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| I just spent the last hour or so reading over my past posts. It is sad, but comforting in a way, that not much has changed since my first post back in college. I am still searching. There are so many thoughts and ideas and struggles and fears bundled up in my head. I came across an old post that said that the purpose of this xanga sight is to work out my ideas. Maybe I can use it to work out my faith in fear and trembling. Boy, am I trembling. I pray that this message reaches someone who prays for me. I'll take whatever I can get. If you're listening, thank you. (On a personal note, I noticed that my last post was regarding an article that my Grandfather sent me. Since that post, my Grandfather has gone to be with the Lord. My Grandfather [the only one I have known] is not the kind to die, so I think it hit me kind of hard. He was a spiritual beacon in my life, and I miss him.) | | |
| I keep thinking about the
article that my grandfather sent me a few months ago about Sandemanianism.
(Part
of it is how fun it is to say/type.) Mostly it's because I keep
realizing how pervasive this belief that mere mental assent is all that
is required of us to become and qualify as Christians. Now, I know
that no self-respecting theologian or pastor would admit to this
underlying presupposition. But, beyond all of our fancy Christian
language and habits, what else are we teaching?
For us Protestants, in the momentum of the Reformation, we
have made correct doctrine our all in all. The supremacy of Orthodoxy
(right thought) has left Orthopraxy (right practice) by the wayside.
But isn't right practice, right living exactly what our focus should
be? Isn't what Jesus called us to? "Whoever hears My words and does them, I will liken to a wise man...." "Go, therefore, into the world and make disciples... teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you."
We seem to have things backwards. We seem to have Orthodoxy as our
goal, as if we think, if your doctrine is perfect enough you will get
into heaven. And so Orthopraxy, along with pretty much everything
else, becomes nothing more than a means to that end. But when we
honestly look at the Scriptures, particularly the teaching of Jesus as
supplemented by the teaching of Paul, we see that the goal (if we're
speaking in those terms) is Orthopraxy. Thus, the purpose of Orthodoxy
is to lead to Orthopraxy, hence the structure of Paul's letters: here's
the right doctrine, here's the right practice that is leads directly to.
These thoughts are at the forefront of my soul as I am reading Dallas Willard's The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives
. I think the subtitle is particularly important, because (at least in what have been taught)we believe the God will change our lives somehow, sometime -- maybe not until after we die? But I for one have never been taught to understand
how He will change our lives.
Prof. Willard has put all this together as follows:
A "head trip" of
mental assent to doctrine and the enjoyment of pleasant imagery and
imagination is
quietly substituted for a rigorous practice of
discipleship that would bring a true transformation of
character. (p.
111)
So why am I sharing all of these (rather heavy) thoughts with
you?
Because I would like to ask you what
spiritual disciplines you have put into practice over the years that
have aided you along this pilgrimage to holiness.
What have you done
and how have you done it?
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| I am still reading/processing Brian McLaren's new book.
I have to say that his method is more even-keeled than in his previous books. Before, he would get so excited about the new discoveries that he was making, the new ways of seeing things and being, that in his zealousness he would go overboard in one direction of the other. Unfortunately, this would also take the validity of what else he was saying with it.
In this book, Brian is much more methodical. Eight sections, each with four chapters, each developing directly out of the previous chapters and sections, all aimed at answering his "Two Preoccupying Questions." They are:
1. What are the biggest problems in the world?
2. What does Jesus have to say about these global problems?
The underlying assumption (of the entire book) seems to be: Jesus came to solve the worlds problems.
So ask this question continues to nag at me, while I read my first book in months, to you fellow bloggers and xangars:
DID JESUS COME TO SOLVE THE WORLD'S PROBLEMS?
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| Two months into my reading fast...
I get emails from Brain McLaren's DeepShift (Yes, it's a funny name if you think about it), the organization that they created to support the work related to his new book, Everything Must Change, and taking the Emerging movement further. In the most recent blast, he mentioned that Thomas Nelson publishing was offering free Advance Reader's Copies to anyone who would want one. I read FREE BOOK, so I email the woman, not really thinking anything of it.
Last Friday, I got a package in the mail. They send me the book.
So I have decided to read it for 3 reasons.
1. I like Brian McLaren. Sure, he often overstates his case and goes over the deep end. But it seems to be out of enthusiasm and excitement about this truly life-changing, truly saving, truly Good News. And I want to get excited, too.
2. It is an Advance Reader's Copy. I feel an obligation to read and review it, because on a few readers have this opportunity. And it is likely (in however small a way) to influence the opinions of those who purchase the book and read Amazon reviews.
3. I want to practice putting what I read into practice. According to the subtitle, this book is about Jesus, whom I am very interested in getting to know; Global Crises, which Brian calls the perfect storm currently brewing off the shores of our world; and a Revolution of Hope, which I would very much like to be a part of.
Why am I telling you this?
I need your help.
If you see me online or in real life or if you post, call me on it.
Ask me how my reading is going.
Ask me what specify steps I am taking to put what I'm learning into practice.
Pray for me.
Hold me accountable. Don't let me off the hook. Don't be distracted by my dazzling words as I try to change the subject.
If I am going to do this, I can't do it alone. Will you help me?
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| Ever since I read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court the summer before my senior year, I have been a voracious reader.
When I graduated high school, I thought I was going to be a librarian because I love books so much. I remember sitting it the corner of our school's library looking at what seemed to be an endless row of books. I felt a physical pain of longing to read and enjoy each and everyone, and to share that enjoyment. In fact, when the school was cleaning up their collection, they called me and asked if there were any books I wanted.
There were always more books. And I was interested in every one. I would read and read and read.
It got even worse after I got out of university. I could finally read all of the books I hadn't had time to get to.
But I was just reading. I wasn't applying. I wasn't letting the truth of the words seep into my soul. There were always more books to be read.
Finally I realized, "Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body." I was studying much and exercising little, if at all. And I was wearied.
So I stopped.
No more reading. No more books. No more Super-Ego's dirty looks.
I've been taking an hiatus from reading so that, after I detox, I can start learning how to apply/live by the things I have already read.
And I've just about dried out. Literally. I have found that too many of my thoughts have simply been a rehashing of things I have read. Without reading new things, I have had much less to say.
The problem is that I haven't stopped talking yet.
That's next.
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