Prayerful Condolences

There won't be much of a post this week. Instead I'd like to send out condolences to the family of a man that I only met a couple of times... and yet he has reached into each one of your lives if you are a regular reader of this blog.

Tim Bartel inspired several of my posts (which can be reviewed here and here). Tim died of an unexpected heart attack this last weekend. He was currently serving as the District Coach to the Baptist General Conference churches in British Columbia.

Wright Whistles

Well for those who are done with thinking for the summer CHECK OUT MY WILLOW WHISTLES!

A short piece of willow and my Mora knife.

The bark removed, the mouthpeice cut, and the sound chamber carved out.
The bark replaced.
And I made two just for kicks (yes I know that it's kind of lame that I do this for kicks!).
Unfortunately, only one of them makes any sort of sound because I made the sound chamber too small on the first one. The second one kind of works but the bark split as I was bruising it to remove it.

Anyway, for those of you who are still capable of abstract thought, feel free to check this out. What are your thoughts on imaginative worship and liturgy?

The Person who is Truth

So this last week I was in Winnipeg for our BGC national conference... hence last week's lame post on willow whistles:)

While we were there I attended another workshop by Tim Bartel. You may remember another post I had on one of his workshops from the 20/20 Summit in February. It was all about the clashing of the Modern and PostModern worldview within the church. If you care to, you can get a refresher here.

This workshop was very similar but the audience was totally different. Maybe next week I'll get into that but for this week I want to sort out something that has been driving my thoughts for a while now.

It became clear, once again, that Modern Christians do not understand PostModern Christians' perspective on truth. Modern Christians hold on to the notion of factual, propositional truth while PostModern Christians believe that truth is relational.

I believe that truth is a person.

The problem with the modern notion of truth is that it puts God in a box. The modern worldview focuses so much on logic/reason/empiricism that God becomes subject (hence not supreme) to these; God needs to measure up to our standards of logic/etc. I can't buy that.

Here is why I believe the PostModern perspective of personal truth may be stronger:

John 14:6 (ESV): Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus IS the path to God. Jesus IS truth. Jesus IS life.

Is Jesus literally "the way"? Yes. I don't think anyone who reads this blog is a universalist. We all believe that it is only through Christ that we can be in relationship with God. No arguments there.

Is Jesus literally "life"? Yes. Jesus is the source of all life. All things were made "through him" (Jn 1:3, 4, 10).

Is Jesus literally "truth"? Yes. After all, John 8:32 (ESV) says "...you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Who sets us free? The person of Jesus. It is not the adherence to static propositions that brings freedom into our lives. No, it is a personal relationship with the Christ; the Messiah that is the Way to God, the source of all reality (Truth), and the source of existence (Life).

In a way, these three (Way, Truth, Life) are their own mini-Trinity. They are both independent and co-dependant at the same time.

The only way to God is by experiencing the Life and Truth of relationship with Christ.
Truth is reality; the way things really are: true existence.
Existence itself has it's source in the Christ the Creator...

It's True!

Does any of this make sense?
Do you have anything to add to either the Modern or the PostModern perspectives?
Is this too much thinking for Summer?

Maybe I should just stick with Willow Whistles.

Just in Case...

Well, it's summer, and that means a lot of us will be going camping.

So, just in case you are out in the middle of nowhere and you need a whistle:


Hahaha! I love it. Now you know how to make a willow whistle.

Surprised by Colbert

I was quite surprised to see that one of my favourite authors/theologians, NT Wright was on the Colbert Report last week. Check it out:

...uh, it appears that you can no longer get the clip from Colbert's site, Comedy Central's site, or YouTube... but you can watch it here. Please do.

If only Colbert would stop interrupting!

Wright asserts in this book that (as he barely has time to explain in the clip) contrary to popular belief, our true destination after death is not heaven but a recreated earth with the New Jerusalem as a "bridge" between the New Heaven and the New Earth.

I have frequently heard people ask the question that Colbert asks: if God is going to recreate everything then why should we bother taking care of the world?

Wright is interrupted before he can develop his analogy, so I will take the liberty of expanding it:

In a normal family household situation it is the job of the parents to make sure the home is clean and in order. However, parents often give their children the authority and responsibility to take care of their own rooms. The child could refuse to clean up their room saying, "Mom and Dad will clean it all up at the end of the day," which would probably be true, but that misses the point. The point is that the parents have given the child the job and responsibility of taking care of their room.

So it is with us. God has given us the responsibility of taking care of the Earth. This requires an holistic activistm. It includes environmentalism, humanitarianism, and evangelism.

So, the question is, do we just slack off, do nothing and say, "God will clean it up in the end," or do we step up to the challenge of stewardship and begin the process of New Creation here and now?

UPDATE:
A while back ABC did a bit with Wright in which some of his thoughts are more cogently captured. It may be helpful in our discussion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA0NLb0pXGI (YouTube wouldn't allow me to embed it...)

Rights vs Responsibilities

The comments from the previous post have taken us here:

I believe that our society is WAY out of balance. Everything is weighted toward the "rights" side of things with barely any emphasis on the "responsibilities" side.

Do you agree? In what areas of life do you see this?

Check out this section from the Canadian Bill of Rights (as taken from http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/showdoc/cs/C-12.3///en?page=1)

Recognition and declaration of rights and freedoms
1. It is hereby recognized and declared that in Canada there have existed and shall continue to exist without discrimination by reason of race, national origin, colour, religion or sex, the following human rights and fundamental freedoms, namely,
(a) the right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property, and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law;
(b) the right of the individual to equality before the law and the protection of the law;
(c) freedom of religion;
(d) freedom of speech;
(e) freedom of assembly and association; and
(f) freedom of the press.

[all emphasis mine]

Language is a delightfully (or maybe despicably) subtle thing.

We often speak of the "right of the individual" but where is the responsibility of the individual? I remember reading in Meic Pearce's book, Why the Rest Hates the West, how we usually state our rights in the first person ("I have the right to...") while responsibilities are stated neutrally...

ie) Instead of saying, "I have the responsibility to feed the poor" we might say, "the poor must be fed." Subtle linguistic changes like this create a culture where we can push aside our Biblically mandated responsibilities (like taking care of the poor) to someone else; I have rights, while responsibilities simply must be done... by who? I dunno, but not me.

Do you see this displayed in your life?

What other conflicts between rights and responsibilities can you think of?

How does our discussion around Wants vs Needs tie in?

How does Philippians 2:5-11 play into this?