My Family
God-Spotters
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Born Again
One of the constants in the Christian faith is dealing with words and phrases that are loaded with meaning and feeling for people. Part of engaging faith in the way of Christ for our time is redeeming the language of our faith. In More Ready than you Realize by Brian McClaren he quotes a guy named Dan who says, "I hope I never become born again.... A friend of ours at school became born again. She used to be a nice person, but now she's always judging everybody, and she pushes all her friends away."
Being born anew is not about separation from life and world, but full engagement in the lives of people in the world. To be "born again" in Biblical terminology is to be "born of the Spirit"--to get a new start. God calls us to be stripped of our prejudices and misconception and begin a new life in the way of Christ--peaceful, humble, loving, understanding, gracious, merciful.
In the words of scripture, "Behold, I am making all things new." That means even me and you! When Jesus invites us to lay down our burdens, maybe one of those burdens is our constant need to make judgements about others and to have all the answers.
Being born anew is not about separation from life and world, but full engagement in the lives of people in the world. To be "born again" in Biblical terminology is to be "born of the Spirit"--to get a new start. God calls us to be stripped of our prejudices and misconception and begin a new life in the way of Christ--peaceful, humble, loving, understanding, gracious, merciful.
In the words of scripture, "Behold, I am making all things new." That means even me and you! When Jesus invites us to lay down our burdens, maybe one of those burdens is our constant need to make judgements about others and to have all the answers.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Changes to my blogging
Our God-spotter experiment is on a vacation.
So, I want to begin to use this site to write my thoughts about faith, life and their interaction. I am the pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Traverse City, Michigan. I have a wonderful wife and 10 children, 7 of whom are adopted from all over the world.
I will use this site to refine my thinking, to challenge your thinking, and dream about a different kind of world, or maybe I should say, a different world of kind--diverse, peaceful, life-giving. I hope this site will unveil something of the kind of church I serve and the kind of vision I have for the church of Jesus Christ.
My pen name is plou, which is short for Pastor Lou.
Check in often and post your response. I look forward to your engagement.
plou
So, I want to begin to use this site to write my thoughts about faith, life and their interaction. I am the pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Traverse City, Michigan. I have a wonderful wife and 10 children, 7 of whom are adopted from all over the world.
I will use this site to refine my thinking, to challenge your thinking, and dream about a different kind of world, or maybe I should say, a different world of kind--diverse, peaceful, life-giving. I hope this site will unveil something of the kind of church I serve and the kind of vision I have for the church of Jesus Christ.
My pen name is plou, which is short for Pastor Lou.
Check in often and post your response. I look forward to your engagement.
plou
Coffee Meditation
I awoke to look at a coffee pot with the technological capability of providing me with coffee brewed and ready when the alarm clock goes off. But of course, as usual, it was not brewed and ready. The owner (me) had not prepared the pot the night before for the inevitable dawn withdrawal I was now experiencing.
I looked at the empty pot with remorseful eyes, wishing I had properly gotten ready for what I was now experiencing—a need for a life-giving fix to jumpstart my day. But there would be no cheap, fast cure this morning. I lugged the coffee out of the bottom shelf of the freezer, cleaned out the old grounds from the previous morning, dumped the previous days left-over, and began the several minute (seems like hours) ritual of grinding, filling and waiting that would eventually issue me clarity of thought and a kinder conclusion to a rough-started morning.
When just enough coffee was brewed to eek out a cup, I grasped the pot that would soon provide my morning salvation, and I began to pour--realizing that despite my desire to get it fast and easy, the equilibrium of my pot required that I pour slow enough that the pot didn’t back-dribble and pour its fresh contents on the counter instead of the cup.
For peace, meaning, hope I yearn. For the most part, things spiritual, life-giving, essential come only with preparation, silent waiting, and balance. Maybe tonight will be different.
--p lou
I looked at the empty pot with remorseful eyes, wishing I had properly gotten ready for what I was now experiencing—a need for a life-giving fix to jumpstart my day. But there would be no cheap, fast cure this morning. I lugged the coffee out of the bottom shelf of the freezer, cleaned out the old grounds from the previous morning, dumped the previous days left-over, and began the several minute (seems like hours) ritual of grinding, filling and waiting that would eventually issue me clarity of thought and a kinder conclusion to a rough-started morning.
When just enough coffee was brewed to eek out a cup, I grasped the pot that would soon provide my morning salvation, and I began to pour--realizing that despite my desire to get it fast and easy, the equilibrium of my pot required that I pour slow enough that the pot didn’t back-dribble and pour its fresh contents on the counter instead of the cup.
For peace, meaning, hope I yearn. For the most part, things spiritual, life-giving, essential come only with preparation, silent waiting, and balance. Maybe tonight will be different.
--p lou
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