William H. Willimon is one of my favorite writers. I’m rereading his book, Calling and Character Virtues of the Ordained Life. Willimon calls us to look at scripture as a guide for ethics but then tells us that the scripture speaks very little of ethics.

“The Acts of the Apostles is, by my reckoning an Early Christian treatise on ministry, but Acts hardly ever turns away from its drama to give ethical admonition. Rather all ethics is by implication, through imaginative, dynamic analogy, by creative inference from the models for ministry of people like Paul, Barnabas, Peter and Tabitha. As Stanley Hauerwas has said, “The lives of the saints are the hermeneutical key to scripture.”

If its true that the stories of the saints and the early church are where theology, doctrine and our fundamental understandings of God are informed I would think we need to be more focused on story then we are.

We live in a culture in America that is formed and informed by story. My kids have seen more movies in 20 years then I will see in my life. While all these stories are not great works they do help people, my kids included process, understand and come to grips with the world they live in.

As Christians we are formed by the greatest story ever told. Maybe we need to be better storytellers rather then information sources.

Back form the Lectures and loving it!

Mesmerized by Phil Ware and his class on visual image and preaching.

Two days sitting at the feet of Lynn Anderson, Lee Camp, Randy Harris and others hearing them wrestle with the subject of the Christian and the Nation State.

Don McLaughlin’s call to the church to serve the world was more then inspiring, it was funny.

Jack Reese did the best job I have ever heard with a very difficult text.

A short conversation with President Money about his first encounter with my daughter reminded me how blessed she and we have been to have her there.

Lots of friends new and old to reminisce with.

Seeing Jacobs Ladder for the first time. Why do Angels need wings to climb a ladder?

How open is this church we find ourselves in? How much do we demand others to be like us in order to be part of the club? Are we a little like the boys in our neighborhood who hung the no girls allowed sign on the front of their clubhouse? How selective are we when it comes to who gets in and who doesn’t and what are the criteria?

“Slytherin wanted to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy.

If you’re a Harry Potter fan you recognize the quote. If not you’re probably lost but the bottom line is we all have a tendency to look down on someone and that tends to divide rather then incorporate. If the Kingdom of God is about reconciling men to God and each other I suggest we start finding ways to open the doors and include rather then ways to make our club more exclusive.

Ten reasons To Attend The ACU Lectures

1. I get to see my kids and I get to see them perform. One singing and one running.
2. I get to see friends and family who live in Abilene, work for ACU or are also attending.
3. Seeing the Jacobs Dream statue first the first time.
4. Hearing Randy Harris. There will be a lot of great teaching but Randy makes me laugh.
5. Hearing 4000 people sing The Lord Bless You And Keep You.
6. Meeting my kid’s professors. You can never hear too much good about your kids.
7. Worshipping at Highland. I love being at Central but Highland is always special.
8. More books on sale then you can imagine.
9. Lots of food.
10. Six days with my bride.

I’m starting to prepare for a class I’ll teach in January on Spiritual themes in movies and literature, several themes jump to mind, self-sacrifice, love, good vs. evil. All of these show up regularly in what we read and watch. My question can you think of some more, what are they and what examples in books and movies can you give me.

Its great to let others do the research.

Can God do wrong? Is everything God does right simply because he’s God or can God do wrong and still be perfect?

Gods done a lot of wrong stuff in His day, killed innocents, slaughtered the helpless, brought suffering on those who didn’t deserve it and just about anything else you can think of. If I did this I would be an abject sinner and unquestionably wrong. God does it and its O.K. How does that work?

My understanding is that God can do wrong things and still not sin. God can do things that would be horrific if anyone else did them and still be perfect. That’s why we are called to be disciples of Christ, not God. Imitating God would get nasty but imitating God in the flesh makes a lot more sense. Jesus is the ultimate picture of what it means to be really human which is what we’re designed for. God on the other hand is not human and beyond our imitating. God maintains all the God qualities, powers and actions that are off limits to us. Jesus released all of those, came to earth, lived among us and teaches us what it means to be who we were designed to be.

What do you think?

I had the opportunity to have lunch with a friend yesterday. Our conversation moved to the topic of how the church should handle the divorce issue and all its ramifications. How do we as disciples up hold the sanctity of marriage and still love those who have suffered the trauma of divorce? How can the church be hard on divorce and still love the divorced? Truth is, we didn’t come up with any answers, at least not any ones you haven’t heard before.

I’ve heard a lot of moaning and whining about the current state of our nation. I’ve heard people blame the media, liberals, conservatives, homosexuals and conservative Christians for what they perceive as the destroying forces at work against the founding principals of our nation. I’m pretty sure you can’t single out one group or ideology to blame for all the problems in America but I do think one of the most harmful elements is our divorce rate. Drugs, poverty, crime and pornography are not destroying our families, divorce is.

The idea that kids, mothers and fathers can some how go through a divorce and not suffer is ludicrous. I hear dads talk about their wonderful relationships with kids who they left to live with their mother and I want to throw up. I’ve heard women speak of their divorced husbands and how they have a much better relationship now. Give me a break!

The answer to our divorce problems begins with me making sure I do everything I can to make my marriage the best it can be. That starts by making God the focus of my marriage! While that won’t solve the problem it’s a start.

Conflict seems to be a given in life. I’ve been reading a friends blog and some folks have decided to take it over with an outpouring of anger and spite. Of course these folks post under the wonderful name anonymous. I’m all for open, honest discussion, which at times can get emotional but these folks have gone beyond that.

I suppose conflict is caused by two or more people being in close proximity but surely we can do better then this. The world has enough conflict, what it needs is a place of reconciliation. The church is supposed to be that place but I’m afraid we’ve fallen short of our calling. The Old Testament prophecies spoke of a time of peace and prosperity when the lion would lie down with the lamb. As I understand it these prophecies should be brought to fruition in the Kingdom of God and modeled in his church. My experience in the church, which is substantial by any measurement is that church folks are just as likely to be in conflict as non church folks if not more so. So much for the prophecies.

If the church took it upon itself to be the center of healing, reconciliation and peace on this earth what would happen? Instead of a United Nations what if the church took on the role of peacemakers. Maybe this world needs peacemakers more then it needs peacekeepers. It seems peacekeepers tend to use the weapons of the world, guns, power might and peacekeepers are left with the weapons of God, prayer, self-sacrifice, humility, weakness and love.

While conflict will always mark a fallen world for what it is, in rebellion against God, there should be a place where reconciliation and forgiveness are the norm rather then anger, spite and seperation.