Owner: Life and Faith URL:http://beingandfaith.blogspot.com Join Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:33:10 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A Christian blog by a Fuller graduate seeking to bring the Christian faith and theology to the daily living. Site statistics:Click here
Theology of Pregnancy 2008-09-18 20:59:00 "My soul magnifies the Lord."Mary’s great words, the beginning of the Magnificat sung after she has received the news of her pregnancy. It would be a troubled pregnancy—trouble by the judgment of others. It is her own understanding or theology of pregnancy. It is her words that I should use for a theology of pregnancy. Before though a theology of pregnancy starts with what all the Gospel accou Read more:Pregnancy
Vengence is mine, says The Lord 2008-09-16 20:35:00 Yesterday, I was listening to This American Life The program was about how certain three Americans took it upon themselves to take revenge against a Nigerian email scammer. They led the Nigerian into a Chad by luring him with the promise of money. They help strand him there. What was most disturbing about their account was the pleasure they took in torturing the scammer. They almost had the scamme
Faith, Love and the Way 2008-09-15 22:44:00 Faith makes us. One of the weaknesses of the Enlightenment comes from identifying belief with agreement to a set of propositions. Pray the sinner’s prayer and heaven is yours. This creates a crack from ones ideas and being. Most of us know a person who says one thing and lives by another. The frightening feature of their way of life turns up when you realize they see no contradiction. They have Read more:Faith
Forgiveness and the power of Love 2008-09-13 20:55:00 Areas and Spaces in Silence.Is there a theology of fatherhood? I am soon to become a father and I have been thinking about being a father. My father disappeared from my life when I was young until......There was this strange silence at the other end. I said hello and introduced myself. I asked for forgiveness. He answered with Silence. I suddenly found myself reacting to this Silence. Were all the Read more:Forgiveness
, power
A poem for 9/11 2008-09-12 17:48:00 Ode to Compassion-a Lament for September 11thDo notrefusemy tears for I am a man and I need to weep I need to weepbecause I sit and watch alone: alonebeing not the point the point beingthe coarse salt of an unyielding dirt storm and the personal saltof my nephew from waitingfor news of his fatherthe salt of the world being the point being pored being the tastebeing
Agape and Awareness 2008-09-11 23:39:00 “Do you know him?” The question posed by a stranger sitting next to me at the beginning of a long flight back to Pasadena. It was about to become an even longer flight. I knew the “him” the stranger was referring to, Jesus. He was dressed in a gray business suit and was at the dawn of his middle ages. His suit was neither cheap polyester nor expensive hand tailored, but one purchased in a Read more:Awareness
The Gospel of Life 2008-09-10 19:30:00 "From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." Matt 4.17 Jesus proclaimed this Gospel
through the country. It was his first message after his baptism. While this seems simple, Jesus started down the road to the cross and in these words contains the greatness of his ministr
Love Poem 2008-09-09 13:33:00 Love PrayerMy WifeI live poorly. Love, may my Lord empty me.Give me the release to embrace you. I am fullwith stories, estimations, and opinions. Dull,I sting with boredom. A self-important bee,buzzing around fear, proving my loneliness.The stinger falls out of my eyes revealingyour working servant hands scrubbing the messin stainless steel kitchen sink. Believingfaith stirs to the circular moveme
Here I AM - part II 2008-09-08 10:52:00 Part Two: Here I amMost of the art, music and literary output based on "I am here" tends to be weak. “I am here,” did not let them make room to hear others. They could not comprehend that true art begins in dialogue. I met poets who did not like to read poems, just write them. They expected others to hear and read their poems, while they did not hear the best of their own art form. They asked
Here I Am - part I 2008-09-07 23:06:00 Part ONE: Here I am“I am here.” In these words, the Nobel Prize winning poet Czeslaw Milosz claims, contains all that one can say. As fearful as it may to say, I am not sure he is correct. “I am here,” declares our stand, but not our relationship to the life and God. “I am here,” dominates our contemporary world. As a declarative clause, it locates us as an individual to our place in t
Knocking on doors through theology 2008-09-06 13:03:00 My quest, I see now, involves integrating history, spirituality and something beyond what I knew into a world of love, compassion and affirmation, the Kingdom of God. Answering the call of Jesus, I need to ask new questions, and stay with them. I want to tell a theological history of my life through spiritual questions. What is a human being? What is love? How do I define myself? What are the expe Read more:theology
Art, poem and transformation 2008-09-05 18:57:00 I have always fascinated by the story of Samaritan woman at the well, John 4:4-42. Her life was transformed by the Jesus and his words: A poem about her:Sun's Highest PointI imagine, at times. I fill the large bucketwith only my words. I keep throwing the outthe bucket. It never fills. The noonday sunpulsates into prayer beads of sweat strunglike a thorns along my forehead. Alone,the salt forms a
Love and being alive 2008-09-04 20:48:00 Reading Moltmann's The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation has given me a perspective on experience and methodology. Moltmann argues that the scientific method values repeatability and leaves unique experience undervalued. Yet, it is the experiences that are unique that are the ones that transform us. I understand as I e
Pregnancy, Ultrasounds and love. 2008-09-03 13:44:00 Last night, I saw the first pictures of our child forming. I though about the future, my child and Jesus. At one point, we all looked like that inch long being on the way to birth, including God incarnate. G0d started moving into our world to be with us as a group of cells. The future of how this child will move through the world is a mystery. It is when we let the mystery of life penetrate deep w Read more:Pregnancy
Pregnancy, heartbeat, and Life 2008-09-02 13:34:00 Then we became aware of our child's heartbeat. Lace had her first ultrasound today. She got to see the rapid heartbeat of our child within her. As she told me, I felt the sweep of Joy overcome me. Joy differs from happiness as Joy is rooted life. Unlike happiness, generated out circumstances, Joy meets us in the experience of life when it is at most profound. A job promotion may make you happy, bu Read more:Pregnancy
An Exile Discovers Home 2008-09-01 17:44:00 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.” I told them that the hand of God had been gracious upon me, and that the king had spoken to me. So they said, “Lets start building!” So, they committed themselves to the common good. -Nehemiah Read more:Exile
Love, Lectionary, and the Call of Others 2008-08-31 09:56:00 On Sundays, I like to meditate on the weekly lectionary. Today, I am reading at my Spokane Valley church, Holy Trinity Church, so I have read the passages before actually hearing them at church.The theme in all of the reading is about the nature of Love. Love, Romans 12:9-21 says, comes from how we relate to others. By answering our engagement with others with love, we proclaim love. Now, this se Read more:Others
Theology and Pregnancy 2008-08-30 15:27:00 When we ponder the miracle of incarnation, we usually focus in the birth. Christmas comes and we think of the vulnerability of God as a baby. Yet, God chose the process of pregnancy before. Did Mary have morning sickness. As the Jesus grew inside her, did she bond, and fear for what was to come. God chose vulnerability before the birth. It seems that love begins with the risk of vulnerability. God Read more:Pregnancy
Life and Poetry 2008-08-29 16:07:00 Just wanted to post another poem. Thinking about my wife and my child makes my soul sing. Yes, I can follow the rules and form for a sonnet.Choosing FoodTo My WifeSuddenly, I am free. Love, your vibratingjoy at eating French chocolate, laughingat the our conversation’s ingredients, shakingat my slow humor, keeps us migratingtoward a new future. We cook stir-fry to-gether. We eat bread together. Read more:Poetry
Theology of Pregnancy 2008-08-28 13:19:00 Lace and I are expecting. The date we are due, April 11, looms like Christmas to kid. This is our first. I remember hearing a excellent presentation of bring in the Cross into your marriage. More on that later. What made me think is how do we bring in theology into our time of pregnancy? How does the Life, Cross and Resurrection of Jesus shade this important time for my wife and me? I know the Bib Read more:Pregnancy
Faith and poetry 2008-08-27 13:33:00 More on poetry and faith-Faith
has been constructed out of proposial truth since the Decarte and any other truth has been devalued. Faith has to find a way into someones daily life or it is not faith but aggreement. Is Jesus Lord? To say yes and then operate as if the answer was irrelevant really becomes a no. I have always love the sory of the woman at the well in John 4. For her, faith began as
Through poets eyes 2008-08-26 13:21:00 I have always look at the Gospel through the eyes of a poet. Meaning that the gospel of Jesus comes to me in the beauty of truth and not simply propositional truth to agree with. I remember a friend, Dr. John Goldingay, and Old Testament scholar, ribbing for being a poet. I reminded him that most of the Old Testament was written in Verse, ( around 70%) and the New Testament had a high degree of po Read more:poets
Faith and Life 2008-08-20 13:48:00 Recently, NPR produced a piece on an Atheist Camp. What I found interesting was first the making Science and Faith
opposite poles, rather than occupying different spheres of human endeavors. The second and more important for me was the binding faith as an answer to death. Christian have ourselves to blame making Jesus about the world to come. For Jesus the gospel was not an answer for death, but a
Sin and the Markets: Another Frightening Show About the Economy 2008-10-07 13:41:00 These are crazy times. The Markets
are imploding and their looks like hard times ahead. The question is how did we get here? Being a Christian, I understand the problem in terms of my faith.Listening to This American Life (It was a very good a explaining the greed that us in this mess) last night, the Spirit prompt me into seeing the problem has been what 1 Tim 6.10 always warned us about that the Read more:Frightening
Psalm and Spirituality 2008-10-02 13:40:00 Here is a psalm I wrote for a class on Tanak (The old testement) Spirituality
Such an Account of My Soul in Time… Lord, I have been hurtagain.I need to hide, need to cover my facefrom the others. To hide this hurt for I fearand I am ashamed. To be with youis too painful. I hide from you.Come into my being. Protect mefrom the good intentions of others.Come,Lord,come to the placeof your hurt child Read more:Psalm
Mary's pregnancy 2008-10-01 13:41:00 Luke is the only Gospel that gives us what Mary's experience of her pregnancy. Her pregnancy story is tied so much with the Holy Spirit that it can be thought of as a pnuemolical event. She is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit fills her cousin Elizabeth upon seeing Mary. Her song tells of her great love for the God who would bring up the humble, and all of this as her own social posito
Poem about my wife 2008-10-29 13:40:00 Here is a poem I wrote about my wife. I am over come with love for her, and felt the need to express it. Father’s Day at the Del Coronado Hotel, San Diego L M The ocean’s breath is muggy from the water,the waves, and the sun. You stand with a black waif-like cell phone in the middleof a gaggle of Sunday tourists. With one finger in your left ear, you call home.
Freedom, Jesus, Life and Love 2008-10-27 13:36:00 Yesterday at Bible study we took on John 8:31-36: 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus
said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. 33 They answered him, We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free? 34 Jesus replied, I tell you the trut Read more:Freedom
Ayn Rand and the missing sense 2008-10-22 18:58:00 A parable about Ayn Rand.Once there was an artist, who lacked the sense of smell. She loved the look of red onions. Soon, she would start making beautiful coats out of the onions. She would step back and admired her work. How beautiful, she would claim."Only a fool could not see how great a work of art I have created." She said.She took her work to the market place. Most who saw her coat, quickly
Jesus represents the true Power 2008-10-21 19:00:00 The power of LoveGod as the God of Genesis-Power as the power of CreationGod as the God of Exodus-Power as the power of FreedomGod as the God of the Cross-Power as the power of ReconciliationTwo days ago, I preached on Matt 22:15-32. I wish I would have been able to preach after last night. Last night I was privileged to be invited by Rabbi David D’Auria to attend a Sukkot service at Kehilat HaM Read more:Jesus
Recommend Site To A Friend
