This past weekend was a good one for the word-eaters in the world. There were two words that came to the surface. One is real, one is, well, manufactured.
Hyper-correctionists:
We may start a club of H-C. It is the people who correct all spelling and grammar, mis-statements, mis-speaks, etc. The word came up because I couldn't understand why we don't say the "l" in salmon. We pronounce it sam'en (the "e" should be upside down) Apparently the French screwed it up because they didn't pronounce the "l" in their word for the fish..or the color. Anyway, the hyper-correctionists went through some mental gymnastics and added it in. Some nonsense about "l" being silent when followed by an "m" or "d" or whatever. It is my goal to start another movement to get the "l" out of our words! Our bumper sticker would say, "Get the L Out!"
The other word is Tubicle (pronounced toob-ikle). It is where we will all work and play and live in the future. At birth we will be strapped into our tubicle, annodes attached. Then we will travel and learn and live and play inside our tubicle. Eyes taped shut, white noise to cover the emmanations from any neighboring tubicle. Womb to tomb in our tubicle. This is the only way we will be able to find and serve the all allusive god of Security.
The hyper-correctionists are already dissecting the above paragraph. I should have put something in the previous paragraph and laying and lying, or is it lieing? They could have a field day.
Godspeed, remember that the words you use mean something...unless you make them up.
Don
Friday, September 23, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Customized Religion
In the USA Today there is an article that illustrates a lot if what is wrong and right in the industry of religion. Using the polling data of George Barna (long time religious pollster, author of several books) He tracks the basic tenets of the christian world-view and how people shift their views from one decade to the next.
What do you think?
In a typical week, U.S. adults who say they:
Read Bible outside the church:
1991: 45%
2011: 40%
Volunteered at church:
1991: 27%
2011: 19%
Attended adult Sunday school:
1991: 23%
2011: 15%
Attended worship:
1991: 49%
2011: 40%
Those who say they:
Accept Jesus and expect to be saved:
1991: 35%
2011: 40%
Call Bible "totally accurate" in all principles:
1991: 46%
2011: 38%
Define God as all-knowing, all-powerful ruler:
1991: 74%
2011: 67%
This is quote from the article:
Barna blames pastors for those oddly contradictory findings. Everyone hears, "Jesus is the answer. Embrace him. Say this little Sinners Prayer and keep coming back. It doesn't work. People end up bored, burned out and empty," he says. "They look at church and wonder, 'Jesus died for this?'"
I think this is a little harsh on the pastors. It is my view that the culture has changed so fundamentally that we regard all organizations be it government, school, home, or church to be basically flawed and unable to respond to the needs and desires of the individual. The above findings are not a rejection of all things spiritual, quite the contrary. If you delve a little deeper into the stats and dialogue with those who have stepped away from organized religion, you will find people who care deeply about their beliefs and their spiritual walks. They simply are not buying into the ability or motivation of the located church to achieve those goals.
My bride and I are probably typical of what is going on (lest you think all this erosion of the influence of the organizational churches lie with the young) We regularly attend a located church, but do so because a majority of our little community of faith show up there most Sundays. But we tithe (when we have income to tithe with) to an assortment of faith-based groups. We donate time and energy to Habitat for Humanity. We engage our neighbors in fellowship which leads to a sharing of our lives and their lives in spiritual "talk". We each follow our own spiritual discipline routine. This is all independent of the located organization. We have been dis-enfranchised by the located church, but we have not felt that this has deeply impacted our spiritual walk. In fact, it is the opposite. We have found that it has made us more appreciative of deep thinking and relevant conversation. This view is rampant in the next few generations below us. It encourages me that these younger generations are willing to look beyond the traditions and look for relevance in their lives. They are willing to embrace the "organic" nature of spiritual living and perfectly willing to reject the formulated, organizational church.
Anyway, interesting reading.
Godspeed, we don't need more churches, we need more spirit-walkers.
Don
What do you think?
In a typical week, U.S. adults who say they:
Read Bible outside the church:
1991: 45%
2011: 40%
Volunteered at church:
1991: 27%
2011: 19%
Attended adult Sunday school:
1991: 23%
2011: 15%
Attended worship:
1991: 49%
2011: 40%
Those who say they:
Accept Jesus and expect to be saved:
1991: 35%
2011: 40%
Call Bible "totally accurate" in all principles:
1991: 46%
2011: 38%
Define God as all-knowing, all-powerful ruler:
1991: 74%
2011: 67%
This is quote from the article:
Barna blames pastors for those oddly contradictory findings. Everyone hears, "Jesus is the answer. Embrace him. Say this little Sinners Prayer and keep coming back. It doesn't work. People end up bored, burned out and empty," he says. "They look at church and wonder, 'Jesus died for this?'"
I think this is a little harsh on the pastors. It is my view that the culture has changed so fundamentally that we regard all organizations be it government, school, home, or church to be basically flawed and unable to respond to the needs and desires of the individual. The above findings are not a rejection of all things spiritual, quite the contrary. If you delve a little deeper into the stats and dialogue with those who have stepped away from organized religion, you will find people who care deeply about their beliefs and their spiritual walks. They simply are not buying into the ability or motivation of the located church to achieve those goals.
My bride and I are probably typical of what is going on (lest you think all this erosion of the influence of the organizational churches lie with the young) We regularly attend a located church, but do so because a majority of our little community of faith show up there most Sundays. But we tithe (when we have income to tithe with) to an assortment of faith-based groups. We donate time and energy to Habitat for Humanity. We engage our neighbors in fellowship which leads to a sharing of our lives and their lives in spiritual "talk". We each follow our own spiritual discipline routine. This is all independent of the located organization. We have been dis-enfranchised by the located church, but we have not felt that this has deeply impacted our spiritual walk. In fact, it is the opposite. We have found that it has made us more appreciative of deep thinking and relevant conversation. This view is rampant in the next few generations below us. It encourages me that these younger generations are willing to look beyond the traditions and look for relevance in their lives. They are willing to embrace the "organic" nature of spiritual living and perfectly willing to reject the formulated, organizational church.
Anyway, interesting reading.
Godspeed, we don't need more churches, we need more spirit-walkers.
Don
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
He Knows My Name
I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands
I have a Father
He calls me His own
He'll never leave me
No matter where I go
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call
It is my experience that we all have moments in our lives that I call "wilderness time". It is time spent removed from the pace and flurry of all we find familiar. There have been a couple of these moments in my life. They can last for years, at least they have for me. The past couple of years has been wilderness time for me.
These wilderness moments do not reflect a loss of desire to follow the One. In fact, it is usually a time of incredible pursuit, of learning to live with the thundering silence, of living the disciplines when there is little or no reward. But it is also a time of great discernment, a time of learning, a time of appreciating the path not the goal.
But we are not led out of these moments in a dazzling flash of insight. There is no "aha" moment that signals the end of the wilderness time. There is no sudden thrust into the "busy-ness" of religious or secular life. I have found that it is a slow awakening. This past weekend I watched my youngest grandson try to wake from a long afternoon nap, snuggled close to his momma's neck, arms folded in close to her as he tried to make that transition from deep sleep to awake and interaction. It is this analogy of slowly finding our way back into the flow of life and service that marks the end of the wilderness time.
In the same way as my grandson, I find myself slowly transitioning back. As stressful as the wilderness time can be, it is still the moment that I find myself in. So I want to move slowly to make sure it is happening. When you have been through the time you begin to see and understand the early signs that the wilderness time is coming to an end. You can again perceive the words and warnings of others. My dear friends this weekend pointed out that my sense of humor was coming back, but it is still a little caustic. Only close and good friends can point that out and get away with it, and they were right. When one is still in the wilderness, you do not catch these early signs.
The song above has been on my mind for 2 days now. A sign that the wilderness is thinning a bit. I can hear the sounds of social civilization. You see part of the wilderness time is the thundering silence of God. I believe that the song is stuck in my head by Him. He knows my name..He knows my every thought..He sees each tear over the last couple of years..and He hears me when I call and cry and am left without words..
He knows my name..
Godspeed
Don
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands
I have a Father
He calls me His own
He'll never leave me
No matter where I go
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call
It is my experience that we all have moments in our lives that I call "wilderness time". It is time spent removed from the pace and flurry of all we find familiar. There have been a couple of these moments in my life. They can last for years, at least they have for me. The past couple of years has been wilderness time for me.
These wilderness moments do not reflect a loss of desire to follow the One. In fact, it is usually a time of incredible pursuit, of learning to live with the thundering silence, of living the disciplines when there is little or no reward. But it is also a time of great discernment, a time of learning, a time of appreciating the path not the goal.
But we are not led out of these moments in a dazzling flash of insight. There is no "aha" moment that signals the end of the wilderness time. There is no sudden thrust into the "busy-ness" of religious or secular life. I have found that it is a slow awakening. This past weekend I watched my youngest grandson try to wake from a long afternoon nap, snuggled close to his momma's neck, arms folded in close to her as he tried to make that transition from deep sleep to awake and interaction. It is this analogy of slowly finding our way back into the flow of life and service that marks the end of the wilderness time.
In the same way as my grandson, I find myself slowly transitioning back. As stressful as the wilderness time can be, it is still the moment that I find myself in. So I want to move slowly to make sure it is happening. When you have been through the time you begin to see and understand the early signs that the wilderness time is coming to an end. You can again perceive the words and warnings of others. My dear friends this weekend pointed out that my sense of humor was coming back, but it is still a little caustic. Only close and good friends can point that out and get away with it, and they were right. When one is still in the wilderness, you do not catch these early signs.
The song above has been on my mind for 2 days now. A sign that the wilderness is thinning a bit. I can hear the sounds of social civilization. You see part of the wilderness time is the thundering silence of God. I believe that the song is stuck in my head by Him. He knows my name..He knows my every thought..He sees each tear over the last couple of years..and He hears me when I call and cry and am left without words..
He knows my name..
Godspeed
Don
Friday, September 2, 2011
Hope, Sometimes Visitor
This was written almost 3 months ago
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."
I ran across this quote in my disciplines and pondered it for quite some time. Each of the major words speak to me and this story that I find myself in. You see, I find myself in a spot where hope has been deferred, it has been set aside by evidence that shakes what I had envisioned as the remainder of my life. I had hoped that things would work out quickly. I had hoped that this disruption would produce different results. But I have learned that hope and faith are two different things. Faith can be fostered. It can be grown. I can manage faith. Hope has a life of its own. Hope is subject to critical evaluation of what is happening and following the thought string out to the end. When the results of that pursuit lead to diminished result, hope suffers. I am finding that hope wanders in and out of my day and my life at will. I struggle with the concept of "losing all hope" except in the very short term because hope will return, sometimes on a whim. It would make more sense to me to say that I don't know where hope is right now, it is not lost, it is just not visiting me at the moment.
Faith is the discipline of living a life that expects hope to return. It may not be today or tomorrow, but it will return. We live expecting the hope that is our promise to resurface. I often confuse the two. This past year has opened my eyes to possibility that while I cling to and nurture my faith through the disciplines, that hope is a serendipity that shows up and confirms the faith that I have jealously guarded. Do you realize that the rabbi (often confused as a carpenter) spoke and cajoled and reprimanded endlessly on faith and never once mentioned hope? He knew that if we focused on our faith that hope would follow when the faith is confirmed. Look it up, hope ain't there in the Stories.
When I go through a tough, extended time of stress, it is my faith that gets the most work. The questions of what and how and when are filtered through the prism of my faith that it will all work out in the end. Hope is a faulty golf swing, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
If you know someone struggling with this work/career/destiny thing, encourage them in their faith. I can only DO what I have been told is faithful, not particularly hopeful.
By the way, the quote above was from the guy we all say was "wise" Of course he had dozens of wives and concubines, so go figure.
Godspeed, keep the faith, bro.
Don
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."
I ran across this quote in my disciplines and pondered it for quite some time. Each of the major words speak to me and this story that I find myself in. You see, I find myself in a spot where hope has been deferred, it has been set aside by evidence that shakes what I had envisioned as the remainder of my life. I had hoped that things would work out quickly. I had hoped that this disruption would produce different results. But I have learned that hope and faith are two different things. Faith can be fostered. It can be grown. I can manage faith. Hope has a life of its own. Hope is subject to critical evaluation of what is happening and following the thought string out to the end. When the results of that pursuit lead to diminished result, hope suffers. I am finding that hope wanders in and out of my day and my life at will. I struggle with the concept of "losing all hope" except in the very short term because hope will return, sometimes on a whim. It would make more sense to me to say that I don't know where hope is right now, it is not lost, it is just not visiting me at the moment.
Faith is the discipline of living a life that expects hope to return. It may not be today or tomorrow, but it will return. We live expecting the hope that is our promise to resurface. I often confuse the two. This past year has opened my eyes to possibility that while I cling to and nurture my faith through the disciplines, that hope is a serendipity that shows up and confirms the faith that I have jealously guarded. Do you realize that the rabbi (often confused as a carpenter) spoke and cajoled and reprimanded endlessly on faith and never once mentioned hope? He knew that if we focused on our faith that hope would follow when the faith is confirmed. Look it up, hope ain't there in the Stories.
When I go through a tough, extended time of stress, it is my faith that gets the most work. The questions of what and how and when are filtered through the prism of my faith that it will all work out in the end. Hope is a faulty golf swing, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
If you know someone struggling with this work/career/destiny thing, encourage them in their faith. I can only DO what I have been told is faithful, not particularly hopeful.
By the way, the quote above was from the guy we all say was "wise" Of course he had dozens of wives and concubines, so go figure.
Godspeed, keep the faith, bro.
Don
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