Little Superstar

Seriously, is there nothing sacred anymore? Now even little mexican people can be the star of the internet. The things we exploit...

Whaddayathink?

I just read this quote by a guy named Douglas John Hall:

"If we once have the courage to give up our defense of the old facades which have nothing or very little behind them; if we cease to maintain, in public, the pretense of a universal Christendom; if we stop straining every nerve to get everybody baptized, to get everybody married in church and onto our registers (even when success means only, at bottom, a victory for tradition, custom and ancestry, not for true faith and interior conviction); if, by letting go, we visibly relieve Christianity of the burdensome impression that it accepts responsibility for everything that goes on under this Christian topdressing, the impression that Christianity is sort of Everyman's Religious Varnish, a folk-religion (at the same level as that of folk-costumes)-then we can be free for real missionary adventure and apostolic self confidence..."

There are parts of this I agree with and parts I disagree with. But I know what I think. What do you think?

Which one is the Jackass?

I went with some friends to see Jackass 2 last night. I know, I know, that probably appalls some of you...and I have to admit that I found myself quite uncomfortable with some of the stunts performed in the movie. But, as the Bible says, "all things are yours," so I figure there must be some redeeming qualities about the movie that I can share with you.

....

Nope, it was pretty much useless the entire way through. If you are in the mood to catch yourself vomiting in your mouth a couple of times, then I would suggest the film. If you enjoy male nudity, then check it out. If you are looking for ways to torture captives at Guantanamo Bay, you could probably get some suggestions from this movie. Otherwise, you'll probably be sad you wasted $9.75 on this.

But I loved it.

On Second Thought...

My previous post on the Church has garnered quite a response from my faithful readers (okay, mom and my brother had a lot to say). I guess I just want to reiterate that I love the church. My comments weren't said to bring her down but to raise her up to a higher standard. I feel like Jesus' life was so important, so controversial, so miraculous that if His followers truly believed His gospel message, we would change the world.

Several commentators have asked me what I am doing if I believe this. The first answer is not enough, but more specifically, I've started a church. This was born out of a desire to do church different. I know you hear that from everyone who starts a church and I'm probably as full of hot air as the rest of them, but it non the less is my desire. How am I doing that? Probably not as good as I should.

We have a tiny fellowship. It exists of two couples, two singles, and a married woman who comes sometimes. It's not small purposefully, it just is. We don't have a real formal meeting time. Mostly we meet on Thursdays, but it isn't resigned to only Thursdays (or for that matter, every Thursday). We serve at the homeless shelter a couple of times a month. We have no paid ministers. We are studying the life of Jesus right now, which is a discussion mostly led by me. We do not take the Lord's supper in a traditional sense as of yet, but every month we eat a meal together and thank Jesus for all he has done for us. Someday, I hope this looks different, and I think we'll get there soon. We give our tithes mostly to a shelter for battered women, which is ran by our local rescue mission, but sometimes we also tithe to other churches. We don't have a worship leader, so we go to a local church on Sundays to worship our Father.

I feel like our church is more of a state of being than of belonging or doing. We aren't perfect. And we are different. And I believe what we are doing is different. We aren't there yet. But it's nice to just be a group of people who love Jesus and are living like it.

Dum Dum Dum Dum De Dum, Dum De Dum...

Darth Vader's lesser known, less charismatic, younger brother. Enjoy.

Doing Church...

So I've had this thought swirling around in my head lately. Well, not so much lately as the last three years. I'm not sure I'll be able to articulate it the way I think it in my head, and worse, once I put it out there I'm a bit afraid of the reaction I will recieve. First of all, let me start out by saying I love Jesus very much. I've learned in the past three years to love his church with all my heart. And it's because I love her that I find myself in this place. I know I'm no church expert, but being that I was in one every sunday the first 25 years of my life, I do feel like I have some ground to stand on.

I'm not happy with what I see going on. We've turned the Church into something we do on Sunday. I know this is something the "Blue Like Jazz" generation has been saying for some time now, but what are we doing about it? I hear of new church plants and they all say the same thing. We are finding a new way of doing church. I'm not even sure that's what our world needs.
What if the way we do church is fine. What if some people will get it (there are a large number of growing churches out there, and I would venture to say every major city probably has at least one growing church in it) and some people don't? Not everyone is going to be a Christian right? So maybe we aren't so screwed up...maybe.

But I don't think that's true. I think we are screwed up, but I also think it's because we are asking the wrong questions. I think we are so pre-occupied with a new way of doing church and leave our faith by the wayside. The early church did church in the way they did out of a survival instict. They met daily because they had to encourage one another on a daily basis or deep depression might sink in. Some were being persecuted in a very painful way, so they had to develop these communities of faith for support.

But above all, they were people of faith.

Maybe instead of finding a new way to do church (as if there is this secret formula which will win the masses) what if we need a new way to live our faith? What if we are missing a connection among all christians. That's how the ixthus came to be. Christians would use this as a secret marker identifying the local church. It was a new way to live out their faith in a world hostile to them. Does this world really need a new church meeting in any available school closest to them? Maybe. But what I think this world really needs is the church living out their faith in a new and fresh way. When we figure that out, I think the "doing church" part will take care of itself.

Boom Goes the Dynamite...

Sometimes I spend my day thinking of what I want to blog about later. I'll twirl it around in my noggin, thinking of a creative way to structure my stories. I think about what might be interesting to read or what just might be a word from above for the masses.

This is not that day.

So, in cases like this, I simply turn to my faithful youtube to provide you with some mindless entertainment. Enjoy.

Long Time Gone...

Obviously I've been busy.

August is the third quarter end of my company's fiscal year. What this means in plain english is that August = Hell. But, the good news is no matter how hard my company tries, the sun still comes up and the sun still goes down and eventually August is over. Now that it's month number nine I should be a bit more regular with the blogs. Till then, enjoy this bit of awesomeness...