Great stuff from N.T. Wright

...we've got to tell the truth about God, that God is not the same as the world, as in Pantheism, nor is God a million miles away from the world, as in many dualistic schemes, but that heaven and earth have overlapped and interlocked once and for all and forever in Jesus, and that ultimately they will overlap and interlock entirely.

Never go near any theology which cannot play out into Isaiah 11, because if you do you'll be colluding with dualism, sure as anything.

We will discover what it means to be genuinely human as we go in the service of the Kingdom of God, should I say the Empire of God.

As I was hanging out with a friend I asked a simple question to point out a clear theological flaw. I drew a picture of a car & explained the possible positions for people to sit or be in, each of which demonstrates a different perspective within the car: The Driver's seat; Shotgun, The back seat, & the trunk. I then told my friend, imagine the car being your life; & then asked, where is Jesus in your car? With a little thought he answered, "In the trunk." After a little bit more dialogue I asked, What can you do to make Jesus love you more as He's riding in the trunk? His answers were well meaning, Christian, & sincere, but all of them fell short of the truth. I realized he was unaware of what he could do to make Jesus love him more as Jesus was stuffed in the trunk of his life.

The answer?

Nothing.

Christ's cross is such a burden as sails are to a ship or wings to a bird.

Samuel Rutherford.

We're going through Colossians right now. Here's what one commentary said about Chapter 1.

(1) The head of the church. If Christ is the head of the church, it means that the destinies of creation and the church are bound together and that God’s purposes for all creation gestate in the church’s congregational life. The church does not exist to meet the needs of its members or to insure its institutional survival, but to fulfill the redemptive purposes of Christ, its head.

Here's my response to what I see as a misunderstanding by church leadership.

"Greetings Church,

Our Spiritual Transformation Class will begin on June 20th from 9:00-9:50am in the Yaks conference room. Make sure to order your book ahead of time. The text we will be using is Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. The book can be purchased on sites such Amazon.com, Half.com, CBD.com, or by checking out our local Christian book stores.

Blessings,

VCC Staff

....doing the things that Jesus said and did."

My Response:

Isn't a book titled: Celebration of Discipline an oxymoron?

Shouldn't it be: Celebration of my feelings/desires/wants; or something like that?

Sean