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.