Follow-up on Pagan Christianity

Since I referenced this book earlier, I thought I would point you all to a good response I read over at Out of Ur.

True Fasting

It's time to re-enter the world of culinary delights!

There's an interesting sense of caution however as I begin to indulge this appetite again. Food has a wonderful role in our lives. Individually and as a human body, food is the fuel which powers the amazing systems in our body. I just experienced (not just observed) the Bodies exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center yesterday. As I looked inside the anatomical 'wonderland' (to quote John Mayer), I was just amazed at what the body can do.
Here are just a few facts.
--The heart can squirt blood 30 feet
--We have over 100,000 miles of blood vessels
--The tongue consists of 16 muscles (no wonder it's hard to control)
--The digestive system is an amazing dis-assembly process which takes about 24 hours
--The kidneys filter about 15 gallons of blood each hour
--Every drop of blood in the body circulates through the heart every minute
--A stem cell can morph into any other cell in the body

Needless to say, I walked away with profound amazement at what God has loaned us in our bodies.

Now there has been a good deal of controversy over the exhibit because of the way in which these bodies were obtained. Apparently, the bodies were those of unclaimed or unidentified bodies at a medical research facility in northern china. There certainly may be some questions of ethics here, but to me the most controversial part of this exhibit was the admission charge! $23.50 for adults...as opposed to the museum's typical ticket price of $7.25. That's taking advantage of the market and media for sure.

Back to the fasting though...I suppose my main reason for choosing this point to end the fast has been the difficulty it has imposed on my family. Not participating in the mealtime ritual at our home has really distanced me from Deb and the girls. As for a more spiritual angle on ending the fast, it has really helped me realize that I am weak and frail. I perceive that to be a great spiritual lesson. I don't believe that there's some kind of enhanced relationship with God through fasting except to say that focusing the hunger towards God and spending extra time with God definitely improves our sense of relationship (perhaps not in God's eyes) with Him. But spending more time with my wife would also improve that relationship as well. I suppose I'm glad that there isn't some superior spiritual experience attainable only through fasting...because it would then not be experienced very much. No, I would agree with a previous comment that there are perhaps more profitable things to fast which deal more with real time in our schedules. But there was certainly some good benefits to the deprivation I experienced over these 14 days which I don't think would be possible any other way.

I will find some other things to fast over the remainder of the Lenten season...perhaps blogging and reading blogs...I spend much more time doing that than eating. I'll end with a quotation from Isaiah 58, a chapter I've been immersing myself in during the season so far.

Imagination and Energy

I can remember being encouraged to read this book many years ago by one of my spiritual mentors in college...Rick Ryding. And then several of my younger friends who discipled with Rick at Mount Vernon touted the text as well.

It's my third or fourth book so far this year (I'm about 3 books behind!) and I'm not quite finished with it, but I really am enjoying what Brueggemann proposes.

Of course, we tend to interpret everything (including God's Word) through the lens of our own culture, conditioning, and biases...but I feel as though the author could've written these words 30 days ago rather than 30 years ago.

Although the first chapter was a difficult start (very academic and verbose) I am definitely tracking with his interpretation of the prophetic voice and the ways in which it impacts ministry in whatever current context one may be. Basically, the prophetic voice is to be one which 'criticizes' and 'energizes' God's people. Another way to put it...as Christ followers, we need to recognize the impact of the dominant consciousness (culture and ethic) and imaginatively voice an alternative which is rooted in the hope of what is already but not yet in Christ.

I believe you could correlate Brueggemann's concept of 'royal consciousness' with either our American cultural in general but also at times with our religious American culture. And I don't think it's just about conventional or emergent blah, blah, blah. What every Christian needs to do on a continual basis is think critically about whether they're living under the reign of God or under the reign of some other dominant 'king' and respond accordingly.

For me personally, I am constantly wrestling with the issue of consumerism. At what point does my abundance cross the line? Can I justify the purchase of an HD TV? an upgraded cell phone? a $100 paddle for my kayak? I really don't think God wants us to live in poverty...but where's the line?

Another big issue for me right now is the abuse of animals and how my food choices support an industry of animal cruelty? Could I actually give up meat? Holy cow...I'm not so sure!

I could think of a few more personal issues to bring up without hope of resolution, but you get the idea. If we are to live under an 'alternate consciousness' and be prophetic voices of hope to those who see nothing but the present reality or who cannot sing the song of covenant joy...what does that look like?

Slow Down...I'm Fasting

During this season of Lent, I have decided to fast for an extended period of time. I've been reluctant to blog about my fasting for what seemed like obvious reasons. But I know there are at least a handful of people reading this who might be inclined to join me in prayer (not in fasting) and I would value that very much.

The purpose of my fasting is three-fold:

1. To humble myself before God and experience His grace in prayer.
2. To condition my heart, soul, and mind to hunger for God more than food.
3. To break an unhealthy relationship with food...as fun more so than fuel.

I just read another great article entitled "Biblical Fasting" which you can track to by clicking on the image if you'd like.

I'd be interested to hear what some of your experiences have been with fasting....good or bad. Feel free to post anonymously if you prefer not to call attention to it/yourself.

I am also virtually connecting with Kevin Rains and friends over at Vineyard Central in Norwood as they focus on Isaiah 58 during this season. If you're on Facebook, I'd encourage you to go check out the group there. Kevin has posted a great paraphrase of that chapter...which ironically for me has much to do with fasting.

So I'm half-way through Day 9 and not the least bit hungry. As some of you know, the first 2-4 days are the absolute worst. Pray that I get hungrier and hungrier for God...until my soul starts growling more loudly than my spoiled abdomen!

An Evening With Shane Claiborne

That was the caption on the screen as I walked into Apex Community Church (Dayton, OH area) last night. Shane's name and community (thesimpleway) is one I'm familiar with because of the Catalyst podcast as well as through reading his book Irresistable Revolution. I was immediately drawn to Shane's story and ministry because of an early passion (which I didn't totally follow through with) for urban ministry.

Originally, I was planning to drive up to Mount Vernon to hang with Travis Keller and some other MVNU friends tomorrow as Shane is headed that direction. But when I heard that Cedarville cancelled and he would be in Dayton Monday evening...I realized that would save me 4 hours of driving and a good bit of gas.

If you're interested in hearing Shane's talk, I think you download it here from Apex's website come Wednesday morning or so. Warning: He's a good ol' boy from East Tennessee and makes his own clothes!

Basically, I think Shane tells stories about life transformation and is engaged in a radical (like Jesus) environment of intentional community. You can find more info about that at the website above. My response to the evening is that you simply cannot dismiss someone's life, ministry, writings, and spiritual impact for the Kingdom based on alleged theological and doctrinal disputes. If what we believe was so much more important than how we live...Jesus' point in Matthew 25 is blasphemy. For those who want to continually throw around the word blasphemy (and heresy)...just realize who used that word the most in Scripture...and welcome yourself to the club.

Back to Shane Claiborne though...inspiring story and a truly authentic follower of Christ from what I see. Which reminds me of another great point he made...actually the introduction. How were the disciples to communicate to John the Baptist about Jesus? (Luke 7) Tell of what you've seen and heard...he didn't send them back with "statement of faith" or orthodox list of Messianic requirements.

Dangerous Conversations

Here's a quote from an article I just read on Crosswalk.com which a friend just pointed me towards.

"As startling as it may sound, almost everything that is done in our contemporary churches has no basis in the Bible. As pastors preach from their pulpits about being “biblical” and following the “pure Word of God,” their words betray them. The truth is that precious little that is observed today in contemporary Christianity maps to anything found in the first-century church."

The words are from a new book I guess...by George Barna and Frank Viola.

They go on to warn against sheer rebellion against the institutional church or the other extreme of ignorant apathy when it comes to maintaining traditions, methods, and religious practices which are not necessarily supported by Scripture.

The article is timely since we just had a conversation in our small group about some of these deep issues of "church." God has really blessed Deb and I with two couples that love, encourage, and challenge us weekly in the Word and in our conversations. Our dialogue last night reminded me of the significance of experiencing genuine covenantal community with other believers.

Back to the issues being confronted in Barna and Viola's Pagan Christianity, they make the point that Christianity quickly became disconnected (by 2nd century) from its Jewish roots and was highly syncretized and influenced by Graeco-Roman culture. Add to that the fact that many of our current church traditions and practices have their origins in the Reformation (16th century) and Revivalist movements (19th century) and you quickly realize a little Socratic method of raising some serious questions are in order.

Perhaps the most foundational frustration I'm encountering as I go through this process of questioning, rethinking, and re-imagining church is the spiritually arrogant notion that an individual or even a group possesses the pure unadulterated interpretation of Scripture to which all others must submit in order to be "biblical." I would submit that if God's Word was this cut & dried (black & white, whatever comparatives you want to use) we would still have simply one Holy Catholic Church. That is obviously not the case.

The 2 of Spades...at last

Well, my 2008 goal to read 52 books (at least) has experienced a major setback. But alas...I'll catch up. And for some reason, I got distracted in the middle of a great book by N.T. Wright.

This is my first experience with N.T. Wright and it certainly lived up to my expectations. Here's the book in a nutshell (which is meant metaphorically and not literally...a great discussion towards the end of the book).

With just the 'wright' amount of English wit and flavor, the author presents a great overview of what you could describe as historic Christianity. He employs a frame for the discussion with the four sides being: Spirituality-Truth, Beauty, Relationships, and Justice. The sound of a 'divine echo' reverberates in all of God's image bearers which becomes a thirst or need within to see things set right in the world (in the case of justice). In a chapter discussing relationships, Wright says,

We shouldn't be surprised that when we think of human relationships, we find ourselves hearing the echo of a voice, even if, as in Genesis, the voice is asking 'Where are you?'

Part 2 of the book is great look at the doctrines of God, the Son, and the Spirit while part 3 goes on to discuss what feels like some more practical or ecclesial matters of application. Great insights on worship, prayer, the Bible, evangelism, and other implications of our spiritual world view make the last few chapters very engaging. I'll wrap up my kudos for this edition with more more lengthy quote:

Worship, fellowship, and the work of reflecting God's kingdom into the world flow into and out of one another. You can't reflect God's image without returning to worship to keep the reflection fresh and authentic. In the same way, worship sustains and nourishes fellowship; without, fellowship quickly deteriorates into groups of the like-minded, which in turn quickly become exclusive cliques--the very opposite of what Jesus' people should be aiming at.

This a great verbal rendition of an image I shared recently with our community. I'll touch that up and talk about it soon perhaps.

I will definitely put another N.T. Wright book on my list for this year...probably 'Challenge of Jesus.'

Ash Wednesday Observed

I have come to see the Christian calendar, and a variety of liturgical celebrations as much more significant in the past few years. This first day of the Lenten season is especially important in my mind and in my journey.

If you are not familiar with the origins and rituals of Ash Wednesday, I encourage you to just Google Ash Wednesday or click on the Wikipedia image for a direct link.


I think repentance, humility, and fasting are worthwhile pursuits. Another community I've linked up with to observe these sacraments over the next 40 days are my friends over at Vineyard Central in Norwood. You can review and/or join their group on Facebook here.

I just read Isaiah 58 this morning and it is a great challenge for true fasting and for justice. My intentions for this season of Lent will be to pursue acts of justice (on whatever scale possible) and humbly pursue the heart of God. Identifying with the life, ministry, and teachings of Christ should certainly bring about some transformation in my life over these 40 days (and beyond) if I give the Spirit permission to convict, guide, and reform me.

Back in the Saddle

It was the perfect culmination of climate, time, and passion.
Yes...another kayak story...I couldn't help myself.
These trees are usually 4-6 feet away from the waterline.

I had a small crowd of onlookers sending me off from the VFW down in Old Milford. I think they just wanted to get a good look in case there was search party later! ;-) (just kidding, Mom...I'm fine!)










This is a little spot where the East Fork branch and the main river (Little Miami) converge. To my right is a large bank-wall that leads up to a nice green on Terrace Park CC's golf course. You usually can't see up over the bank...but this time I've got a good view of the green.




I took a chance with my camera here...and propped it on a little shelf of roots. I'm so vain!







This is my first time being on the water as it's getting dark...although a canoe trip with my brother and his son came pretty close.

The water, the trees, and other shapes in the mist start a get a bit creepy in the dark! Plus I was a little concerned about not seeing my pull-out spot and calling Deb from downtown Cincinnati or Louisville the next day....ha!


There's just something so peaceful and soothing about being on the water though. And it's always a great time for prayer. The first 30 minutes of the trip was in real choppy water...great fun! The last half still had a swift current, but it really widens out as you get close to the Ohio River.







My camera doesn't do real well in low-light situations...but this is coming up on the route 52 bridge. Soon after is the Kellogg Ave bridge which signals one of my last chances to get out before I run into a barge on the Big River.

Last time I paddled this distance, it took between 4-5 hours. With the extra water volume tonight it only took about 2! Good times.