Destination Unknown?

     I have to admit that I haven't written in the past month or so because my life, as are other's lives, been a journey. Although for me there has been no clear destination in mind other than being the best 'Christian' that I could be. Just how t I am to arrive at that goal has been a bit of a mystery to me. In fact that seems to be a problem for many of us “ Christians”; we don't see this life as a journey or we haven't a clue as to our destination. If you are like me you have heard the passage from the New Testament letter to the Hebrews about how we are in a race witnessed by others and that we must run the good race to the finish [ Hebrews 12:1-3]. I might add we are supposed to run this race with great patience, something that I am in short supply of at times. But then again I think that can apply to any of us. I think of this passage often and wonder if I somehow missed the starting gun. Or if they even allow tricycles in this race. Besides haven't I read somewhere that Christians are supposed to be non-competitive? If that is true them Paul's more athletic allusions in his writings to the early church then somehow have missed on that concept ( and FTR I do think that Paul was the writer of the passage here).

But I digress, as I often do.

Back to my original thought. I started out this journey, as well as this blog, in hopes of becoming a better”Christian”. As I think more and more,maybe the destination for becoming a better”Christian” should be just becoming a better person. Simple as that. Maybe the key to being a “Christian” is understanding that the Gospel is more about reclaiming Life and less about gaining Heaven. After all Jesus started his 'public' ministry by reading out of Isiah 61. So where does that leave us with Paul's illustration of us being in a 'Race'? I am not sure really? I am pretty sure that this is something to consider as I resume my journey.

conversation about a post resurrection conversation

Lately I have been thinking about conversations. You know,the ones that are made of more than just small talk about weather or sports or royal weddings. The kind that eclipse the everyday hype that seem to fill up the voids in our minds. True conversations about things that really should matter. Ones with words that excite,enrapture, and encapsulate the mind. I am talking about those conversations that happen on a so infrequent basis that they change our lives by challenging our lives. It is the existence of those such conversations that are fraught with so much that we can almost miss them. We don't seem to have them as much as we should. Instead we talk around each other, or talk about each other, or worse yet we frame the conversation we may be involved with in such a way that marginalizes people , make them less that so our words seem more important . I, personally have been guilty of such conversations. I really don't want to do that anymore. 

 I really want to be more like Jesus -especially with the two travelers' on the road to Emmaus. [Luke 24:13-34] It is in this post Resurrection story we find a pair of men walking along .conversing as they go, when Jesus joins them unrecognized. The three strike up a conversation about the important life challenging ,life changing events of the past several days since the Passover in Jerusalem. They talk of the prophet Jesus and the loss of hope that came with his death. The conversations turns to the some what doubtful story told by a few women followers of Jesus that he was risen from the dead. But those tales turned out to be untrue.

What is about this conversation that has captured my imagination? I am not really sure. What I do know is that While thinking about what I wanted to write here I am struck by a conversation Wonder and I had recently. The short version of it would be that we as Christians have chosen to be Christians because it is the one faith that offers any real hope. I can tie that to the conversation on the road to Emmaus by the comment made[ Luke 24:21] And we had hoped that he would be the one to liberate Isra'el! Besides all that, today is the third day since these things happened; Complete Jewish Bible] The death of the prophet//Rabbi Jesus represented the death of the Hebrew hope of their liberation. Several things stick out to me here.

One, that hope can be easily lost ,maybe more so, than gained. Especially when there is the expectation of 'liberation” Or restoration. Or Freedom. I have often noted- ;particularly among political conversations , that there is very little in the way of hope Ever wonder why that is? I have to suspect that is the work of an enemy who wants to steal our hope, especially if that hope empowers us to do things greater than we could imagine before that hope arrived.

Two, Hope can be misplaced. For myself I have been re-learning what is that I really have hope in. One of the things I have noticed about the followers of the teacher/rabbi/prophet called Jesus is that they some how missed out on him claiming his God-hood. I don't know about you but that is kinda important. Without Jesus being who he said he is; he then becomes another man. Fallible. Misguided. Powerless to deliver on his promise of hope –'specially if he is dead.

Three, Hope can be revived. The news of Jesus resurrection at first offered a brief glimmer that hope had returned. Of course not finding what was expected dashed that moment. Then there was the Jewish tradition that taught that after three days the spirit left the body of the deceased;making any hope of resurrection or renewal impossible. Hope Denied.

Lastly I see that Jesus explains the real interpretation of the Scripture and the Messiah,that he had to suffer before being raised from the dead. Hope renewed. These truths don't seem to take hold until they stop to eat.This is where Jesus reveals his true identity to his fellow travelers. AS HE BREAKS THE BREAD …. interesting.

So to sum up my thought, Conversations are important and some conversations are more important than others. A Life changing conversation is about hope. Our Faith, as well as the Gospel is based on hope. It is only with real hope, and real conversation, that we can change the world. The resurrected Jesus lives to give us life challenging, life changing hope. It is this hope that makes for a real faith I can believe in.

a post resurrection story

 It is Easter night and I have been thinking about Jesus'post Resurrection stories. One in particular- the one where his former disciples go back to what they were before he turned their lives , as well as hopes and dreams, upside down. Maybe you remember it too. The one where they decide to go night fishing. The one where while they are headed home with empty nets, no fish, and less sleep. They get a tip from a stranger on shore. A tip that results in a net full of fish. So many the net nearly broke. But that isn't the part that I have been thinking of. I have been thinking of the breakfast the fisherman had on shore. That and the conversation that went along with it. It is that conversation in which Jesus asked Peter if he loved him more than the things around  Peter's life that catches my attention . We read it in John 21:9-17

 There are several things in that scene that I notice
   1] Jesus cooked and fed them. The resurrected Son Of God still acted the servant.
   2] Jesus broke the silence among them. The text seems to indicate that they at in silence. I would say that this is so typical male but I have a feeling none of them wanted to speak out of fear. Or shame.  Or maybe not wanting to allow them selves to hope in Jesus again.
    3] The question that Jesus asked of Peter is deeper than most translations give.  Jesus spoke Aramaic, a combination of Greek/Hebrew, so the phrase almost reads do you breath in what I meant to you on a moral/social level? In other words, do [did] my words have an impact on your life?

 That is something I want to dwell on here. I have been learning in my relationship with Wonder, that love is more than some four letter word centered around how I feel. Love is actually something that changes how a person thinks . I know that to true in my life. Because I love Wonder I have had to become more open to how I think about her feelings. I make more choices with that as a template.  and so;because I love Jesus/God I have to become more open to how I think about them. I make life choices according to that template.  Jesus asked Peter a question at that breakfast as a way of pointing out that Peter had to change the way he had previously thought out Jesus. To make choices about his life according to that new template that was drawn out by the gospel [  see Luke 14/Isa 61] Christ had lived out and tried to teach his disciples. This ,to mw, is just one of those post Resurrection stories that I can't let go of.

A Somewhat Brief Explianation

When I last blogged I was trying to get across one of my main idea I have learned on my journey is that we all have a theology of some sort. I don't see theology as a mere study of (or a defining of)'God” because A] God isn't something easily studied or defined. B] once we do d set out to study or define 'God” we then lessen the mystery of the unknown God. Granted we can try to understand 'God”; in fact, I have a feeling that is part of our reason for being but that is merely my opinion. My contention still remains that any real Theology we employ is not is't what we learn [learned] in Sunday or Sabbath School. If that is the case,and I think it is for many Christians who occupy the pews on a weekly basis,then a lot people have a shallow and unreasonable view of God and that reflects in the choices they make in our daily lives. Because how we think about God is reflected in our life choices. ( I have to point out here that I don't think I have an exclusive hold on the TRUTH or some clever interpretation of Scripture. All I have is a desire to be authentic as a Believer and Christ follower- no more,nothing less. I do have a quibble with those who think they have 'God' figured out.... theologians.... because if you figure 'God' out the you out him/her/them in a box.)

Before we go much further there re some things here you have to understand some thing. These are some ,but not all,of my underlying assumptions about Life,Theology, and God. First off, we – Humans are creations of an all knowing, all powerful God, who we are trying to understand who or what God is. Secondly, because we are created we are really spiritual beings captured in space and time. We know instinctively that we are not meant for just this life but something more.

I don't think I am to afar afield here in saying that because I have noticed that many human beings tend to interpret the world around them on how we where raised, the culture that surrounded us then as well as the one that surrounds us now. Our biases, preconceived notions, coupled with our willingness to grow intellectually or not.(I think we have to at least challenge ourselves in that area. A belief not shared by everyone, I know. Of course if you are reading this then I assume that you are not one of them) Using our words,thoughts,and ideas, symbols and imagery,we make language to share our interpretations of the world around us. Religion is one form of language. It is the presence of,or the lack of it, plays into our interpretations. We humans are at our very core of ourselves spiritual people . What we believe shapes how we act. Our beliefs tend to come through in our politics as well as our attitudes towards other people. We write stories, make art, tell tales, type blogs; all in the hope of expressing our interpretation of the life around us. Life is about interpretation. We interpret things all the time, every day. Our interpretations come from our journey on which we discover the Creator and who or what that is.

This does raise some interesting questions. Like first of who is this GOD person. Is He(or She) a person at all? Or some thing wholly other? Do they even care about us humans? How shall we know? Can we even know? Should we even try to know? So I guess I will begin by laying out some of my assumptions about God and theology,and refer to them as 'God Thoughts” since that is what theology is – what we humans think about God and how Life relates to Him/Her/It.

We seem to have the most difficulty not in our differing beliefs but the differing language we use to try to express our interpretations based on our beliefs. I believe that we ( myself included) all have a valid interpretation about the life we know. We just see things differently. That is what makes relationships interesting. Our differences. If we all thought the same life would be boring, unchallenged, ineffective. For example, what if Copernicus or Columbus just went along in life not questioning the traditional interpretations? We would still think that the Universe revolves around the Earth and the Earth is still flat. ( My apologies to my TEA Party friends- sorry to burst your bubble). We should treasure and value our differences. We human beings are try to break out , as it were,by becoming creators ourselves ( I deliberately used this term with lower case 'c' because I believe, or assume, that is part of our human existence being made in the image of God. We try to be creators our selves through Art, Architecture, Theater, cities.) 

Lately I have been thinking about theology and how it touches our lives daily. I have come to understand that theology itself is not some dry academic subject but it is something vital and relevant to our everyday living. It doesn't matter if you are particularly religious or not. Theology is not just a study of a particular interpretation of 'God'. Theology is ,however, our understanding of 'God'. We all use a theology- what we think about 'God'. or We all think about God in some form or fashion so this is for any and all of us who have ever had thoughts about 'God', the existence of' God', the nature of 'God'. Because we have all thought about “God” at one time of the other even if we have chosen to believe that there is no 'God'. We might just believe in the general goodness of humanity or that we are just merely dust motes tossed about by the breeze created by an uncaring, unknowable “God' or that Mickey Mouse is ' God'. We still believe. We believe because we, that is humankind, are at our very core believers. We are hardwired, if you will, to believe in something wecause we can simply not believe. No matter how hard some may try the fact remains that we humans believe are inclined to believe. That is something we cannot change. You may want to argue that you someone who is skeptical about everything . Someone who believes in nothing. But that isn't true for no one can be truly skeptical about everything. Nor can anyone really believe in nothing. That is not possible. The fact still remains that we believe in something. That is just how it is.

I am curious,[ I suspect you are too] about why I am here and for what purpose, if any. I imagine that is what one could call a universal question. Life. It is organic. It grows on you, in you,through you. Maybe that is what is important to me. The realizing that Life is all around me. It is Spiritual,Political,Social all wrapped up like a big tangled ball of string. Life touches us on all sides and we have to choose to live it. An author I admire a lot has written that it is all spiritual, meaning our lives, and I agree with him. You may not and that is OK. Life goes on.

Maybe I have passed the point of being interesting and leaped into just being esoteric. My apologies.I am just trying to provide a framework for further discussion within the TC. 

NO Virgina. I haven't forgotten I have a blog

HI there,
 Just a shout out to any and all who have chosen to follow my blog. I have been a little lax this week with  blogging. More like procrastinating really I had planned on doing the TC as a thrice weekly. We all know how well that worked out, So I have come up with a solution of doing this a weekly blog for now.  I think that will work for now as I find my footing as to the direc tion the TC will take. I really don't wasn't to plan things out all that much . I have been finding out that the journey unplanned is much more sanctifying. But having a destination will keep this on track . Anyhow----start  looking for more of the TC on Mondays.

A reasonable Fear

I haven't blogged much lately but something I saw on the news today triggered this. It seems that since health insurance reform was passed some people who disagree with it's passing have decided that it is OK to be demeaning and/or threatening to certain legislators. This really bothers me since I believe that we live in a society that should encourage civil discourse, in some case even civil disobedience,and if we disagree we should disagree agreeably. That makes sense to me. Isn't that we were taught in pre-school? That is was never OK to throw sand in the sand box. It was even worse to threaten someone with bodily harm, much less follow through on the threat. Sooooo- how come it has become OK to call legislators names or threaten some one who voted for or against health insurance reform? Is that who a responsible voter acts? Methinks that ( thanks to FOX News - Glenn Beck- Baba O'Rielly et al) it has some how become fashionable , for Conservatives at lest, to be immature and disagreeable in how they handle what they don't agree with. What scares me is that some cuckoo will decide it is alright to take a pot shot at some one, Especially if he/she/it hears 'God' telling them that it is Her/ His/It's will. I am worried that someone will get hurt. Can someone tell em when Politics or politcals views become a contact blood sport?