I am very used to writing; it’s a discipline I have developed over the years. Most of my works have been for myself, and now I find it a challenge transitioning to writing for others to read. Sometimes I forget that no one else can hear the dialogue and thoughts I have had in my head, and sometimes I assume that my flow of logic makes sense to every one. As a result, I tend to ramble on about things that peopleoutside of my head cannot follow well.

I do intend my writing to be good art, and so I must make the effort to write so others may read and interact with my thoughts, as opposed to just getting out the jumble of thoughts in my skull that usually resembles verbal throw-up all over the page. If any of my previous posts have made no sense, or have had typos in them, or any other number of things to make me feel sheepish and inarticulate, please pretend as if you never saw them. I have found someone who is willing to be my “editor”, and she is a hottie. So, from now on any mistakes you can blame on her… except mistakes in thinking, blame those on society, TV, bad food, or any number of other things which transfer the blame off of me and allow me to play the victim.

I have been obsessed over Gospel for about a month now. I’m sure friends are sick of hearing me talk about it, and yet I continue, due to this driving need in my heart to understand our assurance of the Hope of salvation.There has been a huge misnomer that has led to some bad theology, some confusion, and a general state of complacency in the Christian sub-culture. Somewhere along the line we started believing that we are already saved, that we already have the full scope of redemption. I challenge that, and all the bad theology, the complacency, and the general state of confusion that ensues. The war over man’s free will and God’s divine election, the hype surrounding the word of faith and health and wealth, Christians living carnally: in my opinion all these things are good examples of bad thinking about our Salvation.

I want to steer people away from expecting to see the fullness of redemption here and now and remind people that we have the assurance of the hope of salvation. Read the rest of this entry

I pray
this day
be filled with visions of You.

May my might
last deep into the night
as I try
to ever remain close to You.

I hope
for the full scope
of saving grace;
to walk in the gift You give.

I ask now
that somehow
this ordinary day
would be lived with You.

Update July 14, 05: I have added a few links… and must furiously tip my hat to the Boars Head Tavernfolk for most of them.

So what the heck is the Emergent Church (EC)? Is it churches trying to reach the “next generation”, much like money grubbers do in marketing campaigns? Is it the just another Church of the now (see last paragraph from good ol’ Phil Johnson … and berttd’s response), trying to make a name for its self by doling out regulated doses of the hype? Do I even know what I’m talking about here?

At least I can answer that last question: no. Read the rest of this entry

So this bomb goes off in London, and I don’t know how to feel. I have no “ties” with England at all save some family coffee mug that my cousin “the actress” brought back from London when I was 7ish. I hear that it was al-Qaida related, and instantly images of two smoking towers filled with dead engulf my mind… with a “weapons of mass destruction” chaser… Read the rest of this entry

Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking about Gospel… what it is, what it means to us, how it is hope… My brain is still trying to formulate all of these images and impressions about Jesus into coherent words. A somewhat-very much-kind of daunting task to say the least.

The other day I decided to brush up on what the Bible clam’s as Gospel (now there’s a novel idea), so I decided to start in a very familiar place: Ephesians 2:8-9 “Grace through faith…” This has been spoken about a ton in the area I live, mainly due to the culture and dominate religion holding to a works based salvation. But More than preconceived notions, I want to understand what this means. So I tried to think of something profound, some way that this verse encapsulates the good news of Jesus… but all the teaching and ideas and sermons surrounding this verse in my head made such a din that I got lost.

So I picked up some light reading, “Theology for the Community of God”- Grenz. It is a text from my brief tenure at seminary… I get about 9 pages into the introduction (speaking about what theology is, what its purpose is, and how it relates to other concepts and discipline… basically good ol’ Stan G. is validating the writing of this 700 page monstrosity). So my head is all sorts of spinning, but then something slaps me back into focus: Theology is vital only insofar as it can deal with faith. Read the rest of this entry

When I grow up, I want to be like this guy … but with more hair, and smoking my pipe.