Full announcement here.

In the course of our discussion, he said this about his position: “I’m a Biblicist.” Meaning, his position takes the Bible seriously and is defined by Scripture alone. The unsaid insinuation, is that my position is not Biblical, and that I just interpret it to mean what I want it to say. He might as well have said, “you don’t respect the Bible.”

Of course, we all read and interpret the Bible according to our tradition, experience, personality and education. And really, when it comes to theological matters, we generally do believe that our position is more faithful to the text than the other options – that’s why we believe the way we do. But if feels insulting to me when some traditions have a particularly bad habit of proclaiming themselves the only unbiased, infallible interpreters of Scripture. (This is one of my biggest pet peeves!)

Can we have just a small dose of humility, please?

The other, is a slam poetry performance by Anis Mojgani. I think I may have shared this on my Facebook feed a long time ago, but I’m going to post it again anyway.  I’m reading his book of poetry, Over the Anvil we Stretch, and lot of it goes over my head, but I’m trying to read more poetry, so I keep going.  I have a line from this poem on my facebook profile page because I find it beautiful and challenging and true – all marks of good peotry, huh?    Warning: his poetry can be a bit “raw” at times.  Enjoy.

(here’s another one from Mojgani that I love)

To my friends who I played tennis with me late into the Tuesday evening.  Thank You.

To my garden that is exploding in cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelon, jalapenos, etc. Thank You.

To 70 degree days, and just a hint that fall is in the air.  Thank You.

To school, being back in session, and being back in the swing of things.  Thank You.

To Robert, who talked me into a used road bike and is challenging me to do what I don’t think I can.  Thank You.

To my favorite authors, who make me smile, laugh, and reach for my pen.  Thank You.

For my friends, who love me despite me.  Thank You.

For my wife, who puts up with me and all my craziness.  Thank You

For my church, where I can feel okay in my own skin and don’t have to have it all figured out.  Thank You.

For pool volleyball.  Thank You.

For grilled pizza with fresh basil.  Thank You.

For life.  Thank You.

Anyway, Lewis goes on to describe the interaction between a “ghost” (someone from the grey town) and one of the “bright people” (someone from the mountains of light).  In this conversation (chapter IV), the “ghost” doesn’t want to enter into the “high places,” because he wants to get his “rights,” because in life he was a good, religious man and therefore deserves to be in the “high places,” and not stuck in the “grey town.”   Furthermore, he knew this “bright person” in life, and in life he was a murderer, and it just doesn’t seem fair.  In the end, he chooses to go back to the “grey town,” rather than coexist with the murderer.

I think Lewis’ point is that there is always a temptation to make God what we want God to be.  In other words, we cast God in our image, so our enemies are God’s enemies, our opinions are God’s, our personality is God’s, etc.  But, God is calling us to the “high country,” where we are continually called to lay down our agenda, our way of seeing things, and exchange those things for following Jesus.  And while this seems so easy to say, it takes a lifetime to do, and I often find myself digging in my heals, choosing the grey town.

It reminds me of this old song by this Christian singer, Wayne Watson.  And while this style of music is definitely not my preferred style, 15 years ago, I used to listen to this song on almost every Sunday morning, getting ready for church.  Here are some of the lyrics:

Would I know You now if You walked into the room
If you stilled the crowd–If You light dispelled the gloom
And if I saw Your wounds–Touched Your thorn pierced brow
I wonder if I’d know You now
Would I know You now if You walked into this place
Would I cause You shame–Would my games be Your disgrace
Or would I worship You–Fall down upon my face
I wonder if I’d know You now
Or have the images I’ve painted
So distorted who You are
That even if the world was looking
They could not see You–The real You
Have I changed the true reflection
To fulfill my own design
Making You what I want
Not showing You forth divine
Would I miss You now if You left and closed the door
Would my flesh cry out “I don’t need You anymore”
Or would I follow You–Seek to be restored
I wonder–I wonder
Will I ever learn
I wonder–Would I ever know You now

Here’s the review I thought that I would write before I actually picked up and read Shauna Niequist’s Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace and Learning the Hard Way (Zondervan, 2010, $11.55 @ amazon): “This book wasn’t any good, she only gets published because of who she is and who she’s connected to, blah, blah, blah.”  (Which, in truth, would only be a revealing statement in that it would put my own pettiness and cynicism on display.)

Instead, I’ll say this:

For me to really like spiritual memoir, I need to find myself in the author – I need to see them struggle or celebrate the things that I struggle with and think about – especially normal, everyday stuff.  And, in Bittersweet, I found someone who thinks deeply about a lot of the same things as me: food, friends, disappointment.  What I admire most in her is her joie de vivre – this is what comes through to me, page after page, that bitter and sweet always come at the same time.

Anyway, for me, a great read. I’ve already raved to Jennifer about this book and she’s about halfway through, and we just bought another copy to give to a friend of ours. More importantly, its lead to some great discussions between Jennifer and I about how we order our lives.

In this video, from the Q Conference (a Christian version of TED), Scot McKnight interviews McLaren – and asks some pretty tough questions.  I liked McLaren’s answer to the first question a lot – there are a lot of people out there with their checklists, and they write McLaren off because they can’t “check the boxes” – so they ignore what he’s saying.   But, what was most disappointing about this video was that  in the end, McLaren’s answers are wholly unsatisfying to me.  Given the chance to clear up ambiguities, he responds with more ambiguity.  (I wish the format would have allowed McKnight to ask follow up questions like, “And, where, Brian is Miami?”)  And, while I’ve always admired McLaren’s humility, his answer to the final answer came off a little arrogant to me – kind of like “if you were as enlightened as me you wouldn’t ask those questions, but you’re not, so we’re at an impasse.”

For many of you, this is entirely uninteresting, but if you are into this sort of thing, you can watch the video below – it’s about 18 minutes long.

Q | Conversations on Being a Heretic from Q Ideas on Vimeo.

From Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace and Learning the Hard Way by Shauna Niequist.

I think preparing food and feeding people brings nourishment not only to our bodies but to our spirits.  Feeding people is a way of loving them, in the same way that feeding ourselves is a way of honoring our own createdness and fragility.

- Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet

I really wanted to not like this book. (I’ll explain more fully when I finish the book), but I’m just over 30 pages in and I’ve already had tears in my eyes at one point, and found myself saying, “yes” out loud at least once.  I’ve said for a couple years, “I show people that I love them by cooking for them,” so this quotation resonated with me!

But as it turns towards fall, and the kids head back to school in the next couple of days, I’m anxious to get back to a more disciplined rhythm of life.  So, here are some of those things:

• Back to consistent exercise.  I often refer to exercise as my “cornerstone discipline.”  If I’m regularly exercising, then a lot of these other things fall in place.  Jennifer and I re-joined the gym last week, and I’m trying to get myself into good enough shape to do this in September.
• Back to better eating.  No more after-the-kids-go-to-bed-ice-cream-for-mom-&-dad!  Enuf said!
• Back to better sleep.  The older I get, the more I see the need for better sleep habits, and not just a good night of sleep or two per week.
• Back to small group.  Small group is tough in the summer, with people gone and such.  I’m looking forward to getting back into a regular rhythm with the people I’m closest too.
• Back to teaching.  I like taking time off in the summer and not teaching as much, but I’m excited to teach again.
• Back to reading.  Okay… I always read, but as summer comes to an end, it’s less fiction and more meat.  I found myself in this spot last week, where I finished all the books I was reading at the same time, more or less.  So my “Now Reading” queue was empty.  But, I’ve filled it again, and am currently working on 4 books!
• More cooking.  With the busyness of baseball and being gone a lot, I don’t cook as much in the summer.  But as fall approaches, I’ll start cooking again.

“Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have no quarrele with him?”

Blaise Pascal