Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Legislate Your Morals.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”-Matthew 22:37-40
Archive for the 'Spirituality' Category
I think God approves of you….
WHAT!!?
Whats going on? Thoughts?
What Would Jesus Eat (hint: not peeps, but maybe beer)
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT JEWISH
I decided yesterday I’m gonna host my own passover this year. I think I really like tradition and ceremony. There is something about getting together with people with a greater purpose than to watch a movie or eat.
We have a great group of friends around here and I was thinking about inviting some people over and sharing the tradition with them. Though I’m concerned about it being taken seriously (it is a celebration, but at times a somber one). Then I had a great* idea: I’ll write my own seder.
Obviously it would be based on years of tradition, but having someone remember the bitter tears of slavery who is mostly thinking about a pair of jeans they want, doesn’t really work, but having them remember the bitterness they feel about what enslaves them still today, might be effective. I’m not trying to “make the passover hip”, I just want it to also be relevant to peoples lives. Basically, I want them to go home having experienced something more than matso ball soup and finding the hidden cracker.
What do you guys think? Is it sacrilege? Am I destroying passover? Or is it possible to be relevant and reverent?
I go to most likely one of the “coolest” churches around. It’s in a nightclub with a shark tank. Worship is sorta like a U2 concert and then one of the many under-40 pastors comes up to speak. It’s always relevant and usually challenging. After he finishes there is another 20 min of music. Where you can sing-a-long or sit, meditate and pray. The majority of the attendees are 18-24 and the crowd looks like they could be the same people in line from the night before. If your a college age Christian looking to get married and you don’t go to my church, your in the wrong place.
My wife and I ride our beach cruisers to church and then meet friends at an outdoor health food cafe called “The Gypsy Den”. This is usually followed by a short shopping trip at “The Lab” coined the anti-mall (though it’s owned by the same people who own the mall). The Lab is the den of hipsters of all kinds. I think the most inexpensive store there is Urban Outfitters (which isn’t saying much). So why am I saying all this? To show how cool I am? No.
I recently visited NYC with my wife (still not bragging) and while walking the streets we ran into St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I’d been there before but I thought she should see it, so we went in. It was basically just another attraction to visit on our tour of the city. Until I stepped inside. I was doing the usual tourist stuff (touching things, taking pictures) and then I started to notice people sitting the pews, heads bowed, some in silence while others whispered prayers. I stopped taking pictures and just stood there for a second, trying to “get” whatever those people were getting from this place. There was something more to this building than beautiful architecture or painstakingly crafted stained glass. It wasn’t simply the mood lighting or vaulted ceilings. I made up a history in mind, how this cathedral was built out of devotion for a holy God. The sculptors worshiped that God with their attention to detail. A feeling suddenly came over me that I don’t actually feel that often. Reverence. My thought process went like this:
There is an amazing God who crafted this earth and the least we can do is create beauty in it to praise him. Not for our fame or fortune. Simply because he is God and deserves it.
It was a pretty powerful and enlightening feeling. Not that I don’t try to have some type of communion with God regularly, but its usually on a different level. My communications are structured. I have three different topics that all get covered in bed before I go to sleep: Give, Protect, Thank You. This “feeling” feeling didn’t fit anywhere in my categories.
A.J. Jacobs, the author of The Year of Living Biblically has this same sort of revelation while visiting Israel
I have my head bowed and my eyes closed. I’m trying to pray, but my mind is wandering. I can’t settle it down. it wanders over to an Esquire article I just wrote. It wasn’t half bad…And then I am hit with a realization. And hit is the right word…Here I am being prideful about creating an article in a mid-size American magazine. But God -if He exists- He created the world. He created flamings and supernovas and geysers and beetles and the stones for these steps I’m sitting on.
“Praise the Lord.” I say out loud.
This is one of the authors first real connections with worship. For the first couple hundred pages, he follows commandments and does his religious “duties” but there in Israel he comprehends reverence.
The truth is, that cathedral was built as a seat for the bishop. Thats what the word cathedral really means. It was a seat of power. This doesn’t ruin it for me because I got a taste of something there.
Yes, I love the relevance of my church and my “version” of Christian life, but I definitely could use some reverence.
You guys complain about no comments and then I write a post asking for them and one person responds. Anyways, our first entry in the “make your own bible verse contest” (as well as a highly intelligent response) is in.
From Casey:
“Women, obey your husband and do not trouble him with meaningless household tasks.” (Titus 2:13) The Greek translation of household means jobs which are traditionally for women. i.e. cleaning up after dinner and making the floor mat.
Who’s next? Dave?
I think sociology was my favorite class in college. Especially when it came to group dynamics and cognitive dissonance. They have an interesting relationship. The individual molds their beliefs to fit in the group, sometimes completely reversing long held opinions.
Last night I was sitting at a table and a local leader of an international religious organization made me aware that the organization had recently released a belief statement changing their stance on sin and the fall from grace. They no longer want to use the word “separated” in describing our relationship with God prior to salvation. They have given a list of descriptions that fit better with their adapted theology. The one he shared with me was “disconnected”. I am not a linguist but disconnected and seperated are quite different. Disconnected doesn’t sound quite like “eternal damnation”. Being disconnected from God sounds only slightly uncomfortable. Like we had a fight and we’re taking a few days off and we’ll hang out again later. What does this have to do with sociology you ask? Here it comes….
I then responded by making a complaint in front of a group of my peers, who also work with the afformentioned religious organization.
Disconnected? How about “Get away from me, for I never knew you!”
I responded, misusing bible quotes (The biblical recipient of that quote was not the same group being called “disconnected” from God, hence the misuse.)
I then backed up my misquote by sharing
I don’t think many people know this, but I went to bible school for two years.
Sorta true. This somehow validates anything I say about God as being correct.
It’s easy to quote the bible for whatever our purposes are. This is where cognitive dissonance comes in. We are “christians” except when we don’t want to be. We like the “blesseds” but not the “do nots”. Here is a good verse I just made up for all those 20-something Christian dating couples:
…And then their unwed laid down together. God looked upon this and was pleased. Habakkuk 6:2b
No one except Bro #3 has read Habukkuk so you can use it on at least 98% of people and they won’t be sure your wrong. Get one friend to back you up and you have group dynamics working. Say you took two years of pretend bible school and you’re golden.
Pick a response: What I think about separated vs. disconnected or make up your own fake bible quote to justify your actions (wittiest quote wins something good…)
You could also respond to both…you suckup.
