Should have used a track....

Found this on another blog recently and was intrigued.

The Institution #2

In my last post concerning the institution(over a month ago) I basically made the point that postmodernity inherently questions the institution. In short, those from the postmodern generation must be careful not to make a grave decision by making no decision at all. I would hate for the post modern generation to suddenly come to their senses and realize that they had, outside of their own consciousness, dismantled the institution in an unhealthy fashion.

With this in mind, we are aware that the postmodern generation has not simply made a villainous choice to attack the institution. While the institution has possibly felt threatened by a postmodern world for some time, I believe the postmodern world is only now waking up to the fact that its simple existence stands over against institutional methodology. Why? (to be continued)

The Lowest Common Denominator of Biblical Teaching

The Possibilities are endless........gender specific prayer seat maybe?????

Come to the Marriage Supper

While I live in a dirth of information on marriage and lack experiential knowledge of the subject, another cohort of mine (Ryan Edward Shafer) has taken his seat at the marriage supper. With this disclaimer in mind, I do have some thoughts on the subject and seek to drop a post on you concerning the celebrated feast.

I have been doing some study on community and a new realization suddenly dawned on me. To live in community is to bear witness to a future reality...the reality of the Kingdom of God. When people live beside each other, unselfishly, in the unity of loving relationships, where they truly love their neighbor as themselves....we have a picture of the coming Kingdom of Peace that Jesus promised.

Living in this way, in community, is possibly the best voice that the people of God have to the world. When we successfully live in loving community we say to a violent world (that still believes in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth), "the promise of a coming Kingdom of love and peace is not pie in the sky idealism....it is real!" Real bodies can give you a glimpse, right now, of what is coming.

We must ask ourselves, "Are we bearing witness to the future reality of the Kingdom?" If we are unable to demonstrate unselfish community living...if we cannot get along with our brother....if we cannot love our enemy...WE DO NOT BEAR WITNESS TO THE COMING KINGDOM!!!! In fact, when we, as God's people, demonstrate that we cannot live in loving community, we make Jesus a liar.

What does this have to do with marriage? In the Bible, this "coming Kingdom," is most often described as a marriage supper, with Christ coming for His bride. Most of us understand something about the spirit of wedding celebrations. I was reminded of this spirit at Ryan and Rene's wedding. The spirit at most of the weddings that I have attended has been love, servant hood, caring, unselfishness, happiness, celebration, and peace. True community living must consist of the very same attitudes and spirit.

I have come to the conclusion that weddings bear witness to the future reality of the coming kingdom. But is that the best we can do? Is that all we are capable of.....living out of the spirit of servant hood and love at weddings only?

Folks, when you live in community today, tomorrow, and again the next day....when you ask what you can give to the church rather than asking what the church can give to you...when you serve your brother or sister....when you live out of the spirit of love and servant hood....you are entering into the greatest marriage celebration. This is a GREAT marriage! Who are you to bring your selfishness, envy, hate, and anger to this wedding??? The groom doesn't want them...He wants you're love! If you would have come to Ryan and Rene's wedding thinking only of yourself, angry, shouting, and screaming words of hate...I myself would have been happy to show you the door. How much worse is it then to enter the greatest wedding of all with such a selfish spirit?

So I ask us to come to the marriage supper. I plead for community living. I pray for witnesses to the future reality of the coming Kingdom!



Here are a few pictures from my travels in Maine.






























Cadillac Mountain: The first US soil to be kissed by the suns rays every morning.





















Seriously, it gets real windy here on Mount Washington...they chain their buildings down. Record wind measurements here have reached 231 mph....hold me back!
















A beginning at community:)

Lock Up Your Bike And Throw Away the Key

Seriously now....no more complaining about the cost of fuel or the gaping hole in the ozone layer! The Answer is here and I'm not talking about Allen Iverson.

Master Schedules

After a hard day of recording in Bridgewater, VA (which I wasn't ready for) I have made it home just in time to evacuate the structure tomorrow for a week in Maine. In this community where schedules tend to run into each other, we have considered making a master schedule that would coordinate Faith Builders, Meadville Mennonite Chapel, Shalom, and some personal schedules together. The solution to our double scheduling is improving coordination and cooperation.....or is it?

The fact that we now need a master schedule to keep from doubling up events is really a scary thought that causes one to break out with the hives. We now plan so many events and create schedules sooooo tight that we have to know that Thursday is the only free day that my brother has this week....that way I can be sure to avoid double scheduling and go ahead and screw his only free day that he has to spend with his family. Efficient use of the seven day work week eh????:)

While my community has not yet caved to the "master schedule," it is common for Americans to see such coordination and cooperation as a solution. Sorry Americans.... our problem is not a coordination problem....it is a mere number problem. We make schedules that would fit more comfortably in a 12 day week than a 7 day week.

Master schedules and coordination are sadly nothing more than a band aid that will only cover the wart until it grows larger. I hope that somebody will begin making jumbo band aids in the future because we'll need them unless we grudgingly cave to surgery on our schedules.

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