our whirlwind oahu tour. Now in kauai.

Yesterday we arrived in Hawaii for a family vacation in Kauai with the in-laws!.... we had about 5 hours to kill during a layover in Oahu and we, Amy and I, the world adventurers that we are, decided to not spend that time sitting in the airport, but instead to rent a car and see as much of Oahu as we could!

'Iolani Palace in Honolulu

Well, a whirlwind tour wasn't exactly our plan to begin with... the plan was to see this, the 'Iolani palace... and we did, as you can see.... from the outside. Closed on Sunday.... along with most of the downtown area of Honolulu. (Should've gone to Wakiki.)

Us world travelers, who travel sans map nor GPS nor compass, had no idea what to do from here... luckily we randomly stumbled upon the Aloha Tower area by the wharf... and enjoyed heat-lamped pizza overlooking the shipyard. Smartly, we picked up a map at this point. Not-so-smartly, we picked up a surfing map.... which tended to leave out minor details, such as street names... and added little things also, such as nonexistent roads.


Hananuma Bay


We decided at this point to throw caution to the wind, and to drive around the entire peninsula to the east of Honolulu .... This was our whirlwind tour of Hanamuna Bay pictured here.... we paid a buck to get into the parking, parked illegally on the side of the lot, ran to as close as we could get to the bay without paying out the eye sockets, and took the above pic.

The plan to drive around the peninsula, however, was soon thwarted, as we discovered that the road that's on the map that loops around and connects back with the interstate, doesn't exist. Yes, I know it looks like a major road on the Google map, but trust us. It's not there. It's all cliffs on one side, ocean on the other. Beautiful, but not about to help us get back to our plane on time, which was taking off in 90 minutes. Yes, and we're on what seems like the other side on Oahu. With no clue where we are and a deceptive map.

We decided to backtrack, and Amy and I pulled together, combining our skills of acute observation, and impulsive improvisation... and found a route back. Somehow, we made it back to the airport with an hour to spare.... and then my lovely wife managed to lose her purse.

Yes, in the haste of not wanting to miss our flight, Amy left her purse somewhere, either in the rental car, or the shuttle, or somewhere. After a series of unsuccessful calls and even with Amy jumping back on the shuttle to go back to the rental car place (all the while the clock is ticking), we were SOL. Thankfully Amy had her passport in her bag, so she still could board. But then Amy, after having gone through security, suddenly conjures up the bright idea to call her Blackberry from her mom's phone. And a nice National car rental man, furiously trying to find Amy in the airport, answered, and sent the purse through security. 40 minutes before the flight, and the Amy-Josh duo, purse and all, were safely on their way to Kauai, along with the rest of the Lunde clan.


The takeaways here?..... 1) ALWAYS have alternate ID available. 2) All roads in Hawaii eventually lead to where you need to go... but 3) Don't trust the surfing maps. And finally, 4) Amy and I took another step in learning how to trust and lean on each other in times of crisis. It's my belief that "mini-crises" like this one, that pale in comparison to the grand scheme of life, are training for the real crises that we will undoubtedly face at some point.

Now in Kauai. Hoping for a more relaxed pace on this island.

herd mentalities.

Article: 300 Reindeer die tragically in Sweden

No, this isn't the beginning of a sick joke. It actually happened. Apparently the reindeer, herded by members of the indigenous Sami people, were making a biannual crossing over a frozen waterway and for some reason, the lead reindeer turned around. It sparked a wave a confusion from the herd. As one official said, "the herd started to run in circles on the ice...Pressure increased so much that the ice broke."

What's more is that despite the near-holy status of reindeer to the Samis, a Norwegian energy company "offered" to use the near 300 reindeer carcasses to produce biofuel... a sensible, environmentally-friendly and responsible solution to the modern mind, but to the Sami mind, it is cold, heartless, and disrespectful.


Not sure why I was fascinated by this article today. Maybe b/c reindeer (the real ones, not the flying ones) seem like pretty amazing creatures. Maybe b/c it highlights the tensions between modern and pre-modern sensibilites, and challenges us to consider what the ethical response is in this situation...


Actually, risking insensitivity to the situation, I think I'm fascinated with herd behavior... and the different ways of looking at the same story....


Some might read this story and think, "Wow! If only the lead reindeer did not get mixed up, then all the others would not have become so confused, and the ice never would have broke." From a simplistic perspective, the lead reindeer is the easy one to blame.

Or, you can perhaps wonder what spooked the lead reindeer in the first place... what was it that made her/him turn around? What fear was provoked? Fear of the unknown? Hearing a family member call for help in the back and trying to respond? Or, maybe the lead reindeer's actions were misinterpreted by the rest of the herd... He just needed to scratch his leg, and everyone else thought he was signaling the end of the world.

Maybe the lead reindeer did get spooked.... then in that case, why didn't the reindeer continue to trust the herders that were leading them? They had led them through treacherous ground safely thus far....

Then, the thought of how quickly a little confusion became utter chaos is also fascinating... how one's actions (or their misinterpretations of them) ripples through the crowd until it becomes a massive wave, uncontrollable and unstoppable... and eventually leads to profound loss.

And of course, then there are the fuel producers...responsible that they "may" be, yet also appear poised to jump in and profit from the tragedy... It's almost as if they were lying in waiting to profit from the herd's self-destruction.


I guess it might be strange to gather all of this from just a simple article about drowning reindeer. Then again, perhaps the behavior of reindeer, and the people around them, aren't just restricted to their little corner of the animal kingdom.

claus or not?

New blog post on Relevant re: Santa

I've had some interesting discussions with my wife lately about the whole Santa Claus thing--- whether or not to tell your children that there is a magical guy that flies around once a year, bouncing from rooftop to rooftop, sneaking into people's houses via chimney and WD-40.

This article is from a Christian perspective; as a Christian I tend towards thinking the whole Santa thing is a bad idea to begin with. I know that makes me a big fat killjoy (it wouldn't be the first time), but the reason has nothing to do with a sense that Santa is not the "reason for the season" or distracts from Jesus....

My main issue is teaching a child that something is real, and then saying it's not. The guy in the article argues that teaching about mystery is good for children--- I agree; it's good for adults too. But when the jig is finally up, and Santa is exposed as a fraud, how then do we treat the mysterious in our world? As a fraud, I would expect! We learn to mistrust the fanciful and wondrous (especially when those in authority purport those ideas) and that keeps us from either accepting the possibility of spirituality at all, or we make religion into doctrines and dogmas, because, well, there's no mystery in that.

Oh yeah, the marketing kills me, too... how we spend 140 billion on Christmas EVERY YEAR, when even just a fraction of that amount could end world hunger/poverty/lack of clean water/lack of education/treatments/etc.etc.etc.....

Santa was supposed to teach us about the spirit of giving, and now he's a marketing tool, invoking nostalgia for more innocent times... such as, back when we believed in Santa...the magical and mysterious...

Maybe we can find a way to teach our children about giving and love in another way during the holiday season, and instead find ways to invoke real mystery and awe in our everyday lives, throughout the year.

okay, totally ripped this off of another blog, but it's worth it.

Kindly stolen from Bryan Allain's Blog

un----real. LMAO.

The (not quite) new Advent Conspiracy Promo.

power of sacred.

Thanks to @theofem for the link.

Um, two more. ... this time re: slavery and fair trade.

1. Article on Cadbury's recent move to increase its fair trade cocoa commitment, now extending into its Australia, Canada, and New Zealand markets.

Get a load of this paragraph:

"Cadbury’s move’s expected to quadruple Ghana’s fair trade cocoa sales. Of course, if you live in the U.S., you may be wondering why Cadbury bars here aren’t going to be getting the fair trade certification mark. The reason: Hersheys. Explains the Labor Rights Forum blog: 'In the US, Hershey owns the license to produce most Cadbury chocolate here and unlike many companies, Hershey has not committed to any certification programs to improve working conditions for cocoa farmers.'"

Read the article in context here.

2. Check out this trailer for a new documentary coming out Sept 15 in NYC... Hopefully it makes it onto the big screen out on the West Coast, too.

two quick articles that I find exciting today.

1. The Gloves Come Off Against Western Theology... Short article quoting a podcast from Eastern Orthodox thinker Clark Carlton, with some food for thought re: how we Westerners think about God.

follows this up with some thoughts; my favorite quote from them follows:

Postmodernism, in its approach to any academic study, including theology, is often lambasted as cutting out the foundation of Truth with a big huge capital T. More accurately, what postmodernism in the West or theology as usual in the East does is infuse humility into spiritual and theological conversations. What modernist theology does in it's insistence that everything can be proven 100% true given enough propositions, logical arguments, and scientific reasoning is to refuse to be humble concerning the nature of humanity and language. For what its worth, there is great irony in the arguments of Piper or Carson who so adamently insist on the depravity of humankind while at the same time putting forth that we can know all things absolutely. Those two ideas cannot exist together.

2. A New Day at Rolling Hills Baptist Church in Fayetteville, GA... This seems really cool!.... a church selling its property in order to become more truly missional.

Where is the fight on chocolate now?--> Target on Nestle's chest.

Here is a list of the recent progress made in the STOPTHETRAFFIK campaign against slave labor currently used in harvesting over 35% of the world's cocoa beans. (Can be found on their website here.)


WHAT WE'VE ACHIEVED SO FAR
Six weeks after launching STOP THE TRAFFIK's March on Mars campaign, Mars made an announcement.

They have promised to make their GLOBAL product range traffik free by 2020, starting with Galaxy bars in the UK and Ireland next year.

Mars are giving us a short term commitment with Galaxy bars while we keep asking for evidence of long term, global change.
STOP THE TRAFFIK chocolate campaign developments:

* July 2008:
Verkade committed to 100% fairtrade cocoa and sugar in their chocolate bars in Netherlands from autumn 2008
* February 2009:
Swiss Noir committed to fairtrade cocoa in their chocolate bars in Netherlands from March 2009
* March 2009:
Cadbury committed to fairtrade Dairy Milk in the UK and Ireland from autumn 2009
* April 2009:
Mars committed to Rainforest Alliance cocoa in Galaxy bars in the UK and Ireland from 2010 and across their whole product range globally by 2020

STOP THE TRAFFIK congratulates Verkade, Swiss Noir, Cadbury and MARS.

By continuing to call upon chocolate manufacturers to only use Fairly Traded cocoa in their products and by only buying Fair Trade chocolate ourselves, we can create a world in which chocolate doesn't leave a bitter after taste.



Great progress has been made!... but the chocolate industries' LONG history of broken promises is well documented...

Read a fact sheet PDF here about this.

Read the "short-and-sweet" version here.



Note that Nestle'... the world's largest food company, one of the major chocolate suppliers.... is not listed as making ANY progress here.

Not surprising, given Nestle's ATROCIOUS human rights record over the years... their negligence in the past and present has led to millions of deaths and human rights violations.

Nestle got in big trouble in the 1970s and 80s for pushing formula in the developing world when they KNEW it was directly causing malnutrition in infants... this website shows that even though Nestle was punished, they have not improved much at all. (scroll half-way down to see a list of their human rights violations.)

Nestle has been the subject of boycott and documentary, and (possibly as a result) they have an extensive section on their website committed to "current issues." (Found here.)

Look for a mention of forced and child labor. Go ahead, look for it.

That's because it's not there.

I even downloaded Nestle's "Around the Globe" PDF, to see if they make any mention of their harvesting practices at all. This was all I could find, on page 40 of the PDF:

We source our agricultural raw materials – principally
milk, coffee, cocoa, cereals, vegetables, fruit, herbs,
sugar and spices – either through trade channels or
directly from farmers.
Although we don’t have control over the farms, we
support sustainability in the supply of agricultural raw
materials and agricultural best practices. To put these
words into action, we have over 800 of our own
agronomists, technical advisers and field technicians.
Their job is to provide technical assistance to more than
400,000 farmers throughout the world to improve their
production quality, as well as their output and efficiency....


It goes on to emphasize how these "specialists" have helped farmers create better yields of coffee and milk, thus, according to them, Nestle is "contribut(ing) to improving their standard of living." (caption on page 40).

What a snow job. Better yield doesn't mean better pay, if you're only paying farmers peanuts in the first place. It just means that you end up with more coffee and milk to sell.

And they don't mention cocoa there.... except in the one highlighted instance.... and is sure to emphasize soon after that "we don't have control over the farms."

Um, sure you do. You buy from them. You can refuse to purchase cocoa harvested by slave labor. Mars, Verkade, and other companies have begun to do this (in part); you can too.

The annoying part to me was, as I read this corporate statement, how much Nestle claims to be a "human" company, how much they claim to care about employees and the people who use their products....

To misquote Shakespeare: Methinks they doth protest too much.




Everyone, click HERE to download a letter provided by STOPTHETRAFFIK to send to Nestle.

To email them, go to this web address (send enough to crash it!):

Their US address is: 800 North Brand Blvd. Glendale, CA91203

Here's a "child-friendly" version.

If you get a response, use THIS template for a second letter.


THEN--- STOP BUYING ALL NESTLE PRODUCTS. That means Nestle, Cherrios, Shredded Wheat, Enviga, Gerber, Nespresso, Nescafe, Nestea, KitKat, Dreyers Ice Cream, Friskies, Purina, Coffemate, LeanCuisine, Stouffers, Carnation, and Alcon.

Holy and Ridiculous.

In the last two years as a new youth pastor, I have developed a saying: "Youth ministry is a mixture of the holy and the ridiculous." If you're a youth or volunteer at New Life, you've heard me say it, undoubtedly.

In that spirit, I offer you today my findings based on a 5 minute perusal of Facebook...

A 'holy' video: a short clip of Empowering Lives: Ilula's Children's Home in west Kenya, where I spent three weeks in the summer of '05 that absolutely changed my life.

A 'ridiculous' video: ummm... well, you'll just have to watch. :)

Video on Ubuntu

the concept of Ubuntu, articulated by a selection of Zulu/South African community members, set to hauntingly beautiful music.

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

TV bites.

My wife and I sat down to watch TV together last night for the first time in months. That's partially due to the fact that we've been insanely busy for the past few months and took a day off yesterday, so we had more time. It's also due to us primarily watching DVDs and online streams of TV shows and movies...

(Together this year we've watched a lot of Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, and M.A.S.H. We stream the Vicar of Dibley off of Netflix, too... btw, BBC power, baby! Love the girl power and the irreverence.)

We used to have shows that we watched together... like Pushing Daisies, for one. While Amy and I have different tastes when it comes to humor (I could watch Monty Python and Family Guy till I laugh myself sick; she considers it drivel...), we agree basically on what makes a TV show/series good:

Strong, nuanced character development.

Snappy, witty writing.

(and, it helps if the show addresses/comments on real-world issues... although it can do so without an overt agenda.)

So back to last night... Thursday night used to be the creme de la creme of TV-watching nights. The pinnacle for which every comedy show reached, especially NBC.

Now? It's Parks and Recreation.

AWFUL... just AWFUL. Sleeping (w/o dreaming) would have been more entertaining. Hee Haw reruns would have been more humorous. Amy Poehler (who I've never found very funny anyway) was particularly drab, in a role that basically did nothing but try to copy the Office, and it did so badly.

It wasn't just NBC. In our disgust we flipped around to other channels, trying to find something of worth... and found a drama with inane dialogue and with only sexual content driving the plot, a reality show with NO content, and another bad comedy. Thursday night, and NOTHING to watch.

Meanwhile, networks cancel shows like Pushing Daisies, and Arrested Development.

I know that ratings and advertisers control the airwaves, but the networks should have some power, too, and networks should know that earning viewers is like starting a movement, and movements take time to build momentum. M.A.S.H. ran for 11 seasons and is considered one of the most successful sitcoms in history, yet was a ratings dud its first year. Seinfeld struggled in the early years. In fact, VERY few shows, drama or comedy, that ended up successful, started immediately that way. I don't think the Office did either!... but the Office was innovative to the American market; nothing like it had ever been done before (and become popular)... that was part of its appeal (the mock-interview format, Steve Carrell's character that drove the show's humor, etc.)

But instead of having the same "let's try something new" attitude, the approach is always "let's imitate what works," or "let's interject as much superfluous drama / shock-value into the show as possible to gain viewers." Hence Parks and Rec's bad attempt to copy the Office. As long as the goal is for shows to "become successful NOW," this will stay the same... but in the meantime, the shows with actual CONTENT get flushed.

(Meanwhile, NBC, you're in last place in ratings. Maybe there's a connection?)



Reality TV has increased the problem-- for most of them, ALL of the allure for these shows(e.g. Big Brother, the Bachelor, etc.) is in the clashing of borderline personalities and in the overt sexual content. NO need for writing; just get people to fight and shack up as much as possible.

There are exceptions (30 Rock in my opinion is still going strong; J.J. Abrams and Aaron Sorkin's shows are good typically).... but the trend is definitely downward in quality, and has been so for years. Now it's up to Youtube to be our primary entertainment.

We need a cultural Renaissance; a resurrection of the television medium. We need writers to step up to the plate and deliver original material, and for networks to stop playing Russian roulette with their new shows, to show some foresight and ability to judge what is the "real deal" from the putrescence. (E.g., Pushing Daisies? Good! Parks and Rec, BOO!!)

For now Amy and I will remain content with the purchasing/Netflixing of DVDs, of old shows, the few good shows out now, the BBC, and the internet.

Finding the right Seminary, according to Mouw (not to b confused w Mao)

"The Chairman," as I like to call him, has written a helpful guide for anyone looking for the right seminary fit.

love your enemies.

Love Your Enemies from Kristen Miller on Vimeo.

found it on soul pancake

Todd and Norah's voices are getting heard.

Thanks to everyone who's sent letters; they've been making a huge difference. I hear from Amy that Todd and Norah's quest to bring back their adopted child from Guatemala is catching the ear of various House representatives and they're asking us to stop sending letters. I also hear that some news sources might be reporting on the story soon in Texas, but we'll have to wait and see on that one.

At any rate, keep sending letters!

Click here to get the story of what's going on, from my wife's blog.

Click here to read from Todd and Norah's blog.

Both above sites have copies of the letter to send to your representative, that you can copy and paste into an email box, accessible HERE. All you have to do is find your rep by typing in your zip code, and there will be a link to send them an online note.

It's making a difference, so keep it coming! (And it takes 1 minute, literally. )

developing a rhythm of life.

I've been on a journey of developing a so-called "rhythm of life" for a while, now... some of you close to me, and those who read my blog "back in the day" might recall that I've struggled with prayer and piety over the years.

Mainly because my prayer life, from a young age, revolved around my guilt. Basically, before I could get to the point where I could come before God, I had to do my own version of spiritual and mental self-flagellation; I had to feel worthless before I could accept God's grace. In the meantime, I would either ignore God or come to him on my own terms.


There's a very thin thread of truth in that kind of spirituality (which I am certain I am not the only one to have learned this kind)... God is indeed much bigger and greater than we are, and does forgive us. But I was so dependent on that feeling of worthlessness, that I really DIDN'T understand God's grace very well... I didn't understand the "light yoke" of being a Christ-follower, the daily rhythm of trying to follow Him through the ups and downs of life, and so I lived enslaved to my own desires when I wasn't really all that worthless, and enslaved to guilt when I did. And that's not grace at all. Grace is about freedom.


Many of you know that I actually gave up personal prayer for nearly a year while I was in seminary, as I tried to "relearn" how to pray and come before God (it's one thing to understand things cognitively, and an entirely other thing to have it seep into your being...). The result of that journey was a trip to Italy and a discovery of Tony Jones' the Sacred Way, and a sermon at Warehouse by the same title, revealing my journey towards what prayer fundamentally WAS, and what it was about (namely, "tuning" into the Spirit of God that is constantly at work in us, and in the world--- in other words, it's about listening.) Spiritual Disciplines at that point became the new focus, and I gladly embraced many of them, and brought them into the corporate setting. I began moving towards a more contemplative approach to ministry in general, and that has become reflected in the youth ministry I do now.... also thanks to Mark Yaconelli and his book.

I have incorporated contemplative elements into virtually every phase of my corporate worship of which I have control: our youth do lectio divina, meditations, stations of the cross, etc; I made some of them prayer ropes when they became church members; I've led Taize worship at our church during the Lenten season. And I would do many of these things on my own as well.

But I still couldn't get consistent with my own personal devotions, again.

Now I think this development is right; we learn to pray and worship in the context of a community FIRST, and then begin to take those communal practices into the "dark closet" and practice them on our own. But as a church leader, and as someone who has promoted and taught spiritual discipline; I have felt quite hypocritical at best, for not being more personally disciplined.... and in danger of abusing my calling as a pastor and church leader at worst... for while God does work in spite of me, over the long haul I cannot remain humble, loving, connected, present, or faithful... without first and foremost orienting myself to the spirit of God CONSTANTLY... I am convinced that there is a plethora of power-hungry, abusive, short-sighted and burnt-out pastors in our world precisely because of this. (this can never be separated from communal spirituality, either....)


What if instead our lives are structured around prayer? This is what the Daily Office of monastics is all about; Phyllis Tickle and others have promoted making this the goal of "common spirituality" as well... When I first began looking at Daily Office materials (mainly using the Book of Common Prayer and an Orthodox prayer book), I still could not get past the idea, or rather the sense, that I was fitting prayer INTO my schedule.... but really, having a "rhythm of life" is all about fitting LIFE into your prayer!!!!..... and that is a HUGE shift of priorities, one that does not make sense to the laborer, to the do-it-yourself, can-do, individualistic achievement-oriented culture in which we live and in which we try to be "spiritual." Neither does it make sense to pastors, parachurch workers, missionaries (in the traditional sense---I believe we're all missionaries), scholars, and other Christians in vocational ministry of some kind, who place their value, "worthiness," aims, sense of connectedness and/or "spiritual feeling," in their work..... for us, the lines are too easily blurred between what God is doing, and what we're doing. Squeezing God into our schedules, just isn't going to cut it.

If the Kingdom of God on earth is the crux of the Gospel, we cannot forget that it is precisely GOD's KINGDOM, and NOT OURS.


All of this to say, I have begun to make "the shift." Finally. Not perfectly, and not to toot my own horn, but I am sharing this because it's making a big difference for me. In another entry, I'm gonna share the specifics of what has "worked," and why. (At least so far.) Maybe you'll find these things/thoughts helpful as well.....

Rgh.

Can I just say that it kills me that I can't go to this????


I've used up my travel quota for the year already, having spent a month in Michigan, and headed to Hawaii again in December with family. (DEFINITELY not complaining about that!)

But if you randomly stumble upon this posting, and you're looking for discussion about the Christian faith that is raw, rigorous, head-spinning, and fully comfortable tackling the most loaded questions you can conjure up, then the Theological Conversations are as good as it gets.

Add to the fact that perhaps the most prolific theologian ALIVE is at the helm this year (Jurgen Moltmann), and you can add "inspiring," "Spirit-enlivening," "jaw-dropping" and a whole host of other bad adjectives and cliches... all to express just how amazing this thing's gonna be.

So go so I can live vicariously through you. Take lots of notes and vids and pics.

(Talking to you, Sam.)

getting in the christmas spirit early.

Saw this the first time while in MI... thought u might enjoy a midday-Friday break.

this brought a smile to my face today.

Thanks Rainn Wilson.

Belhar adopted.

Still needs to be accepted by 2/3 of the classes (regions in the RCA).

Click here for the RCA General Synod blog on the adoption.

Why You Should Vote Yes on the Belhar

As a part of the Seminarian Seminar, while I have the privilege to watch the proceedings of the General Synod, I do not have the power to vote (some of us have the power to speak, but that doesn’t include me). So, I am submitting here a few reasons why I think YOU (that is, any of you delegates who are checking this blog) should vote for the acceptance of the Belhar Confession today.





1- It says something crucial about God and His identity that is not explicit in the other confessions.



God is a reconciling God, who reconciles the whole world to Himself through his Son (2 Cor 5), who has conquered sin and death by his resurrection. Therefore as the body of Christ, we must be a reconciling people (Eph 2:11ff). In this we must be fundamentally concerned with our unity as a body (1 Cor 12), and with matters of justice for the poor and oppressed (Amos 5): these things are what make us distinctive, and our voice distinctive, as a witness to the world. This is the heart of the Belhar, and understanding this is critical to understanding the Gospel, and well as God Himself. Yet, as revered as the other three standards are, they do not make this critical piece of the Gospel explicit in the same way that Belhar does.



We need the Belhar for the sake of being a more thorough witness to who God is, and consequently who WE are, as well as what is God’s hope for the world. Justice and reconciliation are INSEPARABLE from the Gospel.







2- Its use in worship and study will help us become a more confessional church again.



I have heard a few times now that the issue of the Belhar is relatively insignificant, because today, primarily, the RCA is no longer a confessional church. However, since I’ve been here, I’ve heard (from pastors and students) of the Belhar being used in churches around the country, in a variety of ways, both in liturgy/worship and in study. Is it possible that the Belhar’s passage might actually lead to a revival of the usage of confessions in our churches? Is it possible, also, that the use of the Belhar will also lead us to rediscover our other confessions?



We need the Belhar because confessions need to be revived as a part of our worship, and the Belhar contains the necessary immediate relevance that make it viable to do so.





3- It will also help us become more ecumenical.



The other American denominations are watching us this week. The rest of the world is watching us, the RCA, this week.



We need to fully embrace the Belhar so that the rest of the world can see this as our commitment to both internal unity (within the RCA), and external unity (through ecumenical dialogue). In doing so, and being the first U.S. denomination to fully accept it as a confesion, I believe other denominations will quickly follow suit (and give us another point of connection with other Christian bodies)….but someone must take the first step!



4- The arguments against the Belhar are based on a faulty understanding of what confessions are.


I have read and heard virtually every argument against the Belhar at this point… they usually come down to a concern regarding how certain phrases in it might be used to support a position that she or he may not hold (e.g., support of homosexuality)… as if accepting the Belhar will tie their hands and keep them from being able to speak from their viewpoint. Yet, NO confession is meant to function as a pillar, an unmovable, static repository of propositional truths (or, as a useless mausoleum of once important issues that are now irrelevant). No, confessions are a RIVER in which we swim… a stream that originates in a particular moment in time, yet flows into a context much larger than its own and still finds applicability, because something about it touches the very heart of God.



We need the Belhar because it is a uniquely rich river in which we can swim (that is, work, worship, and use to interpret scripture)… one that, while the other confessions were written to help us understand and be assured in who we ARE before God, the Belhar offers to help us understand who we should desire TO BECOME… it confronts us, rather than assures us. This makes it more threatening, but it is no less God’s will upon us… it is a prophetic text.





5- We are in a moment of crisis.



Forged in the fires of apartheid, which was certainly a “crisis” moment (as all creeds/confessions are written in such times), we stand today as the American church at a crisis moment of our own: an increasingly diverse and fragmented, individualistic world, that instills deep bitterness if not hatred for others, tribalism, and profound injustice (the divide between rich and poor being wider than ever). The church, rather than confront these things as contrary to the Gospel, ends up looking a lot like the culture instead, and the question becomes: does the church offer the world anything different than what the world offers?



We need the Belhar because with it we make a stand to the world to say what we believe God to call us to be… and as we live in it, we as the church will once again grow into a more viable witness to the world.



Regarding the two main contentions (as far as I can tell):



The “special way” clause (i.e., God is with the poor and broken “in a special way.”)— I would ask someone who contends with this phrase, first of all, to examine your own reaction when you encounter someone who has dealt with particular hardship. Do you treat them the same, as if nothing tragic has occurred? Doing so would be quite cruel in most cases. Does not God’s heart, therefore, ache abundantly MORE than ours, when he sees his people suffer? Would that be unfair to those who are not suffering?



Is not the primary defining characteristic of our God, according to John, LOVE?



Biblical themes also support God’s concern for the poor: God’s deliverance of slaves because he had “heard their cries,” the numerous provisions made for the poor in the Law, God’s condemnation of Israel when they refused to care for the poor, and of course, Jesus, who at the “inauguration point” of his ministry (Luke 4) read from Isaiah that the word of the Lord was upon (him), to preach good news to the poor….set the captives free, break the yoke of the oppressed, give sight to the blind, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Jesus later said that it is MORE difficult for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God (Matthew 19, I think…?) And if that wasn’t enough, he later blatantly identifies himself with the poor in Matthew 25: “Whatever you did for the least of these (hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless)…. You did for me.”



The concept of God being with the poor in a “special way” is biblical. We need to be reminded of it and to confess it, for as Matthew 25 implies, our own souls depends on it.



The “natural diversity” clause-- It appears to me that some people read this particular phrase and immediately read “homosexuality” into it… and at that point, stop reading and assume that the Belhar allows some kind of radical liberal agenda. They must not be reading the rest, for as the rest of the paragraph states, the rejection is of any doctrine where absolutizing this diversity leads to “hinder(ing) or break(ing) the visible and active unity of the church, or even leads to…separate church formation.”



So, to violate Belhar, there must be a doctrine, which absolutizes categories of people, and leads to a breaking of church unity. Those three things must all be present, if you are reading the Belhar literally.



Basically, regarding homosexuality, to vote against Belhar means that you wish the church to reserve the right to a) form doctrines that permanently separate gays and lesbians from straight people and b) to kick them out of your churches. Is not wanting to give up these “rights” what the fear is really all about?



Actually, this section threatens gays and lesbians as much as those who are straight. It implies that to separate because of difference is wrong… the Belhar compels those who wish to split from a “hate the sin, love the sinner” kind of church…. to stay and work through their differences, as much as those who want to split from an “open and affirming” kind of church…. are compelled to do everything possible to stay unified.



The Belhar threatens all of us, because our natural, sinful tendency is to divide and categorize each other, and to either fight or flee when the going gets tough. To stay unified in the midst of diversity is what makes the church unique, and it is only possible because of Jesus Christ.





Okay, I have said my piece… now you vote based on your own conscience.



(Remember, as a delegate you are responsible to voting your conscience, not obligated to represent the people in your church/classis.)



In whatever happens today, Solo Deo Gloria.

the view outside my office.

Only in Southern California. The heavy rains all day have given way to sunshine once again, and the resulting mountain vista is spectacular. These pics don't do it justice.

i'm feeling blogorific.

(which means, "I feel like puke and I'm taking a moment away from the mounds of work I have to do while I feel like puke to spice up my long-neglected blog.")

You'll notice the Taize banner on the left. Click on it and it'll take you to a list of Taize podcasts and give you the option to subscribe to it. (You can also do this via ITunes, as I have done.)

Use it for a little centering time during your week.

since my return...

I discovered two sites that consistently make me laugh.

1. Stuff Christians Like. Hey, anytime you poke fun at the Christian subculture, you got me... Course, I spend much of the time when reading the posts saying "Oh, I do that..." or, "Oooh, I used to do that..."


2. Uncyclopedia. A little (read: a lot) edgier than the first one, and it may not be appropriate for all ages, but, I couldn't stop laughing when I read just a few of these pages. Requires at least a general knowledge of how Wikipedia works in order to fully enjoy... which I assume by now is just about everyone who might read this.


There's my act of service for the day.

at the center.

A principle being applied to business that should be applied to the church... connection with real beliefs and values. A fascinating read to the business-mind and the spiritual mind: gapingvoid.com

I find it a little disturbing.