Real Live Preacher post

I have to make a link to a post by Gordon Atkinson on RealLivePreacher.com today. Very well described note about how he came to his feelings on homosexuality and Christianity.

http://www.reallivepreacher.com/ look for article titled "This is How It Happened" dated 2/23/2006. Even better - listen to the Audio file on the same subject.

Definitely water for the desert bound.

Where have all the prophets gone?

Absolutely riveting (and personally challenging) message by George Mason, senior pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas)

Here's the link and below that I've embedded some of the text (it's rather long, so you might want to go the link to get the whole article):

http://txbc.org/Wherehaveprophetsgone.htm

Where Have All the Prophets Gone
By Phil Strickland Executive Director, BGCT Christian Life Commission (The speech was delivered to the Texas Baptists Committed breakfast at the Baptist General Convention of Texas meeting, Nov. 14, 2005, in his absence by George Mason, Senior Pastor, Wilshire Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas)

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various tongues … " (1 Cor. 12:27-29).
Prophets! I thought we got rid of them a long time ago. Actually, I haven't seen many around lately. Where have all the prophets gone?
You may remember the Pete Seeger song made popular by Peter, Paul and Mary— Where Have All the Flowers Gone . Well, I think we need new words to that tune. On any given Sunday morning in a Baptist church there are plenty of flowers in front of the pulpit, but not a prophet to be found behind it.
Where have all the prophets gone?
Lord knows we need them. Consider:
--One half the world is living on $2 a day. But that's the other half, right? They are used to that;
--25% of our Texas children living in poverty. But that's other people's children, right? Figure that's the way
God thinks of them?
--Religious liberty is being lost without our seeming to notice. It's oozing away through our fingers like a fist full of sand until we open it all too late to discover there is not much of it left in our grasp;
--And then there's the dramatic and continuing shift of the world's wealth away from the poor and the middle class to the largest corporations and the wealthiest people. But not to worry, we can trust them to do the right thing with all that money, right? After all, the marketplace evens everything out in the end. Isn't that where we can depend upon the “invisible hand” of God to work? Or was that just Adam Smith's hand?
--Environmental regulations are disappearing every day. But we are given by God the right to have dominion over all the earth, aren't we? Well, something like that;
--And what about another tax cut of $70 billion dollars that will be funded by $50 billion dollars of cuts to children? That proposal will probably be passed by the House this week and is supported by the administration. 300,000 people will lose food stamps and another 300,000 will lose access to daycare. The bill cuts Medicaid by $45 billion when we already have 45 million people who have no health insurance. Something tells me that's not what Jesus meant by “Suffer the little children ….”
Where have all the prophets gone?
Have they all disappeared? Or is it possible that some of them are around but aren't doing their job? Is it possible that God is still appointing them, but not many of us want the job? I mean, we know what happened to Jonah, and the belly of a whale doesn't sound like fun, does it?
Walter Brueggemann is one of our best Old Testament scholars. In books like his wonderful work, The Prophetic Imagination (and Finally Comes the Poet ), he doesn't let us relegate prophecy to biblical times. Prophets are not obsolete, although they seem rather rare these days, despite the great need for them in our churches and in our world.
I want to suggest that pretty much all of us are called to have an element of the prophet in us. Yes, I understand that is not the primary role for many of us, but I'm thinking that being overcrowded with prophets is not our problem right now.
I'm suggesting that for pastors, for example, as we call them to the role of pastor/preacher, we might also want to add the word prophet —pastor/ preacher/ prophet. Such pastors will value our values and will fight for them. The title of prophet might even apply to laymen, or, God forbid, to a denomination! These groups, with a little prophetic imagination, could become the cutting edge of the prophetic in our society, rather than the six to eight “prophets” we hear on TV whose prophetic imagination is limited to Armageddon. These genuine prophets would be ready and willing to confront the principalities and powers, whether they be school boards, city councils, the legislature, Congress, or even our own Baptist institutions.
But seldom do I go to churches and hear prophetic, or even strong ethical preaching. And the brave pastors that want me to preach for them often say a word to me before I go. It goes something like this: “Now, Phil, our church is not really in a place where it can deal with anything controversial.” Which tells me that they don't want to do anything that involves risk. Which tells me that no prophecy is happening there since prophecy always contains an element of risk!
Back to our $70 billion tax cut being currently being considered, funded partially, as I said, with $50 billion being cut from programs that are used for poor children. If the pastor as prophet wanted to point out the injustice of that, how would that go over with some of the members of the church?
Well, I think I can answer that for Phil. They would cry “Politics!” They would suddenly become strict church-state separationists. Of course, what they really are saying is that they don't want God and government to go together if it's not their brand of politics. I'll also tell you that there's a widespread feeling in many church pews that has to be challenged. People think government is by nature always bad and needs constraining. They think government is lousy at caring for the poor and that that's really the church's business. But I can tell you that I have never once seen a line of those folks forming at my door begging for ways to give the church more money to care for the poor or eager to start new ministries that would do it better than the government.
So what is happening to prophetic voices? What is the juggler that trumps the pastoral voice? Is it lack of courage? Or ambition? Courage and ambition seldom hang out together. Or is it just the desire not to rock any boats?
(continued at link above)

Are we there yet?

When I was a kid (not THAT long ago, thankyou), I was always the impatient one on car trips, asking "are we there yet" interminably, until my mother had to restrain my father from committing some unspeakable, completely justified act that involved scotch tape and my mouth, I'm sure.

I've finally reached the point in life when I realize that "we're there now". There is no tomorrow, and yesterday's done. What's outside the car windows right now is all there is. All that ever will be.

Okay, I'm starting to enjoy the "count the cows" and "license plate bingo" games a little more now.

P.S. Mom - thanks for the intervention at that early age. Dad, I promise to help pay for the counselling that I'm sure you had to take. Love, your darling son.

Morning energy

Well, started the morning rather fast and furious. Laundry, dishwashing (like that one took a lot of energy!), cleaning, etc. Then by 10:00 - meltdown. Had to sit down for a good bit to regain my "get up and go", as my grandmother used to say.

Probably a good thing - having to sit and think for a bit. I do an excellent job of "doing", acting furiously through a day's activities. This gives me terrific reasons not to think about what I'm doing, or even what I really want to do. Riding the crest of daily events and letting the minutiae rule my direction is easier. Stopping to consider what's important and where I really want/need to go at a strategic level is seldom in my browser.

Multiple sclerosis has done a good job in making me slow down and think a bit. Not that I'm glad to have MS. However, I am trying to be a bit more concerned with where my life's headed.

When I get time, that is. I hear the dryer buzzing now, so I'll have to put "thinking" on hold, while I fold clothes.

Oh well, so much for taking charge of the larger picture.

I'm back!!

okay, I took a vacation for awhile. Actually, a literal vacation with my family. It was my folks' 50th wedding anniversary, so my parents and my brother and I took a long trip, visiting many of the places we lived as a family.

Started with a flight home to meet up with everyone for the trip. I caught myself wishing the clouds out of the way as we landed, so that I could see the city that I grew up in better. Got somewhat testy when they wouldn't move out of the way fast enough. I started noticing some interesting shapes to the clouds, kinda like when I was a kid and we looked for animals in the sky. Then I noticed textures and colors. I realized there was a whole landscape of fantasy and imagination at my window as we descended. Seems I had just started enjoying the skyscape when we broke through the clouds and found the earth hurtling towards us with exhilirating speed.

Made me wonder how many other times I've been anxiously waiting for something to appear and have missed the wonder all around me in the meantime.

Guess now's a good time to start living in the present. Or at least as good a time as any.

Forsaken

My God, My God, why have I forsaken you? The very things I do not want to do seem to consume my time and thoughts. How will you forgive me if I cannot forgive myself?

I am so internally focused at this time of need by so many others. Shame engulfs me as shadows in winter. Indeed, it's odd that I feel so cold and quiet in these days of record heat. My purpose wanders, listless, as my keel is broken.

Is there purpose? What am I to do? I need faith, guidance, forgiveness and love.

And the scripture is right - most of all, I need love.

Hummingbirds

While at the in-laws this last weekend, we had a merry time watching the "flock" of hummingbirds competing for time at the feeders. They were a beautiful bunch of tiny birds, each whirring with the precision of a fine-tuned timepiece.

I noticed that they were very combative with each other. There were a total of 8 that we could identify. All 8 would rest in the oaks surrounding the back porch, until one of them would make a surprise dart at the feeders. Immediately, 2 or 3 of the others would start dogfights, attacking the one bird that dared to sip the delicious nectar.

This breach of restful unity evidently sounded a clarion call for all out warfare, so that all 8 birds became engaged in a struggle to control the feeder in question. During the fight, none of the 8 would actually succeed in taking a drink.

Keep in mind that there were 2 separate feeders, each with 4 openings to drink. The aerial combat, involving all 8 birds, concentrated on one specific feeder, leaving the other open for use.

I realized how symbolic this Lilliputian war was. How often we fight over God's "will" or determining the propriety of God's love for others who disagree with us, all the while ignoring the open spots at the table that would easily welcome each of us, differences and all.

Here's to taking a spot and sipping God's nectar, focusing on Him instead of the "others".