Spokane is a book lovers hell.....

I want to rage....throw a 3 year old, spit spewing, feet stomping, toy trowing, tear streaming, ear drum splitting tantrum. I need a fix...real bad, I'm talking, tremors, sweats, wide eyed tweaker like fix...I need a book store worthy of my love.

Yesterday I spent hours driving around this town trying to find two books that I want to look at. (What Was I Thinking?: Things I've Learned Since I Knew It All by Steve Brown and Jesus Drank, Judas Repented and God Divorced his Bride by Steve Brown) I want to buy them but I need to "LOOK" at them first. I need to peruse them, look at the chapters, read portions and make a decision to buy or not depending on the weight of what is written inside. Not on the cover, not by the publishers, not be reviewers but by the AUTHOR!!!! That means I am at the freaking mercy of booksellers and what they decide I or fellow Spokanites deserve to have access to. And there lies the source of my vein popping storm of emotion. Nobody in this town has a clue as to what religious books, spiritual books, christian books....need to be available to the public.

I am being abused!!! Call the authorities...I am being starved...mentally, spiritually...experientially. Why can't an area of over 500,000 provide a bookstore that has guts, that has literary kohonnas. I despair of looking to the church to provide anything more than a grandma in jammies bookstore experience. They are lost in a religious la la land that bows to conventional thought, marketing restraints and is pushed around by bully legalists that have their over caffeinated jittery fingers on their wallet book and book burning torches. Please send us a pagan that understands the need for books from many different streams of thoughts. Please let the heretics tomb of thoughts sit next to the saints scrolls. Let the buyer decide for himself what is good to read.

Above is Powell's bookstore in Portland, Oregon. The best bookstore in the Northwest, that I have been able to find. Look at that shot of just one aisle! God above have mercy on us...there are are more books in that one shot than most "christian" bookstores around here! I am going to Portland for Christmas and all that present stuff and family is fine...but one thing is for dang sure...I am going to buy books and do it with an addicts melodramatic flare!

He's Back....

Not sure what I think about this...could reincarnation be true???? Sure looks like Chris Farley to me.

Dylan...

Oh...what a ride. I wish I was around in this era...around people that got lost in their ideals, angry at the shallow end and stumbled over themselves as they tried to just be...without the labels. I know that wasn't everyones experience...but moments like these, where two generations are colliding, fascinate me. Sure there was so much wrong in the time...but man, when it was right....it was right on. I wish I could just sit down with Dylan and...I dont know...just watch him smoke a cigarette

Heroes...angst.

Ok...i've been watching "Heroes" for the last two seasons. But this last few episodes has got me a bit perturbed. If you remove the sense of tragedy from a series by allowing for anyone who dies to be brought to life either through "magic blood" or time travel...where is the drama in that. Now, whenever someone gets knocked off...eh, so what, we all now know that Heroes don't die...they just act like it for ratings. That is a major weak point for me. I want to feel tragedy and drama when a Hero dies...it jips the moment when you sprinkle hero dust on them and they resume the endless story. I hope Jessica does stay dead....she adds looks to the show but her character line puts me to sleep. I hope that the next "chapter: VILLAINS" really has some villains that are creative...not superpowers that can do anything..but creative storytelling that puts tension in the plot not a massive wave of overpowering evil that nobody can withstand. Give me a tad of reality in this unreal world.

Four new metal classics by Christian

Here is my 15 year old son Christian's 4 covers of various metal songs...all instruments and now, vocals are him.
Diamonds & Rust

I could take 'em

Will you be left behind....?

What's your eschatology?

Merry Christmas...

Elfyourself

question

You are invited into a room.
There are 10,000 boxes.
One of them will kill you, the others contain $1,000.
How many would you open?

amazing...wow.

Tech Team Powers...Activate!

Oh my don't we look geeky. Here is Ross, Mike and I around the circa 1983 D&D table...not hacking and slashing Orcs, Kobolds and Beholders; but working out the kinks in our multi-user .mac group that will help us facilitate the uploading of data for each of us to access from anywhere and any computer. As the Tech/media team at Jacob's Well these guys help me wrestle with the digital aspects of ministry....great guys with big brains and quick wits. Yes, I know you are envious as you gaze on the beauty of the sheer sleek glory of 3 MacBook Pros united together in a virtual tech trinity. In fact, with such power...a Death Star might be in the works.

Homework...newschool style

This is a school project my eldest son Christian did for his mythology project...He turned the reading text into a music video of his own creation. This is what an A student, a mini-mac, a love for metal and some creativity can produce. Oh...did I say...I think my son is brilliant????

Christian playing guitar

Here is my eldest carrying on the shredhead tradition...not bad for learning to play everything by ear.
Victim of Changes at the end...especially makes me proud.

Return of the Jedi...

ROTJ scene that was left on the cutting room floor...too bad, I kinda liked it.

Come have breakfast...

So when they got out on the land,
they see a charcoal fire laid
and a cooked fish lying on it and bread...
Jesus says to them, "Come have breakfast."
None of the disciples dared to inquire of him,
"Who are you?"
knowing that he was the Lord.
Jesus comes and takes the bread
and gives it to them and the fish likewise.
-John 21:1-24

This is one of my favorite set of verses in the Bible.
Jesus making breakfast.
A simple act of love.
God making something...for his friends to eat.

There is something holy...yes, I said holy...about making something for someone to eat. I am not talking about throwing some cardboard box into the microwave and scooping out its contents onto a plate. But when you take the time to think about what you will cook. When you prepare something that was first conceived in your mind and heart for those you love or want to bless. It really is an offering.

Cooking should be rescued today from the frantic hands of over busy lives. The kitchen should once again be sanctified and set up as an altar of worship. A place where time is spent. Where the aromas of slow cooked delights ascend like incense; calming the heart, soothing the troubled mind. The table should be set with a prayerful hum. Each setting is an invitation to share, to commune, to receive.

Cooking is really personal...you handle everything...you touch the meal. I pray that those who fight to remain at home would be hallowed in their home care. I pray that those who are forced or choose to be out of the home...would fully inhabit the home when they are there.

"It takes great artistry to create a home where people will want to talk to each other; where they will want to linger over dinner; where they will want to snuggle up with a quilt and a book on a rainy day instead of escaping to the shopping mall. it takes skill and sensitivity to design ways to buoy, comfort and strengthen the people we love." -Linda Burton "The making of a home".

This isn't woman's work...it's parent work. It's ministry...it's worship.
When was the last time you found a quilt or a blanket that was really, really comfortable and enveloped your son or daughter in it...together? It's about the feel of the blanket chosen...a deeply felt experience. Most memories are packed full of sensation, smell, sounds...a meal can fill the gut or fill the heart and mind. The danger for us parents is when we lose sight of the importance of home and the many nuances of home life that are sacred.

"We need to scrutinize the rush of our activities, because even venerable exertions may be keeping us from becoming and doing what God wants. A packed schedule may be detrimental not only to ourselves, but to those we seek to help. A few years ago our neighbors were drawn to us, but when we talked to them about the Lord, their response was, "We couldn't be Christians; we couldn't live at your pace." They had been attracted to Christ, but the busyness of our lives had scared them from a commitment. -Jean Fleming, "How Busy Is Too Busy?"

I love that Jesus...sat down and cooked a meal..a charcoal fire...not Elijah fire from heaven...PRESTO...kind of cooking but...He cooked fish and bread...in fact the scriptures mention the "means" in which He made the breakfast, it was a charcoal fire.. He took time making a fire and slowly cooking a hearty breakfast for hard working fisherman.

We should worship God in the same way...slowly, with intent, with quality food...in the spirit of Jesus.

WInter wonders....

Old man winter is exerting his influence around here. I had to pull out the snow blower today and clear the sidewalks around the church and house. We plan on heading South for Christmas, so I am not sure if we will head to the hills to cut down a tree this year or not?
I was listening to the Christmas song "I wish you a merry christmas" the other day and heard the lyrics: "...bring us some figgy pudding." I must confess...I do not want any "figgy pudding". Odd.

The joker...

I cant wait....

Saint Sourpuss: Lecture #1

While Mr. Spurgeon (Charles Spurgeon) was living at Nightingale Lane, Clapham, an excursion was one day organised by one of the young men's classes at the Tabernacle. The brake with the excursionists was to call for the President on their way to mid-Surrey. It was a beautiful early morning, and the men arrived in high spirits, pipes and cigars alight, and looking forward to a day of unrestrained enjoyment. Mr. Spurgeon was ready waiting at the gate. He jumped up to the box-seat reserved for him, and looking round with an expression of astonishment, exclaimed: "What, gentlemen! Are you not ashamed to be smoking so early?" Here was a damper! Dismay was on every face. Pipes and cigars one by one failed and dropped out of sight. When all had disappeared, out came the President's cigar-case. He lit up and smoked away serenely. The men looked at him astonished. "I thought you said you objected to smoking, Mr. Spurgeon?" one ventured. "Oh no, I did not say I objected. I asked if they were not ashamed, and it appears they were, for they have all put their pipes away." Amid laughter the pipes reappeared, and with puffs of smoke the party went on merrily."

So begins a series of posts that will appear here off and on: The Saint Sourpuss Lectures. Reflections on the issues that push cranky christians into vein popping fury. Above is our patron saint of sourpussness who will oversee our dialogue.

I love the above story because it highlights the issue of being "ashamed" and how so often we walk this tightrope of freedom and sensitivity to other peoples consciences. I see flare ups of this issue often. It's refreshing to be around someone who is sure in themselves about the life they are leading. It's painful to see people cower before other peoples scruples. It's often a religiously imposed set of behavior collars that are tightened around the neck to produce actions that wont upset anyone. It's spoken about in binding jargon about love, not making people stumble and other fairly difficult principles that are hard to walk out...consistently and for everyone you know. It's one great mission to make everyone bland, safe and mellow. We produce christians that if they do have a life that produces a loud bark...they got no teeth in regards to impact. We impose a room temperature temperament upon the masses. We neuter people in a religious way that hopes to make everyone more mild and congenial. But in reality our palatableness becomes tasteless. Soon we are one big group of spiritual buffets...where everything tastes the same and all of it can be eaten with no teeth. Heard it, seen it, smelled it, felt it...it's all the same mushy spiritual pepto-bismal. Forgettable people who blend in with the soft colors of our sedative inducing sleepy churches.

So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. -Rom 14:22-23

Spokane Gentleman's Society

Here is a shot from the Philosophy & Theology Symposium last night.

Nah...just kidding...I wish...those hats are awesome.

Rules for the Ring...

What you need to know

I had a fever...again.

Potato Psycho...

ahh...the glory days.

"So I'm heading out to the highway
I got nothing to lose at all
I'm gonna do it my way
Take a chance before I fall
A chance before I fall!"

Strange how God can use anything to inspire us and speak to us.
This song spoke to me at a time when I was wrestling with daring to follow a dream at great risk.
If God can speak through a donkey...he can speak through metal.

One of the best songs ever...

Dust in the wind
Hey...Is that Bob Ross playing guitar and Jesus on the violin?

Religious Nut Jobs...

As you well know, there has been flowing from Rome these many years--like a flood covering the world---nothing but a devastation of men's bodies and souls and possessions, the worst examples of the worst of all things. All this is clearer than day to all, and the roman church, once the holiest of all, has become the most licentious den of thieves (matt. 21:13) the most shameless of all brothels, the kingdom of sin, death, and hell. It is so bad that even Antichrist himself, if he should come, could think of nothing to add to its wickedness." -Martin Luther

We live in some whacked out days...the above video from a recent event in Berlin, Germany exposes that. It is disturbing to see how freaking guidable some people are to any eccentric nut job that comes down the spirituality sewer. One of the things recovered in the Reformation was the freedom from all powerful popes. Dethroning the religious powers that exalt themselves above their brothers in a antichrist like manner. Luther stood up to the religious demagogues of his day like a wild boar. He did it because the gospel was being perverted, distorted and administered through a hierarchy of power.

We are in danger today as our brothers before us of not standing up to the powers that peddle a different gospel. I admire the young germans in this video for calling a spade a spade. For standing up and pointing out the religious fascist that was trying to cast a spell of stupidity over their minds.

Cheers to the Germans who know how to give a nut job a boot to the keister!

So do you?

Do men need a small group to grow?
Read more here: http://wildmanpath.blogspot.com

Looking for a needy person?

Well it is the holiday time of the year, and without sounding too Scrougeish can I rant a bit? At this time of year Christians, churches, businesses start looking to show some charity. So they start calling churches like ours. They want to reach out, give, bless some families...basically show goodwill during the season. Good hearts, good works. So we help facilitate people with names and families for individuals and groups to do something for someone in need...down here there are plenty of good people to bless. And we sincerely love partnering with people to do such things.

But the issue raises some sticky problems. It raises the issue of why these people dont have relationship with the poor in their own circles?

Too many people just dont know the names of anyone who is needy. If we have to go to some organization or church to find the poor..I think that is sad position to be in as a human being, christian or church. Before we can care for the poor, we need to know the poor...they have names. They are not "needy" they are people with names and deserve the respect of relationship before charity.

Charity has its place but the issue of poverty is tough...When we have gone and delivered gifts in the past, I've seen some dads not even come out to receive charity..it is too humiliating. So I have sought for ways to sidestep that issue a bit, still give people a way to bless and reach out, but do it in a way that doesn't hurt the recipients too much. Granted there will always be open hands around here...and for some-people a gift is something they dont have to spend their-money on...so they will take anything and everything...for free. But I am not convinced that is the best for them or their kids. Kids need to see the gift that was purchased, wrapped and given...from a loved one. A gift from someone-else...good but not best. Hard issues, and I dont say any of this to downplay any other works or ways...its just me and my thoughts based on living in an area that wrestles with these issues.

As a church we are doing a thing we call Jubilee Christmas, where we are picking families depending on how much money we raise and paying their rent (to the landlord). We do this so it feels a little more like empowerment than charity to the families. They can then take their "rent" money that they would normally spend on rent and buy their family presents they know they want or need. It helps with saving the families dignity a bit.

Giving gifts is awesome but giving dignity to the poor as well is better. I challenge you to live out a faith that walks with the poor day to day, not once a year. The poor are everywhere...not just "down here". Become friends with people who are struggling...build friendships with them. Know them...invited them into you homes, love their children. Then you will know how to "help" them when holidays or situations come around.

You shouldn't have to call anyone to find someone in need...the church should be caring for the needy already.

simply awesome...

Chuck approved...

I've been impressed by Mike Huckabee lately...now...well...you decide.

Huuuu..heaven...huhh...huhh...heavenbound.

Oh...my. I was a youth pastor when this video was current...man I'm feeling old. I got to find my fanny pack too...why did those things ever go out of style...? :)

Sin Boldly...?

If you are a preacher of grace, then preach a true and not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here [in this world] we have to sin. This life is not the dwelling place of righteousness, but, as Peter says, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. It is enough that by the riches of God's glory we have come to know the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. No sin will separate us from the Lamb, even though we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day. Do you think that the purchase price that was paid for the redemption of our sins by so great a Lamb is too small? Pray boldly--you too are a mighty sinner. -Martin Luther to Philip Melanchthon on August 1, 1521:

We will be looking at what Luther meant by this comment, when we guys gather at the Philosophy & Theology Symposium on Sunday, 4:30 @ the Empyrean.

It's all downhill from here....

Here is a list of articles I want to write but...not sure if I want to deal with all the backlash:

-What I learned from my realitives porn collection...and how it helped my marriage.

-Latte's...the domesticated man's whisky...why many of today's men have got no kohones.

-Emerging church: candles, coloring books and sharing...and other stuff that makes the church fathers roll over in their grave.

-Jesus ate meat, drank alcohol and hung out with wild women...and other good examples for character development.

-How God used a prayer meeting to set me free from praying...

-How I got blessed by not tithing...and other stories you wont hear from the pulpit.

-How smoking a pipe turned me into a better christian.

-Why I let my son listen to Metallica....and other parenting tips for postmoderns.

-How I recovered my faith in fantasy...and other liberating tales.

-How the Judas Priest's song "Heading out to the Highway" helped me plant a church.

We will see...we will see...

Making Mr. Cash proud....

I cant get enough of this voice...

New blog

Spokane Gentleman's Society blog: www.spokanegentlemanssociety.blogspot.com

Just go to sleep....

He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." Mark 4:26-29

Let God be God...-Martin Luther

Unfortunately...we modern christians are full of ourselves. We have a feverish focus on all things man. We proclaim him, we write about him, we teach on him, we lift him up, we analyze him and all his ways, we buy his books, his tapes, his manuals, we attend his conferences, watch his videos, we trust him, we admire him, we measure ourselves by him, we strive to please him, we fear him, we limit ourselves by him...we bow down to the idol, sacrifice anything to elicit some sort of response or reward from the flesh. We are imprisoned to conform to the patterns he pushes on us, and we seem to love it so.
But the New Testament teaches a different way, Paul sums it up like this: “We glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” -Philippians 3:3 Or as the NEB puts it...who put no confidence in anything external.

Martin Luther summed up his confidence in God and His word like this:

“I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philipp [Melanchthon] and [Nicholas] Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.” -Martin Luther

Wow! Take that and shove it in your postmodern, ceo-managment style, flesh striving, trend following, administration top heavy, market driven pipe and smoke it! Maybe we would see a whole lot more accomplished if we put our faith in God and His word and went to sleep!

Hockey: beer...babes and...blood...

My youngest son won 4 tickets to the Spokane Chiefs hockey game Saturday night through his school for good behavior. He is part of a program the school runs for kids that need a tad bit more positive support for good behavior...and it is working. The seats were fantastic! We invited Micahs buddy Spencer and father Dan to come along. Micah loved it...loud screaming, yelling, smack talking...junk food...men fist fighting on the ice...swing large sticks at each other...slamming small men into the wall with the force of mad Rhinos...flying projectiles that could remove all your teeth...blaring metal music to chant with...beer...babes and...blood...what couldn't a boy love? I am not sure the school realized...just what they were sending my son into...oh, and I think I found my inner sports guy too...

Fembots...

Ok...I watched "Metropolis" a 1927 silent film by Fritz Lang, with my son Christian and our church film group leader, Mike. Wow...crazy, trippy, good flick. But one of many questions remains...why do dudes have a thing for "Fembots"? I mean really...what gives...what is going on in the wiring of men that produces this tendancy? And why did the film call the two breasted female robot...a man? More gender confusion, I guess...well, for sure...look at the son's pants for heaven's sake! Those were the most fruity pants I have ever seen and why was his tie tucked in his pants? And what was up with the hair styles...swooped back...king georgeish...were all German men in that era...gay?
I was surprised at the amount of slightly erotic imagery in this film...though nothing nude, there were a few points that I went...whew, that was a bit sensual. I dont know why...I guess I thought people didnt have those thoughts back then.
This lady was brilliant with expressions...a saucy, vixen that lead the men of Metropolis into a hormone frenzy that made me laugh. The expressions and groveling of the men during her dance as the Whore of Babylon was priceless...Oh and she can do some funky stuff with her eyes...and where did she learn those dance moves?

Twain stache

"The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not."-Mark Twain

Now here is one of my literary and cultural heros...a man that touted one mean mustache...in fact, his hair and eyebrows were as eccentric as he was.

hummm....

Ok...now (thanks to Damon) I admit...there is a Quigley Down Underish resemblance...

For the sake of liberty...

Matter is real. Flesh is good. Without a firm rooting in creation, religion is always drifting off into some kind of pious sentimentalism or sophisticated intellectualism The task of salvation is not to refine us into pure spirits so that we will not be cumbered with this too solid flesh. We are not angels nor are we to become angels. The Word did not become a good idea, or a numinous feeling, or a moral aspiration; the word became flesh. It also becomes flesh.
-Eugene Peterson (The Contemplative Pastor)

This is a truth that isn't lived out with the New Testament exuberance that I think characterized early church life.
It's reflective in the letters written to the Corinthians...not a letter to shackle but contain the exploding freedom found in the gospel. I think we could use a few more Corinthian churches today.

In the Old testament there is a passage dealing with some festival/tithe stuff that captures what I think we have lost in our cultural reinterpretations of the moral principles of the scriptures.

Deuteronomy 14:26 reads, “You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.”

I am not sure we have room today in most christian circles for an understanding of how to mix...food...wine, strong drink...hearts desires...the Presence of the Lord and rejoicing. Imagine a gathering in todays christians circles...this wouldn't be a description of our meetings.

It seems we are more consumed with the fears of living fully than actually teaching people how to live fully. Out of fear of making people stumble; (which by the way the new testament says the gospel/Jesus is "a stone that people trip over, a large rock that people find offensive" -1 Peter 2:8) we get hung up trying to fretfully appease everyones hyper scrupples or sins. Not to say that the recovering person isnt to be handled with care and compassion. We are to use our freedom in a way that empowers others to let go of tugging on their straining bootstraps and puts their hands into the grip of grace.

The gospel if really understood...offends the religious mind....the self glorifying man stumbles over free grace.

"If you wish to use your freedom, do so in secret as Paul says, (Rom 14:22) "The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God" but take care not to use your freedom in the sight of the weak, On the other hand, use your freedom constantly and consistently in the sight of and despite the tyrants and the stubborn so that they also may learn that they are impious, that their laws are of no avail for righteousness and that they had no right to set them up...These...resist, do the very opposite and offend them boldly lest by their impious views they drag many with them into error. In the presence of such men it is good to eat meat, break the fasts, and for the sake of the liberty of faith do other things which they regard as the greatest of sins. Of them we must say..."Let them alone, they are blind guides".
-Martin Luther in "Freedom of a Christian"

For the sake of liberty...oh the dangerous gospel we preach.

In this sort of temptation and struggle, contempt is the best and easiest method of winning over the devil. Laugh your adversary to scorn and ask who it is with whom you are talking. But by all means flee solitude, for the devil watches and lies in wait for you most of all when you are alone. This devil is conquered by mocking and despising him, not by resisting and arguing with him. Therefore, Jerome, joke and play games with your wife and others. In this way you will drive out your diabolical thoughts and take courage Be of good courage, therefore, and cast these dreadful thoughts out of your mind. Whenever the devil pesters you with these thoughts, at once seek out the company of men, drink more, joke and jest, or engage in some other form of merriment. Sometimes it is necessary to drink a little more, play, jest, or even commit some infraction in defiance and contempt of the devil in order not to give him an opportunity to make us scrupulous about trifles. We shall be overcome if we worry too much about falling into some sin. Accordingly if the devil should say, "Do not drink," you should reply to him, "On this very account, because you forbid it, I shall drink, and what is more, I shall drink a generous amount." Thus one must always do the opposite of that which Satan prohibits. What do you think is my reason for drinking wine undiluted, talking freely, and eating more often, if it is not to torment and vex the devil who made up his mind to torment and vex me. Martin Luther

I will toast to that...

Now...I'm not trying to turn you into a drunk, that would be sin. In fact, I care not if you drink or not...that isnt the point of the post, its just a lightning rod to draw the strike. So dont lose the point in the flash of reaction. Jesus often used such a method to awake us through outlandish means. We are slapped into attention... to truly think about our life, our laws and our gospel.

Sporting the stache...

Ok...I dont see the similarities...my wife keeps making Magnum comparisons...

In honor of the Veterans

In honor of Veterans Day on Sunday...here is my daughter singing a solo (Star Spangled Banner) at her school.
Destiny

My wife and her sister...LeeElla is on the right.

Philosophy & Theology Symposium...or, Brains, Bibles & Beers

One topic...many voices.
Hosted by: Spokane Gentlemans Society
Topic: The Freedom of the Christiain by Martin Luther
Sun November 25th
4:30PM
Empyrean

Symposium: originally referred to a drinking party (the Greek verb sympotein means "to drink together") but has since come to refer to any academic conference, whether or not drinking takes place. It was a forum for men to debate, plot, boast, or simply to party with others.

The Philosophy & Theology Symposium will include these elements:
1. A meeting or conference for the discussion of some subject.
2. A collection of opinions expressed or articles contributed by several persons on a given subject or topic.
3. A convivial meeting, usually following a dinner, for drinking and intellectual conversation.
4. Oh and really good beer.

Website upgrade

Our church website has received a major overhaul and upgrade. www.jacobswellspokane.com

Good enough....?

and I'm still waiting for the rain to fall,
pour real life down on me,
cause I can't hold on to anything this good enough
am I good enough for you to love me too?
-Good Enough by Evanescence

This video really moved me. I think it is one of the most creative videos I have seen in a long time as far as the subtle use of imagery goes. A woman singing about the consuming nature of moments in our lives, the increasing heat and combustible fire...the helplessness of her condition...the fiery crescendo...the look heavenward...the falling rain...the drenching rain that snuffs out the flames...the word that had been planted burst forth in life giving hunger...the dawning light that enters the dark...the blooming flower in the final shot...simply awesome.

I plan to use this in my series on the book of Romans.

"There is none who does good...there is not even one. -Romans 3:12

In one way that seems like the most depressing news...but from a redemptive view...the complete hopelessness of it...liberates us. We are free from being good enough...to live in God's constantly descending grace.

What can I say...it made me laugh.

The Gospel for the Barbarians

"I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." (Rom. 1:14-17).

The Barbarians need the gospel...

I really believe that the gospel is poised to reap a huge harvest in this generation. If you have keen eyes and sharp ears you can see the coming together cultural elements that are positioning the church to speak to an age that is fully ripe to the resurrecting power of the gospel. Might I add, the gospel as it is expounded through the reformed tradition seems to be particularly calibrated to penetrate this emotive, dark, and awakening generation. Our Lord stands among the graveyards of this culture and brings to life the sleeping souls. His voice opens graves. His light can give a path to those in darkness. His hands are scarred and open to lift the downcast out of the pit. He is the sunrise from on high...that is dawning on those who sit in the shadow of death.

He can make you fully alive.

I am starting a new series through the book of Romans called: "The gospel for the Barbarians" starting this Sunday. I pray that it will unlock prison doors and set captives free from...religion, law, the past, the self, sin and every binding noose of false piety that keeps people from living in the liberty of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paramore...

Blasted teenagers in my house...little music pushers got me hooked on this band.
paramore

Candy Carnival

Our church threw one awesome party last night for the neighborhood trick or treaters and their cold parents. Carnival games, fresh pop corn, old time cartoons, prizes and a ton of candy, baked goodies, drinks and a whole lot of laughter dressed up in crazy costumes. Around a 150 people attended the night. Last year it was around 50....next year???? Some pictures here:Candy Carnival

The Fountain

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory". -1 Corinthinans 15:53-54

LeeElla and I have been waiting to watch this film for awhile and finally found a quiet, kid-less night to enjoy it. It was a deep look at love, life, death and immortality told within 3 stories and 3 time periods and revolving around a book and cancer. It really is one of the most thought provoking films I have seen. I have pondered it a lot since seeing it. I will use the movie as a tool in teaching on sickness and disease at some point...probably within a recovery, inner healing, burying the dead context. It wonderfully highlights the struggles of facing death, embracing death and seeing death through the eyes of resurrection. It teaches some powerful truths about what to focus on when going through the valley of the shadow of death. It's an emotional film, especially if you have gone through something similar. The part where she is in the tub and cant feel her feet and the horror, the anguish, the look in her husbands face and then the beauty of the embrace and suspending the march towards death in a passionate kiss in the moment...was deeply moving. Oh that we could all suspend time and hold those we love in spite of deaths creeping long shadow...love truly triumphs...oh, death where is you sting? Only one who will rise again can truly say that with hope and surrender.

Here is another great article that deals with, what will your spouse be like when you die?
Have I nurtured my spouse's personality, or buried it?

October pictures

Here are some more pictures for friends and family:Oct Blauer family pictureslink is invisible but there, just move mouse over the area if you cant see it...I am not sure why blogger is doing this?

Sex offenders, prayer meetings and messed up paradigms....

In a Christianity Today interview with Douglas Gresham the stepson of CS Lewis, Douglas said Lewis was the best Christian he had ever known. The reporter than asked Douglas why evangelical Christians love CS lewis so much; especially since he smoked, drank, was known to use "colorful stories" around the pub etc. Here is his response:

"The problem with evangelical Christianity in America today, a large majority of you have sacrificed the essential for the sake of the trivial. You concentrate on the trivialities—not smoking, not drinking, not using bad language, not dressing inappropriately in church, and so on. Jesus doesn't give two hoots for that sort of bulls---. If you go out and DO Christianity, you can smoke if you want, you can drink if you want—though not to excess, in either case."

As a pastor I have been wrestling with such scriptures as:

The base things of the world and the despised...God has chosen. -1 Cor 1:28

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. -1 Timothy 1:15

In the church...we tend to choose the people who look good, promising, respectable and have potential. Judging is a major part of gathering leaders. I find myself struggling with this way of thinking, especially when God messes it all up.

I was at our church prayer meeting at lunch time...alone, since hardly anyone attends that hour. That can be disappointing as a pastor...its like a window banker not having anyone drive up to his window. Whats the point? But anyway...I was sitting there and in came a man I know from some activities in the neighborhood. He sat down and said he felt the Lord sent him to encourage me. He then preceded to tell me his life story.

He was a recovering sex offender; who molested his daughter.

He shared, we prayed together...he left.

I sat bewildered yet again by Jesus and who he chooses to use. Of all the people we would think to send to encourage the "pastor". Of all the people who God could use...good ole, respectable, church born, together people...He sent our society's most despised to shed his love on this at times...generally prayer times...discouraged pastors heart.

I think Jesus went to a different leadership seminar than I did...

For all you tech challenged people...

Cheers to all the moms...

Open letter to the youth of my youth "churches"....

In the end no matter how smart the monkey looks...he is still a dumb ape. So as an ape...I write this letter to all of you that I have pastored for good and for bad.

I am sorry for not giving you the gospel, in the way and in the clarity that you deserved. The gospel is about Jesus...so much of what I gave you was about you. The true gospel focuses on what He has done, who He is and sets people free from themselves...both their sins and their "righteousness". It is liberating. The other gospel...has man and what he does or doesn't do at it's center. It creates bondage and encourages sin...both the good kind and the bad kind. Looking back, I know I sincerely wanted the best for you. To see you grow in Christ, change the world, reach the lost, draw close to God, become more prayerful, remain pure, lead others, find God in worship, know your bibles, reach your campuses, love the lost, be good kids, obey your parents, sacrifice for God's kingdom, touch the nations and a host of other "good" things.

But in the end...I encouraged you to work hard...but I didn't teach you to rest in the work of God.

The simple gospel is: "...knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 2:16)

I am not sure if you would have come to that knowledge under my ministry. For that I ask your forgiveness. Looking back, I see more and more that "ministry" was more about me...than you. It was more about the growing drive to reach more, grow bigger, impress people, make a name, go farther than others in the spirit, have a more "spiritual" youth group...in fact, drop the "group" and put the word "church" in there, because we were going to be better than other "groups" we were going to be a youth church. So much of that, though sincere...was sincerely wrong. It divided. It put some in and others out. It put undue strain on teens who should of been enjoying just being teens instead of gathering the world onto their shoulders.

You were good enough for God but not good enough for me...and that was wrong. I see now that so much of youth work is really in vain. It's like trying to wash out the stripes of the zebra. The gospel accepts our sinfulness, our humanness, our immaturity...in fact to truly understand the gospel, you have to start with: the truth that...you are not able to save yourself.

So much of church ends up teaching you that you can save yourself, improve yourself, control yourself, restrain yourself, beat yourself, trust yourself, harness yourself...and when life teaches you that you are not able...a deep disillusionment can settle in. I have seen this happen in many of you. Some of that is simply believing a false gospel that is centered on human work instead of the work of Christ.

For some of you...it was too much. I was too much...to intense, to raw, to strict. I was to legalistic in my drive to help you "give it all to God". I was hyped up on too much world changing charismatic shit. I was to young to see the difference between growing something and producing something.
A large anything is usually unhealthy...but the pressure to perform is innate in the systems of church, the world, academics and relationships. We are plagued with a cancer of human potential thinking that sounds so good to hear but when you come to the end of it...you realize that Christ and you are two very different realities. One opens up life like a flower and the other portrays life like a dark chore to endure and change.

I hope and pray that in your struggle to grow up that you are finding Christ. My hearts desire is that you would be consumed with the rest of enjoying Him, walking with Him and serving Him in a humble and sincere way. That you would see your life as a gift to live gratefully and in doing so, you would see that your life glorifies the One who gave it to you.

I wish you would of encountered more of Jesus and less of me...but, in the end, that is the trouble of this world...seeing Jesus in the midst of so much other crap. I hope you do better than I have done.

I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke. Everyone there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light. But they do not call it goodness. They do not call it anything. They are not thinking of it. They are too busy looking at the source from which it comes."
- C.S. Lewis

You are loved...in all your youthiness, in all your imperfections, in all your teenish ways...in all your failures and accomplishments. I think of you with love and grace. I pray for you and dream of the day when all of us can walk gently and humbly in love and in grace for the glory of God.

CS Lewis

A guy approached Jack (C.S. Lewis) on the street one day and asked him if he could spare a few shillings. And Jack immediately dove into his pocket and brought out all his change and handed it over to this beggar. And the chap he was with—I think it was Tolkien—said, "Jack, you shouldn't have given that fellow all that money, he'll just spend it on drink." Jack said, "Well if I had kept it, I would have only spent it on drink."

pregnant again...

pregnant again...
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

Jesus replied, "The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. -Jesus (John 3:5-6)

Getting pregnant messes up all your plans...especially when you are not planning it. But life doesn't always fit our plans does it. What kind of emotion would you have right now...if you found out your honey was pregnant or that your "one night stand" left you with more than a good feeling? We have been conditioned more and more to think less and less about giving birth and more about how to earn more, do more and enjoy life. Family looks like a ending of real life for to many folks. Motherhood sounds like a life sentence for many young women. And I think the church is showing the same kind of self-focused attitudes too.

We don't want to endure the pains and challenges of giving birth as the local body of Christ. It cost too much. If God told us, that our body was pregnant...how would we respond?

When the water breaks...everything stops and all attention is focused on giving birth. We pray for God to pour out the rain, the water, of His Spirit but are we truly willing to allow God to mess up all our plan, if He wants to bring a child into our congregational lives? Or will we opt for some religious form of abortion to kill the idea...the dream. Will we make sure everything we do has got a "religious condom or spiritual birth-control pill" covering the event...so nobody gets impregnated with the life altering works of God?

I fear we want intimacy with God as churches..but not the commitment of getting pregnant. We want the pleasure of getting close to Jesus but dont want to raise his children. We say we love Him but dont want to change shape to bear His life. It feels great being the bride of Christ...as long as we don't have to become the womb of Christ.

Panties For Peace

Panty Power
"The group, Lanna Action for Burma, says the country's superstitious generals, especially junta leader Gen. Than Shwe, also believe that contact with women's underwear saps them of power."

Maybe there's a sting in the tail...

Burma Brutality...see it first hand
From the protests
If you cant see the link...move your mouse over the area...it is there.
(image via www.partnersworld.org)

Anything living reproduces....

10 reasons for church planting

Jobs not Jails...

Jobs Not Jails - Directed By Rachel Kirshenbaum

Add to My Profile | More Videos
It amazes me in the land of opportunity, that Christians wrestle with living with no purpose. This video exemplifies what I desire to work towards in our challenged neighborhoods in Spokane...connecting people and their gifts, talents and passions with work that has a purpose beyond just paying the bills. Redeeming work and inspiring people to take their dreams and turn them into reality. It can happen for those who are willing to do whatever it takes to see it emerge. I pray that God would awaken a vision in His people to work for Justice in our city. Imagine what could unfold...

an altar stained with blood

"So the churches throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase. Now as Peter was traveling through all those regions...Peter went up on a housetop to pray...and fell into a trance...while peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him: "Behold three men are looking for you...-Acts 9:31-32 & 10:9,10 & 19

It is often when we have just grown comfortable, begun to enjoy the blessings of prosperity, peace and comfort that are the very results of our faithful service and God's gracious blessings and work among us that we run into the call of the Spirit.

Peter was confronted by a disturbing dream on a rooftop overlooking the area. In this dream he was commanded to eat a host of unclean animals. Something that was unthinkable to a good Jew. Something that was outside "his comfort zone". A call to do something that others would abhor, that others would questions, that others would resist. It was against all they had grown up knowing. It was not religiously appropriate. It was wrong. Peter could lose all the wonderful perks that a traveling apostle might get if he engaged in such barbarian like behavior. What would the good leaders think, if they saw Peter feasting on forbidden food?

What a quandary he was in...of course he resisted, refused and repelled.
Don't we all...when God's call comes to us and disturbs our religious nests of comfort and goodness. We are quick to proclaim how mysterious God's ways are until He speaks in such raw and unconventional ways.

In order for Peter to move to the next level of outreach and ministry...God called him to kill something.
Something always has to die in order to move. Something has to be killed in order to see the next field of harvest. Someone has to rise up and take the knife to their traditions, their thinking, their plans, their own way of thinking and kill it.

Mission almost always requires an altar stained with blood.

The only person that should or can go...should be the one who will obey the call to die.
To let go of the past, no matter how wonderful it has been. let go of the known in order to embrace those who are unknown.

God had three men arriving to meet Peter but God had to meet him first in the butcher block called the prayer closet. Where God slays our limitations that keep the gospel from continually moving forward, out and beyond. Too many prayer closets become locked and the people in them end up suffocating on the fumes of their own words. God wants to unleash a missionary force of men and women who have rose up and killed whatever God says to slay and emerge ready to go...ready to embrace the unclean animals that the Lord has destined to fill with His life transforming Spirit. The church will be born in the stables of our filthy streets again and again...if Peter will come to the rooftop and pray. If Peter will dare to pick up the knife again...and if Peter will choose to eat what before...he would have rejected.

Daring days indeed...

Come to us...or go to them?

Simply a great short presentation of why being on mission day to day with purpose versus aiming at attracting occasionally is more biblical in my opinion. I dont think this means there is never anything that is "attractional" in the ministry of the church body but it has to do with an underlying value and way of thinking outreach.

When people come to our church and ask us if we do evangelism or have an evangelism program...I point to the people first and say..."we are purposing to raise up evangelists not an evangelistic program...missionaries not a missions program" It really isn't just semantics. Of course there are challenging points to this way of thinking.

-You end up having to trust the people not the program. Programs are far more containable, controllable and consistent. We can micromanage programs but people are in constant flux.

-Trusting God to be God in His church, means you are not God anymore. That really strikes at the root of our desire to look good, together or like we have everything figured out. People want charts, maps, travel books about everything...if you give them a compass and say we are simply heading East...they scratch their head. They are not used to being told "any-road is good, just go in that direction". They want to be told what road, where to turn, what city, when do I turn left, etc. The church has created dependent believers that are always waiting for fear of doing something "out of God's will"...its religious bondage.

-It means having faith in God's word in a way that runs counter to the way the world or business runs. We are taught by world and by deed and example that the great, the best, the good looking, the talented, the strong, the smart and the rich make things of value happen. This is a dis-empowering model that basically cuts out most of us. So we end up with a lot of programs run by a few people that end up getting puffed up and then burned out. God's way is more about what do you have in your house vs. wait until the qualified or the abundance or the gifted come to your house.

-Then of course...people are always more sinful, slower, hardhearted and hardheaded, more picky, fussy, lazy, undisciplined, prayerless, quirky, bitchy, anal and tight fisted than a program. It's tough work walking with people, discipling people, watching them rise and fall, love and betray you. Running church life from behind a desk and a pulpit vs from behind people is a big differance. One says "come and see" and another says...."go and meet".

One is about me and the other is about them.

Coats for the Refugees

"When you see the naked...cover him." -Isaiah 58:7

Here is a link: Coat Drive to a set of photos LeeElla took from Sunday night's East Central Community Center's coat drive. We were allowed to come before the general public to make sure the refugees from Burma that we are assisting resettle in our neighborhood get some good, warm coats for the winter. A huge thank you to Dawn and the others at ECCC for being so gracious and generous with our friends. All the families were able to leave with what they will need for winter. You can see the joy and gratefulness in their faces.

If they keep quiet....

m Jackson.jpg
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." -Jesus (Luke 19:37-40)

This last Friday night we attended an event called "Women Rising" in part because our daughter was singing in it and my sister-in-law was helping put it together. It was a number of churches coming together in song, dance, human video and poetry. You can get a small taste in the video we took, excuse my daughters head...what can I say, we are amateurs.

In a part of the country where the Aryan Nation still holds white supremacy parades...this event is an example of the church waging war against principalities and powers that still seek a place in this region.

There is something about being in a crowd that begins to, as Luke put it, "Praise God in loud voices" that challenges the suffocating lethargy that freezes people up in their bodies. God is the Lord of the body, not just the mouth. I love that my black sisters can sing in a freedom of expression that awakens the soul in such a way that the body obeys. Is it necessary...no, well...maybe...but it's far more enjoyable! No rocks crying out here...

Short video here:
Women Rising

Destiny Live

destiny.JPG
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

This is for You
My 13 year old daughter Destiny, performed her song "This is for You" at a multi-church music night at a local event venue. Her older brother Christian kept her grounded on the drum.

$200,000...say what?

So what do you think of this? For the record...I think it is whacked.
Send me $200,000 instead...we need to house some refugees, rehabilitate some drug users, help some single moms find affordable housing and train some urban missionaries. $200,000 would go a long way...as for a prayer retreat...I'll pray on the street.

Rebuilding after Katrina

hurricane-katrina-87.jpg
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

Finding a way home
This video captures the story of rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina better than any I have seen. I watched a show the other night on the crime that has arose in the wake of the storm. It was so sad, brutal and confusing to watch. I was really moved and troubled by it. This video does the same. I find myself asking what we should do now, as brothers and sisters of our fellow Americans. I know I have not done anything yet...I regret saying that. I will change that.

Another pole to worship at...

One of the biblical images that the Lord used in my life to launch out in church planting was the woman at the well in John 4.
A woman who had 5 husbands and the man she was currently with was not her husband. A single mom...a symbol for me of this generation's search for love, for acceptance. A symbol of the futility of truly filling that internal hunger that only the love of Jesus can truly fill. A thirst that can drive the Father's sons and daughters to unimaginable ways of quenching that thirst. Our streets are filled with the sins of this hunger. Our homes are growing more and more empty...thirsty. Our children are growing up without the support and protection God had designed and they are suffering because of it. What does our culture say in response to such things? The above picture is it's response...their poverty of heart and pocket become our opportunity to exploit. Our chance to build yet another altar to our all consuming lust...we've erected yet another asherah pole to pour out our seedy sinful actions upon.
Then there is this young girl or one like her... that I saw as I was prayer driving through the next poverty challenged part of town I feel the Lord is calling us to plant another church. She was standing on the street corner, holding a huge toddler in her little arms. She looked beautiful...a young girl trying to be a bigger girl. My window was opened at the stoplight, I smiled and said "Looks like you got your hands full". She smiled and said "yep, and I got another one just like him in daycare"...my light turned green and I tried to encourager her to keep being a good mom...and I drove off. But the Lord slammed my heart with the picture of her holding that child. It was a symbol of a battle raging in our neighborhoods...young women trying to raise families without dads.

In the 1960s, when black Americans were in the height of civil rights strife, 23 percent of black babies were born out of wedlock, a modest figure compared with 70 percent today. Children raised in fatherless homes are more likely to be delinquent, do poorly in school, have lower self-esteem, become chemical abusers, and reproduce the same family pattern in their own lives. In most cases, no matter how strong or diligent a mother may be, children have a subconscious knowledge of what is right and wrong in a family set up. Boys turn to their fathers for their sense of masculinity and manhood. If their dad isn't around, the streets and group aggression are the next best thing for most. (recent article)

I've been weeping for the Lord to raise up believers who will enter the towns of "samaria" and build relationships with the women at the wells. Bold christians that will brush aside the cultural barriers that separate us. Missional people who will cross the racial, generational, religious and cultural lines that keep us inside the safe little coffin churches we have created for our demise. That such a thirst will arise in us that we will be vomited out onto the highways and byways again...searching for our own drink. A drink that can only be really quenched in the self sacrificing mission of Jesus.

The Big American excuse...

I met my wife while I was serving Jesus with my life at 18. I was plugged into a church, serving under a great youth pastor. From 15 on, I had cut my teeth on ministry on the streets of Portland OR, preaching and teaching in my high-school, leading bible-studies and prayer meetings at home and before school, in the square with gutter punks, in the missions with the homeless, in the back alleys getting spit on and threatened. I remember sitting on the street at night in a line of drunks across from a dance club. There was a long line of teens outside amp'n up for a night of hump'n and pump'n and then one of those teens saw me. We knew each-other and he came up to me and asked what on earth I was doing. It was in moments like those that I knew my generation was on two different paths. I sought to abandoned the pleasure houses of christianity to serve Him in mission to the least, the poor, the fatherless and the broken. While kids were spinning their heads on bats and sitting on each-others laps at youth events...I was weeping over street kids that had no home. I was not perfect and had plenty of sin to fight through but the paths were clear to me.

I've heard all the baby bitch'n that goes on among purposeless young people that want God to mommy them into the kingdom but dont want to go where He said to go and do what He said to do. I have followed that call into the red lights of Amsterdam, under the bridges of our cities, into the prison cells of child molesters. I've loved the elderly, held their hands and shared the love of God with the dying. I've seen the addicts arms, the puke and urine of the lost. I've wretched by being too close. I've taken the abused and broken and fatherless into my home at great cost. I've wept with the girl whose arms are testimony to the hell she has experienced at the hands of men, drugs and life. I've sold what I love to gain what I can not lose. I've hammered out my call in the present, not waiting for permission for mission. I've led while others waited. I've fallen, forsaken and repented. All of this ranting feels vain but it's only to throw some reality water in the face of a generation that has used its divorced, drugged out, abused, broken, sinful past as an excuse for living in neutral. I don't buy it...God has used me, He will use you...if you are available. And who doesn't have more spare time than this generation?
We could evangelize our cities just on the tv time we consume.

"I dont know what to do with my life" is the big american excuse.

It's a phrase that is an affront to the poor and suffering of the world.
It's a statement born of prosperity and privilege from the mouths of a spoiled generation.
Most of the worlds young people if given the chances we have had or do have, would ascend in purpose.
I truly believe our generation will stand and condemn us in the judgment.
They will ask us what we did with our lives, our wealth, our time, our gifts, our opportunity.
What did we do with all that the Lord blessed us with in this prosperous church of America?

We are more concerned about getting laid than getting saved.
More passionate about Victoria's Secret than Christ's commission.
We will sell off half we own to purchase the latest game system but can't scrape together much of an offering for the nations of this world that dont know Christ. We got to have a sweet ride but care not for our neighbor whose been raped by her bastard father for the last 5 years. It's a sin to see how much waste we expend on a generation that should be selling everything and being spent on the cause of Christ.

Why have we sacrificed our generation and ourselves on the altar of Mammon?
Why do you, young minds and hearts, lay down your lives for the upward call of the American dream but won't move into the ghetto?

When did we exchange the cross for comfort and security?

CCDA speaker: Shane Claiborne

shane_stern.jpg
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

With governments that Kill...we will not comply.
With the theology of Empire...we will not comply.
With the business of Militarism...we will not comply.
With the hoarding of Riches...we will not comply.
With the dissemination of Fear...we will not comply.

But today, we pledge our ultimate allegiance to the Kingdom of God...we pledge allegiance.

To the peace that is not like Rome's...we pledge allegiance.
To the gospel of enemy love...we pledge allegiance.
To the kingdom of the poor and the broken...we pledge allegiance.
To the king who loved his enemies so much He died for them...we pledge allegiance.
To the least of these, with whom Christ dwells...we pledge allegiance.
To the transnational Church that transcends that artificial borders of nations...we pledge allegiance.
To the Refugee of Nazareth...we pledge allegiance.
To the homeless Rabbi who had no place to lay His head...we pledge allegiance.
To the Cross rather than the Sword...we pledge allegiance.
To the Banner of Love above any flag...we pledge allegiance.
To the One who rules with a towel rather than an iron fist...we pledge allegiance.
To the One who rides a donkey rather than a war horse...we pledge allegiance.
To the Revolution that sets both oppressed and oppressors free...we pledge allegiance.
To the Way that leads to Life...we pledge allegiance.
To the Slaughtered Lamb...we pledge allegiance.
...
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit...Amen.


I got more thought provoking stuff out of this guys 10 minute talk than a lot of the other speakers at the conference. I have read his book but in person...wow, radical to say the least.

-http://www.irresistiblerevolution.org/