I actually agree with Rick Warren!!!!!

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533448,00.html

Check out this article. It was in Time Magazine a couple of weeks ago. I really liked that Time magazine tackled this issue. The question (for those of you too lazy to read it) is "Does God Want You to Be Rich?". This is the most thorough survey of this question that I have ever seen. The journalist interviews people on both sides of the argument. The focus of the discussion is Joel Osteen who argues that God wants all of his people to be rich. He tells the story of a man who, based on Osteens teaching, demanded a job at a used car dealership and got the job.

Also interviewed is Kirbyjon Caldwell (One of Bush's top spiritual advisors...hmmm.) who says that if you don't own land, you are not living life as God intended it to be....I know, sickening. Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes, and Creflo Dollar are also spoken of.

The opponents are also household names within Christian circles. Ben Witherington is one of the primary opponents. He is a Methodist professor and scholar at Asbury in Kentucky. Also, Rick Warren speaks about how ridiculous this thinking is. As I read this passage, rightly or wrongly, I find myself "rooting" for Rick Warren.

Now, for those of you who don't know me, let me give you some insight into this for me. Rick Warren is the epitomy of a "modern" church pastor. When I was in Jr. High I read his book (yeah, that's right) "The Purpose Driven Church" which was primarily how the best way to have a successful church was through easy steps including planting it in a suburban area, naming the church after the region, and making sure that everything in the church looks very bright.

For someone who is trying to be a part of a "postmodern" church community, Rick Warren often becomes more of an antagonist than someone to "root for".

I hope that I am never part of something that is "against" any other group of people. I hope that I can stand against things like injustice, racism, hatred, pain, etc rather than people, even Christians who may not believe the same way that I do.

Here's where I'm going with this. I just found out that Rick Warren is hosting a conference at his church for AIDS awareness. He has some good things to say. Don't get me wrong, would I do things his way or believe the same way he does? No way. But, I don't want to throw out everything that is said by someone whom I perceive as "modern".

This has been the case throughout the centuries. Martin Luther had some amazing things to say, but he was also an anti-Semite and a hateful person. If God can do beautiful things in the 1st Century, 15th Century, etc. he can do some beautiful things in the "modern church"

I meet so many people who are "modern Christians" who have beautiful hearts, want to know God better, and want to help people in a greater way. These people aren't my enemy!!! Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of where the modern church has been or where it is going. There have been some terrible things done recently in the name of the Church (adopting the American ideals as God's ideals, segregation (culturally if not racially), turning scripture into purely science, etc.). I want to be part of something who reexamines the core of these problems (and proclaims them) rather than just divorcing ourselves from these people.

This may not make sense, but it is my inward struggle. Let's just not give up on these people.

Results

Here's my results from the Quiz that Tank also posted. I don't think it means anything, but it's fun anyway. Last time I took this, the Holiness/Wesleyan was the highest I scored

Emergent/Postmodern
86%

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan
79%

Roman Catholic
64%

Neo orthodox
57%

Classical Liberal
39%

Modern Liberal
32%

Charismatic/Pentecostal
32%

Reformed Evangelical
25%

Fundamentalist
0%

Status Report

Hello All,

I thought that this might be a good time to give everyone a status report of where I am in life. I have been feeling a restless kind of feeling (Not restless like..."man! I have to do something new!", but restless like," I need to find peace!" and I just want to publicly express some thoughts about where I am in life.

Wife- Married life is awesome!! I am kind of sick of the previous statement because it is my cliche response whenever I am asked how it is. Truly, though, I am in the best time of my life because of her. It is amazing to have someone who truly loves you and accepts you despite your inconsistencies, lack of sensitivity, and stubborness. Don't get me wrong, she's not perfect, but she's pretty darn close (I'm not just idealistic...I promise!) :). Ashley and I have grown so close and she will always be my girlfriend as well as my wife.

Stuff- ...really superficial section of this post. We just got a new car. It is a Scion Xa. We love it! The gas milage is amazing and I feel so much so much better about Ashley driving this car than the Navajo that she used to have. I am still waiting on mine to be fixed, but it should be soon. I also got a MacBook. That is fun. Our house is great, and we are learning to be homeowners. I hate mowing the lawn!

The Life Connection- I am convinced that the people at The Life Connection are the best in the world! Although I constantly am trying to push the leadership in what I consider a more "progressive" direction, the heart of this community is matchless. They are a beautiful people who love God, their families, and the world. I am currently serving as the Community Life Pastor and am enjoying being part of TLC's newly-forming full-time staff (It's kinda weird, we've never had that before). My job is to attempt to connect people to community (we do this through small groups and a bunch of other stuff). Also, I lead the Saturday Night Community (more to come) and oversee the Young Adults events and stuff. If this is not enough, I design the sermon PowerPoints and play on the music team. Many of the families at TLC I have known for years and it feels like a family reuinion every weekend.

SATURDAY NIGHT- SN is a community that I am a part of and I serve as lead pastor. We are a "community within a community" at the Life Connection. We are trying to re-imagine what church looks like and are in a constant state of experimenting. I LOVE the people here! They have opened my eyes to what community is all about! I am constantly exploring what the role of pastor looks like in this group and they have been very gracious to me. This month we are celebrating one full year for SN. I am so blessed. The leadership team for SN astounds me more every day. We are a group of artists, writers, teachers, encouragers, parents (literally and figuratively), and so many other things! I am doing what I love! Don't get me wrong, it's not always fun, and being "experimental" doesn't exactly give me an overwhelming sense of security. but, I love it!

Personally- I still struggle with what people in my life think of me. I still cringe at the thoughts of certain conversations that I have had, still put up a front when I am in uncomfortable places, and still avoid certain people when I see them in public. I know that this is impossible to completely escape, but I hate it. I pray every day that I can understand the validation and acceptance that I have in Christ (which I try to preach!) in a greater way. I feel like I am on this planet to show the acceptance of God to the world, but I still struggle with this myself.

For many people looking at my life from the outside, my life probably looks boring. I work at a church, live in Glenpool, Oklahoma and find fun in my ipod, espn.com, movies, MVP Baseball 2K5 on XBOX, the Office, Lost, re-runs of Frasier, and visiting church websites. Oh well, I am seeing the kingdom of God in real ways every day.

The Modern World Stole My Bible!!!

I'm slightly releuctant to write this post because of the criticism it might inivte...also that last sentence was to keep you reading. I have had a deep look into what scripture means to me and to communities of faith. Often times, I fear that we have imposed a modern framework on scripture. Here's what I mean:

This is true, first, when it comes to the attempt to harmonize scripture, particularly the gospels. Don't get me wrong, I am not against this process. I am all for it. However, I fear that sometimes, in our effort to harmonize scripture, we homogenize it. We forget about the individual voices, backgrounds, agendas, and personalities that shaped the works of scripture. We often are so consumed by a need for everything in scripture to be scientifically accurate, that we lose some of the value.

I have heard so many evangelical scholars "expain away" the "difficulties" of scripture using some obscure explanation. Here are some common ones. And, let me explain, I'm not saying that these people are wrong or that I know a better way. I am just pointing out some concerns.

1. Jesus cleanses the temple- John puts this event at the beginning of his gospel. the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark, Luke) place this event towards the end. Many evangelicals argue, "there must have been two events." they conclude that there must have been two temple cleansings. I wonder, though, if, in a desire for exactness, we have lost something valuable that John wanted to reveal. Namely, Christ as the new temple is of GREAT IMPORTANCE to John! I wasn't chronological for him, but there was a literary agenda here.

2. Luke says that a guy named Quirinius was governor of Syria during the birth of Christ. Historically, many people have concluded that Quirinius was probably NOT the governor of Syria at that time. Does this shake our faith? I have heard so many different "explanations" for this. My faith does not rise or fall on whether or not Luke knew who was the governor!! I think it's ok if Luke was wrong here. Maybe he wasn't, but it's ok for me if he was. Perhaps Luke's goal for his gospel was not as a historical textbook. This doesn't mean that Luke's portrait of Jesus was incorrect by any means! Almost all scholars would admit that some of the gospel writers wrote in bad Greek. Isn't it ok to say, then, that if their history wasn't the best, that is ok too?

3. Some of the accounts of several of the teachings of Jesus are worded differently in each of the gospel accounts. For example, in the Beatitudes, Jesus says "poor in spirit" some places and just "poor" some places. Is this acceptable? I think so. Many argue that these must have been two separate speeches. This may be true, but it also could have been that each of the evangelists remembered it differently. Ancient speech recording techniques tell us that accuracy was not dependent on "exactness", but by understanding the core of what the speaker was saying.

As you read scripture, I challenge you to view it in the midst of it's artistic, literary, and evangelistic agendas, and not as a stale, historical textbook. Value the differences in the gospels as different perspectives of the person of Jesus. Also, celebrate the fact that, although the perspectives are unique, it is obvious they are speaking about the same person!

The Baby Blue Jay

Here it goes with the most cheezy post so far, and probably the cheeziest I will ever write. Last week something interesting happened to me. My dad was coming over to my new house to help me move a new washer and dryer that Ashley and I got. This was the first time that my parents have ever seen our house. For this reason Ashley and I felt like we needed to clean...really well...like a lot...and mow the grass, etc. (Stay with me)

My parents are very neat people, especially my dad. I did not inherit this gene...at least I thought I didn't...My mom is not naturally a super-neat person either (this is where I got my gene from). However, my mom, over the years has helped my dad "loosen up" and, in turn, she has become very neat as well. Ashley and I's new house is neat, but not "my parents neat".

Keep in mind, my parents are the most loving people I know and would never criticize our home. They really wouldn't care. It just may not be how they would keep their home. Does this make sense? Anyway, since I have been married, I have become "Sharpe-neat". This gene has come back in all of its glory. I can not go to sleep with dishes in the dishwasher, cannot go into a room with clothes on the floor, and often cannot be in a room that has not been staightened. I know, it's crazy.

This "Sharpe-neat" gene came out in full force on the day of my parents arrival (again, they are not critical people and love me a lot. They wouldn't think any less of me). Not only did I clean the house, I mowed the yard, pulled weeds, and cleaned up the garage. It was causing a lot of stress in our household. (Please, stay with me). Part of this process was putting away the lawn mower(We have a shed in our backyard where we keep things of this nature). On my way, I saw a baby blue jay just sitting by my shed, under our tree. A thought went through my mind of "Cool. Let's move on to the task at hand." Still, I felt a nudge to stop and look at the blue jay. However, my rational mind (the "Sharpe-neat" gene) kept telling me "MUST KEEP CLEANING!!!!" As I put away the lawn mower, I smashed my head against the roof of the shed, not enough to cause brain damage, but enough to smart pretty bad. Because of this, I had to sit and look at the blue jay. He (or she) even came closer to me, watching me for two or three minutes

Often I don't think that we take time to enjoy the slowness of creation, the stillness. Whatever your "Sharpe-neat" gene is I hope that you can tell it to slow down, enjoy God's creation, rest, and His true peace.

Gomer and Bomar

The title of this post would have been a lot cooler if it weren't the same grammatical structure as the title of the last post. Basically, I have been attempting to study the book of Hosea over the past couple weeks. The book of Hosea (roughly) is a story of a prophet who was raised up during a difficult time in Jewish history. The people of Israel had compromised their covenant with YHWH (God) and replaced it with a syncretist (nice word, huh?) religion of Judaism and Baal (a false God) worship. The temple turned into a place of weird religious pracitices and temple prostitution. Well, in the midst of all of this, Hosea was ordered by God to marry a prostitute...that's right. You can see why it would be difficult to build an evangelical sermon out of this one. :) Through experiencing his wife's (Gomer) unfaithfulness, Hosea was able to better portray the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel. He felt God's pain, in a sense. He was even told to name his children things like "they will not be my people." how horrible!!!

Hosea tells the Israelites that they will face exile because of their unfaithfulness as a natural consequence for what they have done.

Anyway, in the midst of all of this, Hosea keeps his covenant love with Gomer just like God kept and keeps His covenant love with His people. I have looked at the places where I have seen unfaithfulness in my own life and where I have been unfaithful. I'm thankful that God's redeeming grace is unfailing and I am trusting that, even though I often act like a prostitute in my relationship with God, searching after so many other things to meet my need for validation, there is hope. It's so cool just to read chapter one. After all his kids are named awful things, he gives hope in chapter 2.

1:10 "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.
2:1 "Say of your brothers, 'My people,' and of your sisters, 'My loved one.'

On a lighter note, another covenant was broken this week. Rhett Bomar, quarterback of the OU Sooners football team, was caught for taking money from a car dealership he worked for without really working for it. The state (at least the sports people in the state) seems to be buzzing about it. Apparently, OU has no chance to make it big this year. What's so frustrating is that this guy knew the rules!!! They are educated about these infractions until they are blue in the face. He knew that it was wrong, but he did it anyway. I hope he finds the grace he needs. I hope that this is a humbling experience for him. But, most of all, I hope that he gets the heck away from Oklahoma because being here after what he did would be a lot like being in exile.

Little Kids and Original Sin

Last week, my wife, Ashley, and I were babysitting one of our favorite kids in the whole wide world. We have some friends who are more like family and they have a little girl named Ellie. Ellie is so cool. She is really smart for her age and talks like crazy. And, last week, she made me rethink my theology...that's right. She's almost two. Anyway, Ashley was doing laundry (our washer and dryer are not installed yet so our friends let us do laundry at their house when we babysit) and Ellie came up to her, yanking a dishcloth out of her hands. Ashley responded with "No Ellie! We don't take things without asking!" (Exclamation points don't indicate yelling. Ashley doesn't do that). Ellie responded by getting upset and crying (not a "poor me" cry, but a whining cry). Ashley sat down with her and explained her reasoning. A few minutes passed and Ellie came up to Ashley and asked to see the dishcloth. "See it?" she said. Ashley gave it to her (She's gonna be a great mom). A few more minutes passed and Ellie came up to Ashley. "Sorry", she said. Have I mentioned that she is not even two? Later, a similar situation happened. I tried to get her into the house from the garage and she freaked out, yelling "No!!!!" Later, after looking directly into my eyes, she said, "Sorry." It was almost as if she was afraid of what her "freak out" might have done to our relationship.

It made me remember some things that I had considered about a year ago. As a good protestant boy, I grew up learning about original sin, the depravity of man, etc. Basically, we are all born with sin and are in need of God's forgiveness. I have always wrestled with this idea in tension with being made in the image of God.

The Jews don't believe in original sin. They believe that the world is sinful and so are people because of the world and Adam's original sin. Not that we are born WITH sin. The Greek Orthodox Church believes something similar. The reason why people are sinful is because of a fallen WORLD tainted by sin, not fallen PEOPLE. Because, people are made in God's image.

This image has been tainted by this world, but can still be redeemed. Ellie knew right from wrong and admitted it with a pure heart. I am totally convinced of this!! I don't think that this was a conditioned response. It was from her nature.

I had a good talk with another friend of mine who is a new parent on this issue. He said that it is hard for him to tell his son not to do something because of the stage of life that he is in. For example, his son didn't want to get out of the bathtub. It was not because he was trying to rebel against dad, but because he was so fascinated with the world around him, he wanted to take it all in and not be removed from it. It seems that kids don't cry or resist because they are sinful, but because they are simply exploring.

Some of you are probably like, duh!!! But, it's fascinating to me. I'm not giving up on original sin. John Wesley is a big influence on my theology. However, original sin is not an excuse for us to not value the image of God in ourselves or other people. We need to embrace that more.

My mom says I'll be convinced of original sin as soon as I'm a parent. :) Maybe she's right.