The Quest For Eden

  I have a vivid memory of my first set of Tinkertoys.   I remember following the directions to build a "space-ship."   I remember asking my dad to help me add more things on it.   I remember frustration building with my disappointment that "it wasn't working."  In my child's mind, I thought,  "This spaceship should fly! I built it. Maybe it's missing something. Maybe if I add more things..." Sometimes I think back to this memory as I view church congregations trying to build something that should fly like they expect it to. "This should bring in more people. It's what the other churches are doing that have more people. Why aren't our programs 'working?' We *look* like the other churches." I think back to my child's mind thinking, "I want to build a Space Ship!" And I did - I built the one based on the model I knew. It was never going to fly. It didn't use materials that would make it space-worthy. In

  That's it. That's the post. The question, "Would Jesus join a church?"   Discuss.

Could the reason we have difficulty being loving to each other, treating each other equally, & caring without judging is because so many of us were raised to believe there is a God who would behave similarly; a God that demands adulation, worship, & a penitent attitude in order to earn love?   Were we taught to hate using the Bible? Were we taught that God despises us more than love?   Time to reteach the church and America how to love unconditionally. This starts with understanding the church has difficulty teaching unconditional love if they're preaching a God that doesn't.  

If your relationship with God is based on avoiding Hell avoiding punishment earning Heaven what happens in the "hereafter..." you don't have a relationship. You have a lifetime filled with confused perspectives on    right or wrong   love and obedience   &    a propensity to accept gas-lighting.  

Today we were asked to "remember the tragic events of September 11th, 2001."   Every year I am reminded that the REACTION to this event was part of a turning point for me.  I had, like a "good Evangelical Christian," voted for George Bush. I was raised to believe that Christians should vote Republicans because Republicans would behave like Christians. Then I heard Mr. Bush say we would "get them." My first thought was, "Wait. Did Jesus teach retribution and revenge?" I heard many of my fellow church family saying it was important to fight back against the "evil Muslim extremists." I penned and sent an open letter to George Bush, begging he reconsider lashing out at whoever we deemed was the obvious aggressor.  In our own wisdom, we automatically assume that retaliation is best, for it shows strength. Retaliation shows more than strength. Retaliation shows that we our proud of our values. Retaliation proclaims that these values are

  Briefest post to date.   Your worship is the play that brings you joy. For when your Father sees your joy, He will rejoice with you.   Anything else we might call " worship " is only an attempt to recreate that joy. So  fish. paint. dance. laugh. Be Joy.

Short answer. He wouldn't. There's that answer He gives regarding taxes that sums it up fairly clearly; "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar 's." Longer answer? He would vote for Love. He taught Love. He showed Love. He shared Love. He defined Love. He is Love. So - who would He vote for (if He really *HAD* to make a choice)? He would support candidates who are models of Love. He would know their heart. I know that seems unfair. But we can also know the hearts of mankind. He would not base His decision on candidate's words, but their deeds, life experiences, and reactions to the world around them. He would vote for the candidate who typifies a loving response in nearly every situation. He would support Love. If you vote, vote for the candidate who: acknowledges the suffering of others. appreciates the hardships and struggles of every human. models a heart of compassion. models a heart of empathy. cries out for the downtrodden. embraces the human conditio

I've been struggling to find a way to explain this sentiment to my friends and neighbors who might reply with "All Lives Matter." I may have hit on a thought that may work for some. First, though, we have to agree that the health of the entire human population affects a Nation. Community World Church WHATEVER. Understand that when ONE part suffers, we (eventually) all suffer. This is hard to understand to those of us who have been immersed in White Privilege since day one. White Privilege teaches us that we've earned our life of least resistance. We learn that self-fulfillment is more important than community contribution. It should be less complicated for any of us who have a faith background, as most faith backgrounds tout the idea that: The least of these is as important as "the greatest." We are all "one body." The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Those that pay attention to economics also understand that the entire world is con

If the title of this post didn't make you cringe, read on. If it made you cringe a bit, you can probably stop reading now. We likely already feel the same way. In my recent post , I lamented about "the Mission" of the church. In that post I was primarily concerned with the focus many churches seem to have of growing their membership. Let's also think a minute about the role of a church "service." Why do we meet for "worship services?" It is this focus that causes "church splits" and why those outside organized religion often shake their heads.  Churches spend time tweaking, debating, and lamenting changes to make "the best worship experience." I would ask that church organizations pause and ask, "What is the purpose of a church worship service?" If your purpose is to entertain or "invite everyone to experience God," then, by all means, keep tweaking and debating.  If your goal is to create a weekly experience

I grew up listening to "Contemporary Christian" music as a kid, back when some of it was actually good music, and not just repetitive praise-and-mind-control music. Off-topic kind-of rant: I enjoy MAKING music. I'll happily play keyboards or drums in a "praise" band, but I'm fairly confident that the push for "better worship" is really a push for "mood control." When I listen to the lyrics of most "praise"music, it all sounds like this to me. My family has been in and out of churches; leaving whenever the push for "better worship" overpowers the intended focus of what this post is supposed to be about. I enjoy a band named "King's X." They wrote a song called " Mission " The lyrics include: Who are these people behind the stained glass windows Have they forgotten just what they came here for Was it salvation or "scared of hell" Or an assembly of a social get-together What's the mis

And Jesus said, "Everything Happens for a Reason." Wait. No? He didn't say that? When told His friend Lazarus was dead, He said, "Well. I guess He's in a better place." Wait. No? He did what? He wept. If these are your go-to phrases when trying to comfort others, please stop. To say that someone's loss to death is a joy to those who have died is a way of saying "Stop being so selfish." To say that calamity "happens for a reason" is an invitation to BE selfish; the determine how this one event that affects MORE than one person affects ONE person. Jesus said His spirit remains with us. View life events from Jesus' loving view. You won't see "reasons." You won't see "the whole plan." You won't see the future. You will see that all of life is temporary; the joys and the struggles. While Jesus was with us, He loved.  With His Spirit, do likewise. When someone asks you, "Why is thi

We are familiar with the idea of "keeping up with the Jones;" the idea that people will try to buy things to make their lives similar to the "Jones's" next door. I am convinced that many Christians and churches function the same way. I feel the current COVID-19 Pandemic may even be amplifying this for all the world to see. Churches are "scrambling" to figure out how to do services online, gather safely (or even pressure their members to gather unsafely), accept offerings, and generally "do as well 'serving' their congregation as well as the other church down the street." Let us look to Jesus' example. Let us list the times He took His disciples to gather at the local temple to "worship" like the other Jews were doing. Go ahead. I'll wait. I see one recorded time. And we recall how that went down. Jesus said, "Not this. Not here." When Jesus gathered with His friends, structure was not centr

Jesus spoke a bit about rules. A very tiny bit. In fact, most of what he said focussed on how unimportant the details of "the law" were. He said that, truly, there were only two "laws;" Love God & Love Others. Much of how we respond to Religion is also reflected in how we respond to the world around us. As of this date, there is a global viral Pandemic. Those with the most vocal complaints are sometimes missing a Jesus perspective; don't focus on your current limits, but focus on your potentials. Focus on how you can love your family and neighbor in this moment. Love God by loving His creation. There has been also a flood of churches trying to figure out how to make "church" work. How to "worship." How to "not forsake gathering." Um. Maybe this is an opportunity to think about flipping some money-changer tables and looking into new wineskins.

Have you ever wondered why God even MADE the tree of the Knowledge of Good/Evil if He was only going to FORBID Adam & Eve to eat from it? I mean, as a parent, I wouldn't put a bowl of poison out in front of my kids and say, "now don't drink this." Here's my theory. The fruit was GOOD (although maybe not yet ripe or "in season), but our MIND and BODIES were not yet evolved enough. I'm thinking, the fruit would eventually have been something good for us to eat. I'm thinking, eating it WHEN they did caused a cascade of brain-chemistry reactions that we were not ready for. Had we waited, I believe, God would have eventually said, "Take. Eat. For NOW you are ready." I believe God is still hoping to reintroduce the fully matured fruit to fully matured humans. I believe we are still not yet ready.

What would a world without shame look like? Pretty sure that's the Heaven Jesus taught. Discuss.

There's a very vivid passage from Jesus in which he explains that all will come before Him someday and be shocked to find out that He favors those who loved in His name over those who did not. When most preachers deliver a sermon on this passage, they tend to focus on the end bit in which "the goats" go away to "eternal punishment." (Side note - not THROWN into eternal punishment. They just "go away" with their tails between their legs.) I'd like to point out that, in ALL of the metaphors Jesus used to describe the "judgement" of "the end times," He focuses on people being ready, willing, obedient, and loving. He doesn't say, "those who have called upon my name and thanked me for being a sacrificial lamb" will be led into everlasting glory. He doesn't say, "those who said the special prayer." He doesn't say, "those who religiously did the church things." Nope. He says, the Kin

While I feel that there's a good chance that blood sacrifices were never intended, initiated, or expected by God, I'm not sure how strong I want to shout this freeing message. If you feel sick, you take medicine. If a doctor thinks you don't actually need medicine, he might give you a placebo. You'll still get and feel better. If you think your sin requires a sacrifice, you make one. If you believe Jesus is God's prescribed sacrifice, you accept it and you feel better. If God prescribed a placebo, who am I to tell you not to take it?

Why did Jesus say we should not "judge others?" Or, wait. Did He say others ? Or did He just say " judge ?" Perhaps, we have focused for too long on how God will someday "judge us all." We have assumed that this directive on judging was all about how to be less (?) judged by God. What if, though, this is about something else? What if this relates back to the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil?" What if this is about not wasting time on identifying "good versus bad?" I have found that I have a lot less anger, discomfort, and more peace now that I spend little to no time judging those differences. Maybe William Shakespeare had it right? "For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so... " Again, I am of the thought that Jesus' teachings were focused on trying to get us to think more about what Paul eventually summarized; "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. A

I was ecstatic to hear the beginning of a recent podcast about a church in a large city that sought to serve. The leader of the congregation asked the mayor of the city, "how can we serve?" The mayor sent them to the parks' manager who set the congregation to cleaning up MANY local park areas and a lot of public-works projects. When the parks' department ran out of tasks, the congregation moved on to cleaning up abandoned property and picking up trash city-wide. Then... Then the city made some political statement about equal rights for the gay community. The congregation then felt it was important to print up leaflets to "proclaim the biblical truth regarding homosexuality." This turned my stomach. Why? Why can't we just serve? Did Jesus call us to judge? Nope. So. Don't. Love.

When we described, with excitement, the benefits of following the Christian faith, we often focus on one or more of the following: We serve/have a risen Savior!  Our God is alive!  We are saved from hell!  We will benefit, in the end, by "earning" heaven! We focus on these things, because they have been the focus. This is, to me, like when a tourist comes to visit my local area. If the tourist was to ask, "what should I see here?" we might tell them about the local things we like or the local things that we know are intended for tourists. We seldom seek to find out what the tourist values, wants, needs, or desires. Sure, we have internationally famous chocolate and bologna. But, if the tourist is allergic to chocolate or is a vegan, why are we trying to sell it to them? People who are not immersed in the Christian traditions that many of us were dragged though might not: Have any fear of death. Care about an after-life. See a "sinful nature&

"The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" Wait. If that's what it was, that means: Adam and Eve had no concept of wrong/right or good/bad. Before they bit the fruit, the idea of "disobedience" would not have been consciously a "wrong" choice. God did not want them to see a difference between good/bad. God did not want them to bear the shame of feeling "wrong." I am claiming that God never wanted us to feel a difference between what various actions we may take in life. I am claiming that God only wanted us to know what Paul eventually wrote to the Church at Corinth:   New American Standard 1977 I Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.  I am claiming that, from that point on, the ideas of sin, punishment, and worthlessness are all our own ideas; not God's.

I remember being taught that "Christian" meant "little Christ;" someone who lives as Christ would. This is not what I hear any church preaching or teaching today. I hear that to be a Christian we need to define wrong/right, choose sides, and live lives of constant repentance. I'm not sure that's what Christ lived or taught. I shall be re-reading the Gospels over the next few months. I'm pretty sure, though, I will find that Christ did not focus of sin, repentance, or punishment.  I'm fairly certain Jesus did not promote the fear of hell. My belief is still that we, as Christians, missed Jesus' message altogether. I believe His message was that we all had it wrong from the first time we offered sacrifices to "cover" our sins, I believe His message was that God loves all His children in all of creation; the end.  I believe that, when it was obvious that even His closest Disciples weren't getting the message, He had to sacri