moving on ..

sometimes there's this .. move on

this blog is, for the most part, a done thingy
i ranted and raved about the mess we're in as 'christianity'
about the role of the leadership in that
and my part in it
and about the fundamentalist cultish approach to things christian
which damaged me and others ..
and too i decried the liberalistic approach that moves God into the hands of humans who want God to fit into their box and be shaped by their science/logic think
as if God is definable by us or by science and logic ..

we're so smart ..

i'm done with that

there's a place for that
and it never ceases to be relevant that the people God places in places of leadership should be upbraided wherever there is insensitivity to the Scriptures and the people ..
they are, after all, shepherds who, by definition, are responsible to represent Jesus to those people
to care for them in Jesus' name ..
that's big
and God treats it as big
Jesus spent much of his energy decrying the abuses of the leaders

it's time for me to shift my line-of-sight
turn towards more positive stuff
looking for edification and building and strengthening and encouragement

i hope it doesn't become another self-help/mushy/mish-mash of dribble
if it does please let me know ..

the focus of Messiah's body is just that ..
to work together to bring to maturity all the members
every one
to the fulness of the measure of Jesus

and it doesn't mean i won't ever again rantandrave ..

thanks for being here
now go here ..

http://denyingme.blogspot.com/

shalom ..

mercy trumps judgement ..

taptaptap
   on the glass window ..
who ? at this time of night ..
taptaptap ..

i know that girl ..
" got anything to eat ? "
..  .  . .

no gear .. no gear
nothing ..
i scramble up some stuff
i found a small blanket, a sweater, a sweat shirt and a beanie
don't have any sleeping bags !

you can't sleep here
have to come back at 4.00 a.m. when we open the Hangout ..

at 3.30 i walk the street nearby
miss her the first time
second time i see her
almost missed her again ..
almost invisible
in the dark
on the sidewalk next to the store wall ..

she's here now            
eating donuts oatmeal boiled egg and drinking coffee

she's from south carolina
says her stuff gets stolen all the time
no gear

. .  .    .     .                .

why ?   ?         ?
can't ?
we ?
solve ?
this ?

she shouldn't be sleeping on the sidewalk
she should have a safe place to sleep ... .. ..       .
she should have a bag to sleep in
she should not have her gear ripped-off
she should not be abused
   or played
 .. . .     .

i have an idea ..
if everyone who names the name of Jesus was to help
one person at a time
as they run across them in their homeplace
it would lessen the hurt
lighten the load of suffering these people carry around in their backpacks
.. don't you think  ?

isn't that what we're called to do ?   ??

Jesus ..
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 
I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; 
I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; 
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you took care of Me;
I was in prison and you visited Me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’

And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

to
          one
of the
                    least ..
.. you did it
for
              me ..

' called to do '  ??    ?
we have to be ' called ' to be human to our human brothers and sisters  ??
but.. that's part-and-parcel of being human ..
isn't it  ?

we'll stop for a wounded bird, sometimes nursing it back to health
or for a stray dog
but we walk right pass a homeless person  .  ... . ....    .
what's with that  ?

we parade and demonstrate over adopting animals to prevent their death
and leave the homeless to do their slowdeath
death one day at a time ..  .  ?
what's with that  ?

Jesus' words then are a slam in the face of our humaness ..
we aren't even getting to square 1 ..
and those of us that are ' christians ' are all the more accountable for our unwillingness to be human
to be Jesus-followers
demonstrated in a big way by showing mercy

shame on us  !
shame ..

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 

Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but you say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet” - have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Hasn't God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 
But you have dishonored the poor. 
Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Aren't  they the ones who are dragging you into court? Aren't they the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?..
judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. 
                             
                    Mercy triumphs over judgment.

mercy
triumphs
over judgement
every time

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds with their faith? Can such faith save them? 
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

actioned faith
faith moving
towards my neighbour
love played out through mercy

love the Lord with all you are
and love your neighbour like you love yourself
all
all the law and the prophets
are contained in these 2

we are failing dreadfully at being ' christian '
and that at the most basic level
we fail from the ground up
and everything else is spitting in a strong wind
useless really
fail

Jesus ..
I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.      
          By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you love for one another.

in living that love we love others
      everyother
we show that by helping them
we show that by embracing them
we show that by accepting them
listening to them
hearing them
allowing them to cry out their soul
   'cause noone's listening

.....

this dude says he's been sleeping in wet sleeping bags since the last rain
3 days ..
sleeping at 40 degrees, outdoors, in wet bags
his clothes are damp
his bones are cold
3 days
and nights
tailending on years of sleeping in the streets ..
how much longer can his system handle it .. ? ?

mercy

mercy triumphs over judgment

go
and do likewise

shalom

troubled ..

watching the tides roll in
the waves
rocks
birds
breeze
sunlife
   life

back of that lies noel and his 2 girl-friends
sleeping in a car
looking for help ..

he just landed a job
but they have no money for deposit/rent on an apartment

i gave them
stuff
smile
chat a while

and they leave
because there's no room in the inn
none

there is no inn

noel's 22
one of those girl-friends has a baby

one day
they'll stay
if i have any effect at all

in Jesus' name

shalom

the purple shoebox covered in dirt ..

today is a gorgeous day
yet
a faint odour of death tinges the atmosphere
just there
in the shadows next to those rosebushes
in a purple shoebox wrapped in a many-coloured scarf

young
mourning for their young
youth
troubled youth
struggling with life as it is
without a home
watching the dirt

there's a child in that purple shoebox wrapped in a many-coloured scarf
michael

her sad croons of sadness
and love
" i love you michael " ..

mother lost in the deathly shadows
father hiding .. mask on

there was a closure of some sort i'm sure
but there will never be closure until death is destroyed

children burying their children
how cruel is that  ?
it cries out ..
   nay screems
for mercy
for justice
 for goodness
for
love

for
reconciliation

it's coming
praise God ! it's coming
on the way now even as i write these words

i am too restricted
too constricted
too confined
too damaged in my broken creation
to understand it all
too damned naive too ..

Lord Messiah Jesus pains
even in the pursuit of that reconciliation
as he watches the dirt fall on the purple shoe box

michael will live again

but the bondage of death is suffocating
can't breathe
can't think
can't speak
.. numb
it's everything life is not

reconciliation
Jesus
life
   from death
hope
   out of tragedy
love
   rising in a blaze from the ashes
      of the purple shoebox

reconciliation of everything cosmos
and God will be all in all
IAmThatIAm will dwell with us and be our God
we his people
age upon age

allelujah !

. ..   .     .

2 stars a cross 3 small flowers
and a purple shoebox covered in dirt

compassioning .... .

in a friendly discussion with a fellowdisciple who cares a bunch about the marginalized

the point was well-made that homeless people sometimes cause problems for the general public and for business houses

some can be boisterous and messy and inyourface ..
i stepped from there across the divide
and tried to walk into their space for a minute
   as ignorant as i am of their condition

thing is .. . .   .
when you have no place to call ' home '
when you have no privacy
when you never get to use your bathroom
   only public restrooms and sometimes the woods
when you have to truck everything you own around with you all the time
   which is basically whatever you can move with
   which = hardly anything you don't absolutely need
      no picture albums with family fotos
      no teddy bears from when you were 2
      nothing extraneous at all
when you have to look for space to sleep night after night after night
   and never ever know how safe you will be on any given night
when you're wet and cold and have no way to get dry
   sometimes for days
when you have to deal with traffic and water and getting splashed
when you walk into a place soaked from rain and have to endure all the glances and stares
when people are constantly judging you for your condition
   looking down their noses past their gold-framed specs and mascara
   as if you were some wet stray dog
when you have to ask for everything
   hand outstretched
   and then have to ask tomorrow again
   and the next day
   and the day after that
      feeling indebted to everone
when you never ever feel comfortable regardless of where you are
when you have to face cops and militant neighbourhood folk and protective business owners
and anywhere you are is not cool for somebody or the other
when your days run into one another
   and you walk for an hour to get to a soup kitchen for food
   and realize it's the wrong day for that ..
   now you have to get back
      find another source for a meal
when all about you is suspect
   all day
   every day   .  . . .      .       .

when you are the person noone wants to see or hear or be around
they just want you gone from there
gone from their space
... invisible

when that kinda stuff defines who you are

then
i can see how you get upset so easily
maybe have an overly defensive attitude
get easily offended, even when no offense was intended
fly-off at almost nothing ..

i get that
i get it

because i am not an animal
i am a human
and i deserve shelter
and i deserve food
and the privacy that accompanies toileting and showering

i deserve the basic life-rights of a human created in the image of God

.....  .. .  .    .

when daily life is spent on the edge
walking the fence line
   where 1 misstep left is wild dogs and 1 misstep right is animistic auhtority
when it seems the whole world
doesn't want me around ..

how can you not understand my constant tension
how can you not see my stress
how can you be so judgmental of my attitude
of my drinking
how can you be
so heartless ..

help
just take it on as a family matter
and look to help
with longsuffering
with patience
out of love
for Jesus
and
me

i am the you you fear ..

love me
help me
hear me
see me

give me space to be human
to feel human again


.... in Jesus' name

compassion .. ~

stepping out of my space

crossing over 

into your space

to be 

you

enough already .. tough issue #3

well well ...
who'd have thought ..

been trying to say this for days, but want to say it right
   with the right attitude
   sometimes that takes time, patience, backing-off
....   . ..  .

on the 29th i introduced a 3rd ' tough issue ' for me as i work my way back through my doctrinal stuff

i had already posted on these:

- ' tough issue 1 .. inclusivism '
         http://asthekingdomturns.blogspot.com/2013/10/tough-issue-2-is-evangelization.html

- ' tough issue 2 .. is evangelization the priority of the church '
         http://asthekingdomturns.blogspot.com/2013/10/tough-issue-1-inclusivism.html


i'm simply talkin' my head out as i walk through it ..
personal stuff, really
   but my blog is my journey ..
i don't expect anyone necessarily to go the same route or to agree with my think
i'm just putting it in writing as i go, and if it strikes a note with anyone then that's cool ..

so i posted
then, all of a sudden
bang !
i realized i had touched a nerve
exposed tension ..

on fb and in conversation and on the blog
there was this tension building
fast ..
impassioned ' statements ' and challenges
and even veiled rebukes for my naivete - my stubborn refusal to accept the science of the thing ..
kinda put me on my backfoot ..

and then the debate showed up .. Nye vs Ham ..
i had no idea it was coming
just poked its head into the issue for all the world to see, apparently ..
and more stuff came tensioning out

and i began to feel quite uncomfortable

i stopped working through the issue as my attention was redirected to the potshots and lobbed grenades that now attended the debate ..
serious stuff
christians shooting christians
bang bang
wow ..
same ol' same ol' ..

i started shifting down, looking for reverse
seems i jumped into shark-infested water
and now i want
out

the creation/evolution thing became linked to other stuff ( think strawman )
guilty by association ..
it don't fly
not with me
i been in this too long
. .. .     .

there's something to be said for placing a high value on scripture
regardless of  ' proof '
i don't worship scripture, but i revere it - i have a ' deep respect ' for it and try to honour it
for i see it as inspired writings
inspired by God

. . .   .    .

i'm not burying my head in the sand on this; after all, it was for just the opposite reason that i went here ..
it never was my intention to create more factioning
i was moving in the direction of
                                                   understanding
                                unity
friendly discussion around the family table on a niggling issue

at the end of the day, i don't have the educational history or intellectual faculties to address the science of it at this stage ..
but
my issue is not the science of the matter as much as how it speaks to God and his revelation
   and my life as a disciple of Jesus ..
the science is part of it
scripture and revelation and Godness is the other

God is never ever reducible to science ..
   that doesn't means he necessarily conflicts with science
   simply that our science may not be scientific enough yet
      as in Jesus walking on water
      healing the withered hand
      and the man at the pool of bethesda, invalid for 38 years
      feeding thousands with very little
      raising lazarus from death
where do we go with that  ?
myth  ?
allegorical stories that need to be mined for some underlying truth  ?
   maybe
fact is, if there's any reality to miracles
they defy science

.. . .

we need to give God room to be God

he will not be boxed
... . . .

and, by the way, it's really hard to take a lifetime of conviction on a spiritual issue that sits deep in your soul and which syncs with scripture as a whole
   and which colours your view of God and Earth and humanity and Jesus and ..
      and toss it ..
that's tough ..
so when you sit in your place
be gracious
and recognize that others are struggling at soul-level with this
   not brain-level only

..  . .   .

one final thing ..
when i assume a position on a doctrinal matter, the argument that it turns people off of christianity is flatout invalid
i don't ever set out to turn people off of Jesus
Jesus is my master ..
my positioning is primarily a result of my attempt to align myself with him ..
if people are offended by that, i'm sorry ..
i don't bring this issue to the table as a fighter
i hardly discuss it ..
i raised it on my blog for discussion as a sticky issue
.. .

i watched about 40 mins of the debate
i don't know i'll be watching the rest
   at least not yet

i relent
i quit
can't handle the heat

i'll maybe see you again on this issue someday

thanks so much to those who contributed to the conversation ..
i appreciate it

think i'll grab my bible and whistle-up my dogfriend and head back into personal private refection on this matter
for now
.. or not

after all
i hate war ..

peace and love

and shalom to you

in Jesus' name

good read on Jesus ..

as part of a series of blog posts on who Jesus is, this post stands out
   but you should read the others too

http://reknew.org/2014/02/what-kind-of-god-did-jesus-reveal/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-kind-of-god-did-jesus-reveal

tough issue #3 more .. good article ..

i just picked up the following link from a website i follow
i am where the writer is in his personal history on this issue
as i said from post 1, this is not a must-have for me; i introduced it as a tough issue for consideration and discussion, and apparently Ham and Nye jumped in ..  :)

http://redemptionpictures.com/2014/02/04/creation-v-evolution/

tough issue #3 followup .. a debate on creation/evolution ..

apparently ( as in, i missed it )
there was this debate ..
and, fortuitously, it was on this issue we've been discussing

i read something about it just now
here ..
http://www.redletterchristians.org/ken-ham-v-bill-nye-christians-passionate-helping-poor/

the church, the church .. whence the church ? ..

   

it's a sad sad statement of the state of the church Jesus intended
that we want the state to deal with human suffering ..

it's said of some christians that when the great plague destroyed 1/3 of european humanity
instead of running from towns where the plague hit
they moved in and helped/comforted those left to die of that awful killer
a marvelous demonstration of newlife in Jesus and his intent to love all
even if it means giving up my life in the doing of it ..
( course the scriptures teach from the mouth of Jesus himself that we are to lose our lives, give them up, in the pursuit of him, as disciples .. )

( http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1991/issue30/3011.html )

point being, Jesus didn't make it incumbent on the government to relieve the condition of the poor and fatherless and widow and alien
we run towards suffering, not away from it ..

it was always a matter of loving my neighbour ..

selah ..~

a  couple things .
- we had to turn away people that wanted to spend the night sleeping on the lawn last night destined for temps in the mid-30's
young people
one of them a deaf/mute girl /./. ..
one day, God helping me, this is going to stop
at least in this place
someones will have to stop us doing it ..

- there is now officially a rationing of water usage in this place due to the worst drought in decades
guess who feels the brunt of that firstmost and foremost ??
the homeless will ..

seems the people who live on the fringes are the first to be pushed further out when things like this occur
shouldn't they be last to be hit ?
absolutely
they are already on the edge of life
how much further we going to push them ??

not i
i'm fighting it ..
any little way i can ..
God being my help ..

stay tuned ..
and pray for the hurting, the suffering, the margined
in Jesus' name

then
go and do likewise . . .   . . ..

shalom ..

tough issue #3 followup .. an article

the link is to an article that describes the basics of approaching the ' creation ' text in Genesis, allowing for evolution ..

it's a pretty good brief overview ..


http://www.faraday.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/resources/Faraday%20Papers/Faraday%20Paper%2011%20Lucas_EN.pdf

do the crossover ..

a few of us were talking today
we have in common christian concern for homelessness ..
some of us are

one voiced his plan on travelling to several cities and photo-recording the lives of homeless people
he wants to create a picture book

another wants to do something similar and put it on the internet

i mentioned in a recent post a project that went online last week, one close to my own heart
Not the Other, Oral Histories of People Experiencing Homelessness
( go here .. http://oralhistoriesproject.org/homepage.html )

i firmly believe that, outside the direct help we give our homeless brothers and sisters, this is the biggest thing we can do for them on a national scale

when we give people eyes and mouths and noses and the right/opportunity to tell
we give the statistics an opportunity to live ..

where did you sleep last night
what did you have for dinner ..
the homeless had a quite different experience
one sprinkled with fear, trepidation
seasoned with the insecurity of knowing that anything could happen to them this very night

in rapid-pace life like we experience it's easy to diss the person and nod to the stats
and in rapid-pace tech life it's easier to tech life
so that much of life occurs on a screen ..
that addiction to internet/cell sucks community out of me
i have less time and less opportunity and less interest in relating to people i can touch ..
it's easier too, because i can switch off whenever i get bothered or it gets too stressful or the person gets in my face ..
i can walk away

one exec at an internet news org recently gave up their cell for a week
think about that .. internet news exec .. no cell

we lose touch with the reality of people
because real people can't be tech'ed
the tech and the stats and the accompanying rhetoric are really ' virtual reality '
personhood is gone
relationship reduced to 1's and 0's and wifi signal-strength

we have removed ourselves from the ability to crossover to the other's reality
lost much of the soul of existence through relationship

think about that ..

compassion and empathy and understanding of another require relation on a real-life level ..
that's right where Jesus wants us
real-life
living life with him in mind
living life with person(s) in mind

we need so much to regain the crossover
to live in the facetoface of life
be able to feel the emotive content of the stats
be able to smell the homeless condition of my friend here
and that person there .. hadn't seen her before

be able to hug . . .    .... .
they really need a hug

that's why we need homeless stories
that's why we need to enable the homeless to tell their stories
they're human
they're imago dei too

Jesus resonates with the homeless
he lived there ..

i'm his disciple
i do what he do
i live where he live
i attitude his attitude

Jesus lived the crossover

let's do the crossover ..

shalom