July 10, 2008
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I should print a retraction. Or something. I love that feeling I have when I realize I have spoken millions of words without knowing what I was saying and what it meant. I just assume that the words I say mean the same to everyone else. But no. like “Emergent” and “Emerging.” And…I read a couple of books, felt like I knew the world, and then made my conclusions. Some wrong ones too. even in making a retraction…I am not knowledgable enough to do it well. This bothers me. It bothers me that I don’t know. And that I won’t have time to find out.
Anyways. I read some good books and God is doing a lot of good things in many people. That is what He does. But I cannot say all that good stuff is “emerging” or the “Emergent church.” What is being understood to the general public of these terms is not all good. Not all right. Some heretical doctrine. So in my newsletter when said something about the emerging church…yeah…take that as someone who doesn’t know the whole story.
How sad. To see a lot of really good ideas and actions…where they have cut off their legs, their foundation. I wish it wasn’t so. It makes my life so much easier to just think everyone is fine. That they are going to be okay. That nothing needs to be done or said and it will straighten itself out in the end. But not everything is like that. Sometimes…confrontation. Standing up.
That scares me. But it makes me feel good too. feel good to know I stand for something. Something worth fighting for.
Christian doctrine vs. Christian tradition
Doctrine is not going to change. It is us trying to wrap our minds around God, who He is and knowledge of Him. and God does not change. Truth does not change. Tradition is how people have tried to experience God through the ages. Some good stuff, some bad stuff. Some really bad stuff. Screwy. But in tradition, we forget and try to make it doctrine. You can only reach God this way. Experience Him this way. We make it an “us” vs. “them” and see who will win. And where is God? When it involves doctrine, there is no change, no compromise. With tradition…we need to love. To listen. Understand.
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I got to work in the coffee shop. Found out that I cannot handle more than one cup of coffee a night. I learned how to make thai coffee. Lots of sugar. I met lots of really great people.
blips from cornerstone:
Incarnation:
· Know culture
· Be in culture—it is hard to be prejudice against someone you really know
· Be culture—set the tone
I have found my job. Story collecting. Find out people’s stories.
The prayer of Oscar Romero:
“…we plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it very well…”
