whatever you do.

Reading The Fidelity of Betrayal on a dripping Saturday afternoon. I’m now into Part Two and his exploration of the Name of G–D through ancient mythologies such as Lilith, Isis, and then the Moses narrative. Reading Part One where Rollins explores how a faithful reading of the text of the Bible may involve our betrayal of the words we find has already lead to some fascinating and rich discussions with friends. I’ll leave you with a passage from Part One while I continue on myself.

“The words of the Bible, wonderful as they often are, must not be allowed to stand in for God’s majestic Word, as if the words and phrases have been conferred with some sacred status and the phonetic patterns given divine power. Rather, the Word of God can be described as that dark core around which the words of the text find their orbit, the unspeakable Source within the text that cannot be reduced to the words themselves but that breathes life into them.” (Rollins, p. 57)

Chris takes it like a champ…
Trust me, the water was very cold.

One more as I finish my coffee… Presenting Joe Purdy…

If you are a music junkie of any stripe you should sign up on thesixtyone.com. It’s a great place to discover and support great indepentent artists from a wide variety of genres. Plus it adds a little twist with a slightly addictive game that has been devised around promoting the artists you enjoy and discover. When you do sign up, mention diecast as your referrer. Here is my page. Go bump some tunes!

Tags: thesixtyone, joe purdy

Its a meiko morning…

Tags: meiko, thesixtyone

I had a nice present arrive in the mail late last week – the latest album by the supreme dream team, The Cobalt Season. Fragile Iconoclast has been a steady road companion for me this weekend. Three hour drive up and down from the cottage was sound-tracked by this and Ryan’s prior album, But I Tell You. They held up quite well to the pine trees, lakes, and rocky outcroppings of the Haliburton highlands. I’m very appreciative of music that welcomes the imagery of journey. Especially when that is context within an actual journey through such stunning and wild scenery.

I’m not alone among my friends when it comes to a conscious reconsidering of my surety in religion and God as previously understood. Fragile Iconoclast provided some great points of discussion and a hopeful way forward in our conversations on what it is to worship in the place that we are. Such depth and devotion has been found in the searching and unsteady steps of life. I’ve been very appreciative of the artistry of Ryan and Holly and company in this season of un/faith.

I really did not intend to see the world this way. When I was a teen I knew so much more about the way God works. Seriously, all my questions were answered. The Baptist way was the way of God through the millennia. No doubts. I did not intend this to change. If I stumbled upon myself then as I am now I would have instantly judged me to be outside of God. I’m so thankful that God has pulled me outside. I hope that 10 years from now I am still in a place that 10 years previous I did not intend.

After I down this pizza I am off for a weekend celebration of my friend Chris’s life up to this juncture. See, the guy is getting married in a couple weeks. So we are packing a bunch of seriously stinky guys into a Muskoka cottage as we hang out with our friend at this moment before the next chapter begins. So here’s to you, Chris. Unplugged weekend… I can’t wait!

We often interpret child-like faith to mean simple and unspoiled – pure and singular of focus. But maybe a more truly child-like faith is the openness to being held in an infinitely uncertain place. A place absent of our knowing and a place of being deeply known, as a mother whose voice is an unknowable comfort to her infant.

A big part of why Missional living really resonates with me is because of a fresh understanding about Spiritual Gifts. Something I read the other day really summed up my new direction really sweetly…

“Our motivation for having spiritual gifts is not our own reputation, or desire for recognition or position, but rather the common good of the rest of the body. The gifts are given to the body, expressed through us as individuals, but the focus remains the body.” – Rob McAlpine, Post-Charismatic?

Over-individualized ideas of spiritual gifts has in the past resulted in a fractured body. Pastors and elders over here, Sunday school teachers over there, long-term missionaries in yet another corner. If our systems and positions worked in a previous setting we assumed that God has meant for us to do the same job wherever we find ourselves.

I am Missional because there seem to be much more important things than finding fitting into our structures. A missional call to find out where God is at work and to join him there means we need to forget for the time being whatever individual aspirations or giftedness we may think we are carrying with us. Not that we will never use them again, but for the good of the Kingdom we first need to forget ourselves and our mission and find God’s.

Missional living in this culture is perhaps, as Brother Maynard has suggested about the gift of prophecy, post-certainty.¹

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This was part of a missional synchroblog started by Jonathan. Here are the other participants:
Ben Wheatley – WWSBD What Would Shepherd Book Do?
Bryan Riley – Jesus is the Way and He Was Missional
Jonathan Brink – Why I Am Missional
Blake Huggins – Missional Synchroblog: Why Am I Missional
Alan Knox – Demonstrating the Heart of God
Tim Jones – Participation or Observation?

I’m just without an internet connection at home right now. I feel bad using work time to write blog posts…. (not that I’ve been squeaky clean in that area)

Anyway, I’m hoping we can get our modem issues taken care of tomorrow and then I’ll be back more often.

This is a daily cycle with which I am far too familiar…

Compelling and Poignant Moments From the Daily Life of Lois

I love the drawing style too. Wonderful, expressive body postures and expressions. Reminds me of so much of art school days. More of Lois’s work can be found here.

Tags: art, illustration