Judgment!

It has been a while since I blogged. But now that the rough draft of my dissertation is finished and all I have to do is the editing I hope to have the time to blog once again. My dissertation is 139 pages of my creation. It will pass the desk of my proof reader, my dissertation advisor, the second reader and who knows who else at George Fox Evangelical Seminary. All of them will judge it. That scares me! I'm not sure I like my creation being judged. However, when it passes through the judgment stage and the flaws are fixed, the end result will hopefully be better.

Is the same true with us? I suppose it depends on who is doing the judging. I've been judged by some and it caused me to make some positive changes. I've been judged by others and it caused me to do some real soul searching as to why it made me so angry. In both cases I think I emerged better.

Judgment is a popular word being tossed around these days both in and out of Christian circles. I really like the phrase "let me love and let God judge", but is some judgment beneficial? I know some of my friends are going to be tempted to fire proof texts at me; please don't so I will not be tempted to judge you :-) I want to tackle this judgment thing based solely on empirical evidence, can it be helpful, why is it hurtful, what do we make of it!

Sorry my first blog back isn't a nugget of gold...remember these are just the thoughts in my head when I sit down in front of my MacBookPro (some want to judge me right now!)

Peace

Small Church PKs

I write this as an apology to my children who had to grow up as small church pastor kids. I think I understand how tough it is. It isn't enough that you are a pastor's kid, but you are also a pastor's kid in a small church--what's the difference?

A small church pastor often isn't paid very well. Therefore, there isn't a lot of money to go around for a lot of the extra stuff that other kids may get. And if there is extra money it usually is sacrificed for the church or to send the pastor to a conference that the church can't afford to send them to.

Because a small church pastor isn't paid very well, often times the spouse has to work as well. This causes extra stress on the kids as there are more chores to do, less parental volunteering and the wonder if my parents will be able to make it to the game, concert, play, etc...because they are both working.

Because a small church pastor usually doesn't have a staff they end up working more (many even have to have a second job) and therefore family time suffers.

Finally, small churches do not usually have vibrant children and teen ministries and the small church pk never knows what it is like to have a children's pastor or a youth pastor.

So to my children who have been in a small church their whole life I'm sorry that you've missed out on some things.

The Toughest

Another high school wrestling season is entering its version of the playoffs, both individually and as teams. As I reflect on the season I'm reminded that wrestling is the toughest sport on the planet physically and emotionally.  Think about these things:
* You walk on the mat in a singlet that hides nothing.  You face an opponent who wants to hurt you.  For six minutes (if there isn't over-time) you are in hand-to-hand combat with another wrestler.  At the end one will be the victor, one will be the loser--one will have his hand raised in triumph, the other will inevitably lower his head in defeat.  There is no one to praise, but you--there is no one to blame, but you.  And this is just one of 30-50 matches a high school wrestler will endure.  But the matches isn't all there is...
* Every day after school you go to practice.  You run, you drill, you learn, you wrestle, you bleed, you sweat, you vomit and some dislocate and break.  You do this for 2-3 hours everyday during the season.  But practice isn't all there is...
* You go home or to the gym and lift weights to get stronger.  You go home and you ride the bike or run to shed every ounce of excess fat.  But the extra work at home isn't all there is...
*  You diet--like a madman.  Wrestling season is during Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.  While everyone else is eating and drinking, you're watching what you put into your body, carefully calculating how it will effect your weight and performance.  But diet isn't all there is...
*  At night you lie in bed unable to sleep even though you're exhausted.  You're wired from turning your body into a fat burning furnace and muscular machine, so you lie there thinking.  You think of your last match--what you could have done better--what worked and what didn't.  You think of your next match and what you're going to do.  And this is just during the season, not to mention the off season when the real work takes place...

So if you're a high school wrestler I salute you.  You are the toughest men to walk the earth.

Celebrating differences

It has happened!  Richard Clees, my youngest son, now wears the same size shirt as I do.  This causes problems when Catherine does the laundry (which is most of the time) because she doesn't know whether a shirt is mine or Richard's.  I keep telling her the Harley shirts with the clowns on them are Richard's and the Harley shirts with the pin-up models riding a Harley are mine!

Besides owning Harley shirts Richard and I are a lot alike.  We both like football and wrestling.  Stephen King's "It" is at the top of our favorite book list.  We both think Daniel Tosh is hilarious.  We both can't play Skyrim enough.  I could go on and on, but there are also a lot of differences.  Richard likes rap music, I do not.  I love reading theology books, Richard does not.  I rush everywhere, Richard does not.  I like Burger King, Richard likes McDonalds.  Again I could go on and on.  However, I like that we have differences.  I learn from the differences and sometimes I am exposed to new things I enjoy.  For example there are a few songs on my "favorites" list on my iPod that would never be there if it wasn't for Richard listening to them (Undead by Hollywood Undead is an example).  I also did not like Tosh. O even though I had not watched it, but when I did I laughed and laughed (did you know Daniel Tosh is a pastor's kid?)

As I though about all this I thought how we sometimes shun diversity and only want to hang with those who are like us.  I think we should celebrate diversity and learn from one another.  There is not another human being who doesn't have something to offer each of us.    

The Forgiveness of Zeus

The other night two of my dogs got into quite a row over a bone.  Omega, the little one, was sure that Zeus, the bigger one, wanted to steal his bone.  When Zeus wandered too close Omega unleashed a fury of gnashing of teeth that went on for about oh, 7 seconds.  I was able to separate them and take the bone away from Omega.  The funny thing is I don't think Zeus even wanted the bone, he just happened to be walking by and Omega's selfishness got the best of him.

A few minutes after this little battle Zeus was licking Omega and they acted as if nothing ever happened.  I'm no dog psychologist, I don't know if dogs even have the capability of carrying a grudge, but I was amazed that Zeus seemed to forgive and love on his homicidal manic companion (token Calvin and Hobbes reference).  I thought what a wonderful world we would live in if we treated those who wronged us the way Zeus treated Omega after this incident--ok we don't need to lick one another, but you know what I mean.  This Advent season we might be able to give a great gift to someone by giving them the grudge we have been carrying around.

Influenced Theology

I've been thinking about my last post and why I have changed in my thinking--what were some of the catalyst that caused me to unroot my tap root type thinking, examine it and replant it with a fibrous root type thinking.  Was it my son being blown up in Iraq?  Was it studying for an M-Div and D-Min degree?  Was it simply getting older and more mature?  Yes to those and a host of others.  Our life shapes our theology and sometimes specific events play major roles in the outcome of our thinking.

This has me wondering what shaped Jesus' theology?  Lords of Light!  Jesus' theology was shaped by the Father and cast in iron unmovable and unchangeable!  If you believe that just go ahead and stop reading because I don't want to offend you...

...still here, ok.  Jesus was 100% divine, but Jesus was also 100% human and therefore shaped by the world he lived in.  My thought for the day is how was the teen-age Jesus shaped by the announcement that Tiberius was the new Emperor...the new king.  What thoughts went through the mind of young Jesus as people rejoiced and lamented the news of a new emperor and how did that thinking later shape the way Jesus spoke of the Kingdom in the Gospels?

I said what?

This is my first blog post in over a month.  The reason for that is simple--my writing was focused on getting some assignments done for class and seriously getting started on my dissertation.  But I feel like crap today and want to do some writing that is really just for me.

Yesterday I went back and looked at some of the sermons I have preached during the Advent season.  I did this for two reasons: 1) I wanted to make sure I wasn't repeating the same stuff, 2) I wanted to kick start my mojo.  What happened was I became horrified.  "Really, I preached that sermon!?"  I exclaimed to whoever may have my office bugged (Concerned Nazarenes and The Society to Abolish Those Who Believe in Bigfoot).  My thinking has really changed over the years.  I've moved in my thinking on theology, politics, and even NASCAR.

This made me think about books I've read.  If my thinking has changed then I conclude that other people's thinking probably changed as they got older and more mature.  If I read an early book by Jurgen Moltmann (insert favorite theologian of choice)  does it really reflect his theology later in life?  And what about journals.  We Nazarenes are always quick to quote John Wesley's journals, but what Wesley wrote early on isn't necessarily what he believed and taught later in his life.  Therefore when we quote someone isn't the responsible thing to do is to add a footnote and write when that person said such a thing.

* My recent reading of Richard Rohr's "Falling Upwards" is probably a major catalyst for this blog post