Dusting off the bottle

Gentleman.

Its been long.

I looked here again, to see if anything new was brewing. It was not. But I was welcomed by a picture that incites solitude. I remember when picking that picture, I was going for the idea of some small wine cellar, or a corner pub. On the sign, "sanctorum communio." On the right, Eric, you reminded us all of the gift we have between the bunch of us. It is a gift - a blessing by God, instituted and created by God, our fellowship. This site is merely a manifestation of that. The sign was inviting to me, and asked me to look around inside for a while.

Inside was dusty, but immediately good. Looking around, the posts were like bottles, dusty and perhaps a little forgotten, and each had a unique label. They were testaments of musings and passions, and carried a substance from a certain time...a tangible place in history. I picked one up and blew the dust off, opened it and took a drink. What pleasure; I remembered right where I was at the time during the discussion. I remembered how I thought, felt. It was complex, with many notes and ideas from all of us; the depth and complexity was unique, and held a certain nakedness of where we were.

It was much like discovering an appropriately aged glass of red wine.

Things have changed. Jamis, last I heard you were pastoring two churches and trying to juggle a family life...and loving every part of it. Your seminary bought me a glass that night. EJ, you had visited, and we got together on what would be too great of a stolen time. I was in relationship at the time, and had to run...and you had finally found your niche at Dubuque. Matt...your New Years Party. The awkwardness of certain people in the same place, and the bitterness at seeing you off for a year. Mick...we dang near see each other everyday. Thank God for that! But when I do talk with you all, there is a familiar ring to the conversation. It is an effortlessness. For instance, Matt, even though you are presently in Ho Chih Minh, our mails back and forth have been as fruitful to me as if they were conversations we were having face to face.

We've changed, circumstance can do that. Two of you are in Seminary, and have an insight there that I cannot fathom. Matt, your experience of the world is perhaps more brutally real than anyone I know, and I evny that oppertunity. Mick and I are here, post graduation and striking out on our own endeavor, God help us. And me myself, well...things change in many many ways in a year. But amid the change in us, for the better, we still have something tangible. It is community, a brotherhood that indeed, it is blessed by God. I hope that we can add some new bottles to our collection, here on this page...Or in the future at some corner pub. Blessings all.
-Mike Beardslee-

Open Theism

Open Theism

I'm opening this topic for discussion (and Mick, I'm not neglecting your last post - I expect to get to it.)

I was talking with a friend last night who is an open theist and, not knowing much about open theism, I did some reading on it. I was wondering what your guys' thoughts were on it? If you don't know much about it, I suggest you take a look at it.

I think the main argument is that it questions the sovereignty of God in a lot of ways. It definitely leans toward a more Armenian-type theology, which angers the Calvinists. :)

Clark Pinnock is essentially the 'father' of modern day open theism. It borders heresy in a lot of ways but I think that's what makes it so interesting. I'd love to hear what you guys think.

Oh my G-d

I just found one of the most profound sermons/speeches I've ever read. I didn't even finish it the first time through. I stopped reading it to repent, and just read some of that Bible thing I haven't read in a year (no exaggeration). (I'll come back and post a comment when I finish reading).

here's an excerpt:

I stand here today . . . I’m not troubled in my heart about your self-esteem. I’m not troubled in my heart about whether or not you feel good about yourself, whether or not life is turning out like you want it to turn out, or whether or not your checkbook is balanced. There’s only one thing that gave me a sleepless night. There’s only one thing that troubled me all throughout the morning, and this is this. Within a hundred years, a great majority of people in this building will possibly be in hell. And many who even profess Jesus Christ as Lord will spend an eternity in hell.

You say, Pastor, how can you say such a thing? I can say such a thing because I don’t do my Christian work in America. I spend most of my time preaching in South America, in Africa, and Eastern Europe. And I want you to know that, when you take a look at American Christianity, it is based more upon a godless culture than it is upon the Word of God.

. . . I’m not trying to be hard for the sake of being hard. Do you realize how
much love it takes to stand before 5,000 people and tell them that American Christianity is almost totally wrong? Do you know what it’s going to cost me to never be asked back again to something like this? To be unpopular? Do you know why you do it? You don’t do it because you get paid well. You don’t do it because men love you. You do it because you love men and because, more than that, you want to honor God.

Here's the link:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/789/The-Truth-About-Christianity

Stirring the discussion...

Hey brothers,

It's been awhile since the discussion has been going, and I was hoping to start a new discussion that is related to most of the discussions we've been having, and something I have been experiencing myself since I entered into Seminary. Thinking back to Bonhoeffer's book Life Together, which I haven't read in ages but only vaguely remember a passage of (I'll have to do some investigating), I seem to remember him talking about 'spiritual community,' and how it cannot exist apart from or take the place of natural community, because then it becomes something artificial, something unhealthy. Rather 'spiritual community' is something that augments natural community, that is, our current friendships, family relations, traditions, and natural roles that we filled, which are rooted in who we are naturally (our personalities and temperments) and how they come together to make a sort of culture, whether that's a family culture, the culture of a group of friends, or the culture of a church as an association of many different families and their friendships, and the connections, roles, and dynamics that develop naturally. So my question is, how does our trinitarian community through the Spirit of God, our 'spiritual community,' interact with our natural communities?

This is something I have begun to question in myself, a question that has arisen out of a deepening doubt in myself and my ability to minister to anyone, feeling quite overwhelmed with the calling to study, think, grow, and also die daily and give myself up for my brothers and sisters, for God and my neighbor, always feeling there is more I could give, but that I don't want to or can't, and I am really exhausted. Mentally exhausted for running over and over again in my head how I could have been more loving, could have been more charitable, feeling selfish even for taking a few moments to do something I wanted to do for myself but feeling like I needed that.

Out of this doubt I have really begun to evaluate who I am, what my own personality is like, and how I fit into my family, my friendships, and the community here at Dubuque Seminary. I think that before I was trying to be 'spiritual' in a sense that was not very natural, was not really myself, and it felt like I was being fake when I did it, and I was being selfish when I did not. The reality is were are called to be disciples of Christ, but we cannot help every suffering person, we cannot feed every hungry person, we cannot fix all of the problems of the world or even our families, and to think that we can do so is very overwhelming. I felt completely responsible, but completely helpless both at once. Several times I have wanted to quit, to give the whole thing up and just get an easy job somewhere, maybe come back to Wichita and spend time with my family and friends there.

But I think that I've been going about it all wrong, trying to be 'spiritual' unnaturally, and I think that I see that going on in a lot of ways all around me. People ask me "Eric, how are you doing," and I know that they care, but do they really want to hear how I'm doing, and do I really want to tell them? People say "How are you doing?" unstead of a simple "Hello" these days, and I think that it's all well meaning and that they do care, but everybodies so busy we don't have time to care. But I think I'm getting into another topic here. So I reiterate my question, how does 'spiritual community' relate to our own natural communities, and how do we live out our calling in obedience without feeling like we have to save everyone, or that we even can?

Doubt: Faith amid the Silence of God

Alright men. I really want your input on this one, I'll try and keep it short. We all know that faith is hard. As Christians we are to practice 'solidarity' with the world, showing them the riches of faith in Christ. But also, we are to be apart - because we do live in the liberation of Christ. But the difficulty that I mention here is a different kind.

I ask, have you ever doubted. Not in God's ability, or your ability, or in faith. No, have you ever doubted in such severity that you feel that you can no longer call yourself a Christian? Have you ever been so burned out with faith, that for a time...you loose it. This doubt comes differently to all non-infants of faith. For some, the pain hits when they proclaim the new life of Christ, and yet...there is not even a spark to light it within themselves. For others, it is when they wake up one day to feel as though they have the understanding that their faith holds no ground, and they search for the foundation that holds their foundation. For yet others, it is simply when they come to the cold realization that they stand in a night, alone with nothing but silence. They cannot feel, hear, or see God any longer - eventually being stripped of their ability to commune with him. and yet, so often than not, these three examples seem to coincide with each other - a person who has experienced one, experiences the others. It is a topic that I have searched deeply into, as (I do not claim to be an expert) I am no stranger to bumpy roads in faith myself. But before I explore those possibilities with you all, I am curious - to those who have suffered or are suffering a profound difficulty in believing. What did you find? God Bless.
-Beardo-

The Church...

as an Embassy. eh?

sex, shoes, and salvation

hey guys,

So at our youth group meeting on Sunday morning, we started talking about salvation. You know, the typical, "do you think you can lose your salvation" talk. These students are bright! But somehow, the conversation got onto influences. We started talking about shoes. Eventually, we started talking about sex. Then one of the girls said, "sex is a lot like shoes." To which someone else said, "sex and shoes are a lot like salvation."

I laughed.

So, we never officially tied the three together, but I have a gut-wrenching feeling that there is some way they do fit. I want to know how you guys think sex, shoes, and salvation fit together. I'm going to write my own blog about it eventually, but I wanted your guys' take on it.

No pressure ;)