the appropriate corvids for the theme.

A Walk at Dusk by Caspar David Friedrich.

Feel free to try some words about it. Let me know how it strikes you.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=155

I saw a link to a discussion on Amazon a couple of weeks ago about the emerging church. Discussions over there are often filled with people talking past each other. But this one was really good. I joined in, and added my thoughts. The discussion slowed a bit, but it has continued. This morning there was a post that, I think, is really hitting on something worth discussing more.

N. Burcham wrote:

My pastor said something a few months ago that really resonated with this same issue that I had been struggling myself: “The church should not be following culture and creating ‘Christian shadows’ of everything the world does; Christians should LEAD the culture and let the secular culture shadow the church.”

I have been pondering what this means for a few months and I have a few thoughts.

At one time the church did LEAD culture, but it wasn’t anything like the church of today. The Catholic church during the middle ages is a perfect example. Music, art, books, etc.–almost everything stemmed from the church’s influence on society. Now, I do not agree with how it was exercised, but as you can see, it is not impossible for the church to lead the culture.

Today’s Christianity seems to mirror, or shadow, the methods of expression of the secular world. Looking at music is a prime example: Coldplay style worship bands are a dime a dozen. Is this wrong? No. Is it optimal? Probably not. Coffee bars in church foyers is another example–not wrong, but just a reflection of where the secular culture has already been.

To me these two examples show a half-hearted effort to “gimmick” people into coming into our churches. Instead of changing what needs to changed, saying what needs to be said, and doing what needs to be done, we are changing what is easiest to change–the exterior. I have been working out for a little over a month and I have fairly drastically changed my exterior–however my interior is still the same. It takes a lot longer than a month to stop being the idiot that I am that always sticks my foot in my mouth. It is the same with our churches: it is easy to change the worship style, put some coffee in the foyer, change the lingo, and change the service time to a more culturally-convenient time (none of these are wrong in and of themselves) than it is to change the way we live our lives as Christians to BE the church instead of just HAVING church.

Expressing our worship to God is always going to be cultural. For example, African evangelical worship is going to look a lot different than evangelicals in Massachusetts–simple facts of localized culture.

Now to my original premise: how can we make our Christianity LEAD the secular culture? Not so simple is it? We must first evaluate where the culture is located at the moment and where God would like to have it.

This goes to issues a lot deeper than worship style. American culture puts self before anything else: byproduct in the church would most noticeably be Prosperity Gospel influenced Theology. Materialistic churches with amazing buildings full of people that do nothing for each other, the poor, their neighbors, or society are another byproduct of selfish American Christianity.

Maybe “Leading” culture starts by leading Biblical lives. Then creative expression of our worship to God ensues. Then creative methods to reach people ensue. Then other creative elements can be discussed.

Join in with the Spirit, and the Spirit opens up new creativity. But we have to let go and first wait and pray and trust that it is the Spirit who is the most wonderful artist and most passionate missionary and most all around creative expression of life.

Read the whole discussion over there. And maybe even join in.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=156

“Not as easy as it used to be.”

There’s a new trailer for the upcoming Indiana Jones movie.

Haven’t been this excited about a movie since The Return of the King.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=157

I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas. I’m very much pressed for money these days and have expenses and opportunities and possibilities that seem to be asking me for more money. Somehow I’ve not yet worked out how to get paid, rather than pay, for doing a lot of work.

Anyhow, those concerns tapped a lot of my materialistic interest. I didn’t really want anything, and couldn’t come up with any ideas. So I got a gift card. For whenever I had an idea.

This past week I guess I got bit by something. And I used my gift card.

I got a webcam (and I’m noticing that it’s gone up in price since I bought it). I don’t know what it is, maybe part of my slow exit from my extended retreat, but I just thought it would be fun to have.

So, now as I wonder what it was specifically that bit me I’m trying to come up with things to do with this webcam. One of the ideas I have was to do some readings. I’m trying to see how it might work as the occasional live cam posted on my website on another page. I had it going a bit yesterday near my bird feeders, and had quite a nice closeup view of the juncos and the chickadees and such.

There was a merlin too out back, the second time she’s been around in as many days, but I don’t think she got close enough to see well.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=158

I’ve realized this for a while, only I’ve not admitted to it publicly. I’m a ministry snob. Not the kind that has the cool clubs and only lets those in with the best smiles and most radical testimony take part. No, another kind.

I’m not a music snob. My music collection is, according to the standards of postmodernity, pretty bad. I don’t keep up on major artists or independent artists, though I have been running across a few I really like. I don’t go to clubs and I can count on my fingers how many live concerts I’ve been to. I don’t mind the fact that I like pop radio stations whenever NPR gets too political. I hear a song and I like it, and I’m perfectly happy if I’m late to the party.

Some folks take pride in their musical tastes, however. They know obscure artists, and often stop listening to artists when they’ve become non-obscure. Sheer popularity is a sign of selling out to labels or Clear Channel. They are music snobs. Always looking for new or hidden or unappreciated. And they revel in the discovery and dislike being part of anything that brings in the kinds of fans who like popularity more than talent.

That’s how I am with ministry I realize. I’ve realized this is almost entirely why I’ve never read a Brian McClaren book. I also realize this is why I don’t go to all the big festivals and the big conventions and gatherings. Unfortunately this trait means that I’ve not networked near like I should, staying most hidden, even online. I don’t really care about all the cool places to gather. I have my spots and forums, but they’re not really tapping into the grand networks of people. I tend to like to be hidden with the hidden people I guess. And I have met some of the most extraordinary folks in such places. They may never get on a stage or write a bestselling book or speak at seminars or be invited to Leadership Development Extravaganza Remix!!

They’re not the kinds of people who are the emphasis of ministry training books. But they’ve lived lives and have wisdom and insight and wonderful, wonderful souls loved by God. They do the work of God in hidden places. Without ministry funding or spotlights. They’re in the trenches.

I like that. I feel comfortable with that. I think maybe I’ve always been a ministry snob, because even in college I knew what was needed to rise in the ranks of the officially approved, but I kept undercutting myself. I dropped out of a major ministry opportunity when I realized my motives were mixed. I quietly fasted, quietly endured major times of wilderness, quietly left the scene. I didn’t play the game.

And when it came time to work in a church I still didn’t play. I said all the right things to all the wrong people. I didn’t give into the usual pattern that it’s the congregation who should be lambasted, not the leadership. I kept raising points to elders and pastors and didn’t buy into the fact the church was sliding because of the then potent charge of consumerism.

Which makes it even more funny that I’m somewhat connected to the emerging church movement, that collection of hipsters who define themselves in many cases with juvenile distinctions, refusing to be what they’re parents were, just because their parents seemed repressive. I spend a lot of my public time defending this movement, for good reasons, even as I harbor a lot of criticisms, some of which leak out on occasion when I feel there are people who get what I’m saying.

I don’t like fitting in, apparently. Maybe this is an expression of a prophet, which was in fact my highest score on a certain leadership survey.

I don’t know what it is, or why I can’t keep my big mouth shut around the very folks who might help me further my own contributions. I know how to brown nose, and can see when it should be done, but there’s that whisper, that push, that prodding which constantly brings out just the thing to keep me from being part of the team.

It would make things a lot easier if I wasn’t a ministry snob. Oh, bother.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=159

In a conversation about Obama on NPR’s Wait, wait.. don’t tell me!

“Every single one, of the millions and millions of people who support him, are becoming more like Tom Cruise everyday. They’re all jumping on couches.”

~host Peter Sagal .

Made me laugh out loud while driving on the 210.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=160

David, the king, was a man with blood on his hands. God himself told him that. And he was. The man was thrown into one war after another. Violence followed him all his life.

Yet he was one of the most honored men in the Bible. Even with all his sins he remains one of the key models of serving God. Because he was obedient. Because he loved God with all his being.

Solomon was a man of peace. God gave him no end of wisdom and no end of material blessings. And Solomon wasn’t near the man of God that David was.

It always seems like God should be pushing us to the place of peace and quiet. Only he doesn’t. The Bible is filled with violence, and attacks, and moments in which the person of God is put into a situation where there doesn’t seem to be a ‘holy’ response. Except that God has placed them there and the holy response is not the theologically ideal one but the one that is following God’s obedience.

We can feel so discouraged when in a place absolutely washed over with darkness. But we, and the Spirit in us, are light. There are places where the church has utterly failed to reach anymore, and the church as it is speaks hardly anything into lives of desperation and loss and frustration and despair. The American church is very good about ministering to the middle class.

But God still works among all people. He calls and he places people to be lights, often because of their own humility, and he uses them. Even if sometimes in the course of being there they might be asked to let go some of the ideal, that’s not separating them from God. Sometimes people choose to go to such places and among such people voluntarily. But the most effective are those who are among. Who have lost, and suffered, and pined, and despaired, and endured frustration and pain. These are the people who know, and from that knowing can speak the words of God to those who desperately need good news.

We can be a light in the midst of the darkness. Like King David. We feel the darkness and see it every day. We sometimes feel in the depth of our being why people don’t minister in the hidden places, why they don’t linger, why they give up, and why they say, “someone else.” We feel the conflict. But that very conflict and darkness is why God does place people, in the circumstances they are in, to be in places like that. It’s not the well that need a doctor, though most of the church are like Beverly Hills plastic surgeons–doing cosmetic work on the already well-blessed. You’re in the darkness, among the sick, besides the lost. It is where we are at, sometimes in the place of our own darkness, where we are being obedient. And that is the trait that brought David so much blessing and so much of a close relationship with God. Joseph was thrown into prison for doing what was right. And while in prison he became a leader. The boy who had so many great dreams was cast into the dungeon. He lost his dreams and then began interpreting the dreams of others as he stayed with God, eventually rising out of prison with God to save Egypt and Israel from famine.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=161

I got into a little conversation over at Shoutlife with a very sharp man named Aaron. I think we’re talking past each other in some cases, but the core issue is the place of the Law in Christianity. He has been very influenced by a Jewish Rabbi, who enlightened him to see the reality of Jewish foundations of Christianity. Yet, I sense he’s pushing too far.

I answered. And it took enough writing time for me to want to post it here as well:

What is the standard? How are we to know the fruit? What is the measurement of the Law? The Mosaic law spelled this out in detail. And gives a very good marker of wrong and right, a very orderly way of determining where we stand. Hence Paul could say, “If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

Yet, he doesn’t stop there. He’s not just suggesting a renewed emphasis on the Law. He goes a step further, which involves him letting go what he once saw as his identity.

“Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

All he had before he considers loss, rubbish even, letting go the identity of righteousness that comes from the law, and instead embracing Christ. How do we know the markers of this embrace? He tells us that it is the same way we know that Abraham was a follower of God. He had faith. He followed God. Same way as Noah. He had faith. He followed God. The fruit is that of the Spirit which is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Paul continues in Galatians 5 “There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”

If we live by the Spirit, the very mark of a true follower of Jesus, then we must be guided by the Spirit. It is the Spirit who is to be our counselor now, our guide, our standard, our marker, our leader, our discernment. And through the Spirit we can know the mind of God.

This is not contra to the Hebrew Scriptures at all. The Spirit shows up all throughout, coming upon men and women, prophets and kings and the occasional artist. I think of Oholiab and Bezalel in Exodus 31. The Law told the specifications of the Tabernacle. These two guys were filled with the Holy Spirit to bring it all together, to know in their very being what was commanded and go beyond it. They, themselves, were the bearers of God’s creative plan, so they taught and they made.

And that is what the Spirit does still. The Spirit comes upon all those who call upon Yeshua. The Spirit opens hearts and minds and souls, filling each man and woman with wondrous gifts to enter into a living relationship with God, a relationship that the Law hints at but doesn’t fully fulfill.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation?but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs?heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Our obligation is to the Spirit. That is the standard.

Now, don’t interpret me like you are probably rightly interpreting many folks who are unfamiliar with the Jewish backgrounds. I think those who know the Law know God in an extraordinary way. The Law speaks of God in an elegant fashion. Inasmuch as the Church pushed out the Jewish understanding of Messiah and God it lost its way, something we see in obvious and hidden ways throughout history, and still in our churches. However, that being said the specific instructions now lie in terms of following the Spirit, which allows for a flexibility and relationship beyond what was possible before. It’s not a matter of parsing the details of what was given to Moses. It’s a matter of living like Abraham in our contexts, or Noah, or Joseph. The New Adam has given us a new relationship with God in freedom.

And the Holy Spirit came upon the early Church, telling Peter, for instance, in a dream to kill and eat for all that God made was clean. To accept Cornelius as a Gentile, for God himself had made him clean not through the law, but by pouring upon him the Holy Spirit.

I know this is an elusive answer. But I guess I see defining a relationship as an elusive reality that is both stricter and more flexible than, say, a master and servant relationship.

So there is a standard. But it’s not codified, as the Spirit is not codified. Certainly there is overlap, and for those who want to have a very established standard there is nothing wrong with following the whole Torah. However, those who fully follow the Spirit can reach beyond that, deeper and farther.

And again, this is not a rejection of the Jewish history or work. By no means! As Paul would say. It is the progression, just as Moses was a progression from the revelation given to Abraham, and the prophets were continuation of the revelation given to Moses. The Temple, the very marker of God’s favor and the central feature of Torah, was allowed to be destroyed, never to be rebuilt. With an incomplete Law we are not left incomplete, but are made complete instead through the Spirit.

The Church has wrongly said it is wrong to follow Torah. The early Judaizers, as Paul called them, were wrong to say all who followed Yeshua had to follow the whole Torah. We are called as we are called, and we worship God as we are called, led by the Spirit whether by the ancient practices handed down or by new forms of creative inspiration that conform to the full work of the Spirit in our contexts so that whether Jew or Greek, male or female, young or old the name of Yeshua is raised above all.

Aaron said, “Lets just start with the 10 Commandments. They are “laws” are they not? Are they still in play?”

This is a great place to start. And I’m going to be elusive again. Yes and no.

Is is still wrong to murder? Yes. But Yeshua added to this saying:

“You shall not murder ‘; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.

So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Don’t murder, yes. But don’t even be angry. In fact make it your priority over everything else to resolve anger and be in good relationship. Don’t attack a person physically or with words. Don’t kill, don’t even denigrate.

That’s the law and more so, going beyond what seems humanly possible. The Spirit pushes us deeper, farther, more holistic, more flexibly, more situationally. We have to always be on our toes. We can never just sit back. We strive more and more and more. The Ten Commandments are the bedrock. But the law of the Spirit compels us to go beyond, to embrace what is right through a new freedom of relationship. Much as a person who lives in a free country is more compliant than a person who lives under a dictatorship. Not only more compliant but more participatory, going above and beyond in the service of freedom. We take the delight that the psalmist expresses in Psalm 119 and push even farther, expresses a delight in relating to the lawgiver and pleasing him because we love him and are being constantly led by the very Spirit of the Living God who knows even more than the Law ever hinted at.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=162

Watch the whole thing.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=163

We’ve had quite a winter here in Lake Arrowhead so far. Just about a storm a week, with a fair amount of snow. I haven’t shoveled this much snow… well, ever. It’s a great workout. And not too bad in 35 degrees as opposed to 0 degrees.

I finally posted a Gallery of selected Winter pictures, mostly from January. Enjoy.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=164

Stuff White People Like. Or “how to fit into the emerging church scene”.

There’s a great website that is dedicated to listing what white people like. Things such as gentrification:

“White people like to live in these neighborhoods because they get credibility and respect from other white people for living in a more “authentic” neighborhood where they are exposed to “true culture” every day.”

Or study abroad:

“If you need to make up your own study abroad experience, they all pretty much work the same way. You arrived in Australia not knowing anybody, you went out to the bar the first night and made a lot of friends, you had a short relationship with someone from a foreign country, you didn’t learn anything, and you acquired a taste for something (local food, beer, fruit). This latter point is important because you will need to be able to tell everyone how it is unavailable in your current country.”

Or knowing what’s best for poor people:

It is a poorly guarded secret that, deep down, white people believe if given money and education that all poor people would be EXACTLY like them. In fact, the only reason that poor people make the choices they do is because they have not been given the means to make the right choices and care about the right things.

Or, maybe, Apple products:

On the surface, you would ask yourself, how is that white people love a multi-billion dollar company with manufacturing plants in China, mass production, and that contributes to global pollution through the manufacture of consumer electronic devices?

Simple answer: Apple products tell the world you are creative and unique. They are an exclusive product line only used by every white college student, designer, writer, English teacher, and hipster on the planet.

I woke up this morning thinking about a writing a post talking about some of my critiques of the emerging/missional church movement. I tend to be a cheerleader of it, and I think this hides some of the reasons I stepped away from it for a number of years, and only found my way back in a roundabout way. But, then I saw this site, and realized it’s getting at a lot of my pet peeves in a funnier way. And, getting at a lot of what I do like. I’m white, I know. I’m fine with the fact.

Well, well worth going through all the posts they have there. Hilarious stuff.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=165

Last month I took a bit of a detour from my normal reading and had a go at The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria (Johns Hopkins Biographies of Disease). Here’s my Amazon Vine review:

Once upon a time there was a mosquito. And this mosquito carried something with her and gave it to everyone she met. Men in peculiar outfits sprayed all over the land, and the mosquito was banished, in that land at least.

This is the story of malaria. The story that I’ve heard.

But the actual story of Malaria is a lot more complex. Who would have, for instance, expected a history on a supposed tropical disease to begin with a study of a city in Northern Russia? The Making of a Tropical Disease does just that.

Honestly, this isn’t always a fun book to read. Some books are very good about inspiration and motivation and glide along in presenting the chosen perspective. This isn’t about inspiration or motivation. It is more ambitious. There are times in which it slows down and gets into details and spends a long time one what might seem a minor point. But, this negative isn’t really a criticism. These seemingly minor points are in fact important, and it is the tendency to gloss over such points that undermine so many attempts to respond.

This certainly is a well written book. Randall Packard is a very good writer, and even with my above comment I must add he does a wonderful job of making personal connection. In his journey through the history of where malaria spread he does not only relate facts and figures. He tells a story, and in telling that story has written a very, very solid history.

But more than a history The Making of a Tropical Disease is also really a book on global policy. Packard does not hide this fact. He is making the point that malaria is not simply a story about random mosquitoes who live in unfortunate places. Rather, malaria is a disease that responds to human interaction, and throughout history there is a direct correlation between policy, politics, land use, economics and the occurrence of malaria. Humans interact with this world, and this interaction is not neutral but rather creates changes. These changes can bring open the door to ill effects.

This is not simply asserted and then policies recommended that fit some pre-conceived political bias. Rather, Packard is very scientific and very good in his history, laying out clearly the practices and results that led to malaria in certain regions. He respects the use of sources and when making a leap in interpretation or dealing with a situation in which clear records might be sketchy he admits this. His interpretation of data, however, seems solid even when he must depend on inference.

Packard is laying an absolutely solid foundation to a holistic policy in regards to malaria, and more than malaria. In a way this is a very post-modern book. The pre-moderns suffered from nature. The moderns sought to conquer nature, overwhelming it. The mass application of DDT resulted. Packard builds a middle ground, arguing that we should neither be victims but nor should we deny our own impact. Instead, by understanding nature, malaria and mosquitoes and land and water and humanity, we can develop intentional policies that that reflect the unintentional answers to past malaria outbreaks.

This really is an extraordinary book. For those who are interested in diseases it makes for an interesting read. For those who are interested in global politics and policies it pushes beyond the usual responses and builds a solid case for real, lasting and healthy actions that can literally save lives and entire regions from decay.

My perspective on malaria was at the same time begun and provoked, leading me to see so much of global realities with a new understanding. Very few books can be considered transformational, but Packard really did transform my thinking.

This should be a required book for anyone involved in global studies.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=166

I don’t just get the chance to review books in Amazon Vine. Occasionally I get another kind of product. A sports snack bar, or deodorant. Sometimes even a more expensive product. Like the Logitech MX Air Rechargeable Cordless Air Mouse. Here’s my Amazon Vine review:

I’ve been using this for a couple of days now and I love it. Part of my responsibilities is designing web and multimedia material for use in a classroom setting. In the last decade the use of multimedia has gone way beyond popping a video into a VCR or using a stack of transparencies. With the tools available there can be an amazing array of interactive material that a teacher or presenter can use to augment their efforts. The best I’ve seen this work is not with each student hunched over their separate computers but with effective use of a projector that allows the teacher to involve the whole class in a multimedia exploration of the topic.

The only problem is that the teacher is tied to their computer. They can step away but always have to keep returning in order to interact with the material.

This mouse solves that problem, letting a teacher or presenter of any kind free to move around, interact with students, completely untethered. With very simple movements of the wrist the cursor moves just as with an earth bound mouse. With essential buttons that control volume, play/pause, scroll up/down, along with the standard mouse buttons this mouse is absolutely perfect for use in a dynamic classroom setting.

I found the mouse is most effective with some distance from the computer. It works fine at the desk, and close up, but there are more difficulties keeping it aligned. Step away from your desk and this mouse is amazing. Very exact in movements. Almost magical in its spatial recognition.

If you work at a desk, this just isn’t worth the money. If your work or play would be enhanced by having freedom to step away from a fixed point you can’t find anything better. It does take a little while to get comfortable with the movements and the buttons. You can’t hold it the same way as a regular mouse and everyone likely has a more steady way of using it. But once I got a feel for it I moved around the web, enjoyed a movie, and practiced a presentation without hardly even thinking about the mouse. It becomes like an extension of the hand.

While it seems to be marketed as more of a remote control for computer media such as music or movies, I see this much more as a tool that could help interactive teaching go to the next level.

I’m going to be highly recommending this mouse to the teachers I know and everyone who uses a computer as a presentation tool.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=167

I’m trying something out. Or practicing at least. I got a new webcam and I thought it would be interesting to do a reading of my book. Here’s the first installment, the beginning of chapter 2.

I know. I need to practice some more.

Let me know what you think. Oh, and the bird sounds are thrown in, no extra charge.

cheers

http://itsadance.net/perichoresis/2008/02/26/a-reading/

I’m trying something out. Or practicing at least. I got a new webcam and I thought it would be interesting to do a reading of my book. Here’s the first installment, the beginning of chapter 2.

I know. I need to practice some more.

Let me know what you think. Oh, and the bird sounds are thrown in, no extra charge.

cheers