Tag Archives: god
It’s not about right belief.
I am really thankful that a lot of the ways in which our culture understands faith is changing.
In the book Missional Spirituality, authors Roger Helland and Leonard Hjalmarson point out that the Christian faith you find in many churches is an excarnational practice. What does that mean? Excarnational faith is one that lives mostly in the brain, rather than the body. It’s understanding the religious life as being about knowing the right things and believing in the right stuff. Even in our many seminaries, religious education, though certainly a great tool, teaches church leaders how to write and research and study theology.
While the intellectual understanding of one’s faith tradition is great, without practice it is irrelevant.
Unfortunately, true change rarely begins in the mind.
Sure, believing the right thing can be important. But the true test is whether or not it is lived out. If “loving your neighbor as yourself” is what you believe as one of Jesus’ core teachings, how are you living it out each day? How is your faith community providing opportunities to love neighbors that you may not even know or may be very different than you? I feel like our culture is getting tired of hearing about “right belief” and is ready to see more faith that is lived out.
True spirituality is about embodying God to the world, to be part of God’s physical expression of love to the world.
I’d rather be wrong in my belief and help someone in need then be right and do nothing.
Like this:
My Creation Prayer for Tomorrow
Yes, I sometimes like to write fancy words.
God of Eternity,
From the depths of the universe,
with swirling maelstroms of light and matter,
to the smallest butterfly, delicate and breathtaking,
you prove to be an Artist.
You reach out with strong hands,
shaping our hearts and renewing our spirits.
Your breath sweeps across the face of Creation,
pushing flowers up in the cracks of our concrete structures.
Though we often abuse the gift of this Earth,
you somehow refresh it,
nurturing life in open seas once smothered with oil,
painting shafts of green in blackened forests,
and nourishing dry lands with quenching rain.
Forgive us, O Creator,
for not always participating in that renewal.
Forgive us for dismissing the proud trees in our neighborhoods,
the shimmering sun dancing across White Rock Lake,
and the vibrant bluebonnets that serve as a playground to human and creature.
Help us understand that Your way is a way of healing and abundance.
Open our eyes to see resurrection as something not just for humankind,
but for all of the earth that groans in anticipation of Your fulfillment.
Guide us as stewards of this Creation
and help us taste, in our own lives, the deep wells of life-giving waters
that bring renewal, balance, and rest.
We pray in the name of our God, Ruler of the Cosmos,
and Friend to All,Amen.
Like this:
The Earth Is Awesome
Driving up to Oklahoma this past week to be with my mom, I was pleasantly surprised to see the wildflowers growing like mad along the highways. I hadn’t seen them this abundant and colorful since moving to Texas. The notoriously long droughts were part of the reason why, I guess. Anyway, it was fun to catch glimpses of all this color on the median and in the fields rather than count the beef jerky and lawn statue stores like I normally do.
Let’s be honest, Dallas people – we do not have the prettiest city. We have some iconic buildings and distinct neighborhoods. We have lots of cement and asphalt. We have more trees than you realize, but some of our parks are a bit bland. The fact that we break up our city entirely by city streets, I think, reveals what you need to know.
It’s not the end of the world. My wife and I love the part of Dallas we live in, mostly because White Rock Lake is awesome. Every time I drive by it on the way to work, the city seems a little less mundane. We often take the natural wonders of our world for granted, forgetting how much they add to our lives. We forget that the earth itself is a gift, something to be enjoyed and cared for.
This Sunday is our Creation Sunday, where we celebrate the gifts of the earth and challenge one another to be good stewards of it. I’m not the biggest environmental guy in the world, but I want to do my part. I know that sometimes passing by that lake releases some stress from my tired body. I recognize that I am in fact a part of creation, not separate from it. I trust the most important bit from Genesis 1, which is that God created and thought it was good, even humankind.
God’s right – it is good. Celebrate that goodness sometime this weekend, okay?
Holy Week Pub!
Holy Week is like the central week of the Christian year (next to Christmas). We worship in different ways, beginning with palm branches being waved in an ad hoc parade, reflecting on the final teaching of the prophet Jesus, sharing something a little bit like the Passover meal (or remembrance of), reflect on the deep darkness of the cross on Friday, and then celebrate new life breaking into our world on Easter morn. It’s a dizzying week. Some folks just go from palms to Easter, but that seems a little too easy when you recognize how Jesus got an up close picture of humanity’s own tendency towards cruelty and hate in those days in between. It wasn’t like the whole week was just an extended drum roll to the big reveal on Sunday morning. Jesus confronted the powers of domination and oppression of his day and seemed to lose, scattering his most trusted followers in defeat. And yet, at the last minute, Something Extraordinary Happened.
Maybe those different kinds of worship opportunities aren’t your thing. Maybe beer and conversation is. That’s why we’ll be hosting a special Holy Week Pub at Bryan Street Tavern on Tuesday evening, 7:30-9:30 PM, discussing whether or not Jesus knew he was going to be crucified. Did God want Jesus to be crucified? Did he have to die in such a way? Why did Jesus ask God in the hours before his death, “God, please take this cup from me”? Heavy questions. Was Jesus on a direct path of confrontation to the powers who were willing to crush him like they did to so many other rebels before? Or was this some divinely ordered, cosmic event? Or both? Or neither?
The conversation should be great. The cold beverages will be great. The pizza will be delicious. We even have free childcare at the church, so you will know your kids are having a good time while you are too. Register on our little Facebook event page to let us know you are coming.
Like this:
-
Stay Connected
Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter, and stay up to date with what is happening at the Table.
