God is Pounding on my Pride
The past couple weeks, God has really been showing me how privileged I am and how much of it has so little to do with my performance and so much to do with his immeasurable grace. It has led me to confession and even a bit of weeping. Here are the points that hit home - The movie Precious – Wow I only made it through about 20 minutes of this movie. The movie gives a view into the life of a young, overweight African American teenage girl that is truly horrific. To describe the depth of despair, her mother let her father rape her so that the teenager could keep giving birth to children so that the mother can get more welfare money. The fact that I was born to 2 white middle class parents who loved me thoroughly has way more to do with my current...
Cheap Grace
I love being cheap. I love it when people give me gift cards for Christmas. I love finding coupons for either Ruby Tuesday or Olive Garden in the Sunday papers. And I love shopping at Goodwill, and browsing through the local library’s used book section. It’s amazing what kind of stuff you can find for only five bucks! I do, however, make an exception on some things. For example, when I buy coffee grounds I get the fair trade stuff, even though it costs more than the regular coffee. People often say to me, “You’re paying way too much! You need to get the cheaper stuff.” That’s usually when I get on my spiel about how major corporations exploit humble farmers, and how the middle man takes all the money. I figure if my money is going to help...
Making War
John Piper – Make War When I first came across this video, I was a little uneasy. Being Mr. Nonviolence, I was like, “Say what now?” But when I pushed play, I learned that John Piper here is NOT talking about declaring war on others, but on ourselves. Our addictions. Our hatred toward others. Our apathy towards injustice. Our sinful nature. “My greatest enemy is not Satan,” Piper says. “My greatest enemy is John Piper.” Lately I’ve been thinking about this video and what it means. There’s definitely an battle within me, but mostly I don’t fight back. I just surrender and let the darkness take over. Then the darkness tortures me with guilt and shame. I like to think of myself as a lover, not a...
On Fundamentalism and Reconciliation
I originally posted this on my own blog a few weeks ago. As you know, I am not a big fan of fundamentalism. To me, it’s theological school yard bullying. However, sometimes my hatred of fundamentalism makes me do stupid things, like hurt people. First, let me start with my definition of fundamentalism. To me, a fundamentalist is some one who thinks that their interpretation of the Bible is the infallible word of God. Folks who believe that they’re always right and if you don’t fit into their cookie-cutter image then you’re a bad person. Those judgmental, holier-than-thou, authoritative, pious, “I’m right, you’re wrong, get used to it” folks. In the words of Barney Frank, trying to have a conversation with them...
So This is the New Year, and I Have No Resolutions
Before I begin, from now on I’ll be contributing to Fractured Saints every other week, instead of every week like I have been. So I won’t update next week, but I will the week after that. I don’t really believe in “New Year’s resolutions.” It’s always some lofty goal that we never meet. For example, a few years ago when I woke up and suddenly realized I was fat, I resolved to lose weight. For the first month I did well; I counted by points like a good Weight Watcher. By April, however, I ditched the point counting and went on a major buffet binge. That’s not to say that I don’t believe in making goals. I just don’t limit my goals to 12-month periods. Too restricting. My goals include: -Lose weight...
Hearing the Sacred Echo
One of my favorite authors is Margaret Feinberg. She has an amazing ability to make the Word of God come alive. Tomorrow on my own personal blog, I will write about her latest book Scouting the Divine, but today I’d like to look at her book from last year, The Sacred Echo. Feinberg describes sacred echoes as “those moments when God speaks the same message to my heart again and again. I call them sacred echoes because I’ve noticed that throughout my relationships, daily life, and study, the same scripturally-sound idea or phrase or word will keep reappearing until I can no longer avoid its presence. Is this mere coincidence, or is there something more?” Indeed I’ve have many experiences where several things have come up, and I...