I've begun adding oodles of links to this blog. I'm planning on adding a lot more, so that by the end you should have a good idea of Matt in all of his Matt-ness by looking at the links. Let me know if any don't work, or if you find them at all interesting. And keep watching as the list grows.
Peace,
Matt
Friday, December 16, 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
New Blog Format
I continue to claim absolute ignorance when it comes to working a computer. Honestly, I simply could not get my profile and links to the top of my page. Instead, they hid at the bottom under all my posts. To fix it, I simply changed the look of my blog. Let's call it a wardrobe change for winter fashion.
Peace,
Matt
Peace,
Matt
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Defeated
It was 25 years ago today that John Lennon was murdered. With where his mind was taking him, it would have been amazing to see what he was doing at age 65. Last night I watched No Direction Home, the new Bob Dylan documentary, in which he spoke about how the artist is "always becoming." That was Lennon. In a lot of ways Lennon was dreaming for God's Kingdom to come, and come soon, and it is sad that a man like that was taken away too soon. The same could be said for King, Medgar Evers, Oscar Romero, etc. It's frustrating sometimes
Right now at work I am helping to prepare an "advent room." It is a sort of gallery where people will experience waiting; waiting for things that they wish would come in this life, experiencing the waiting that the ancient Jews felt before Christ came, and seeking to understand what we are waiting for when we say we want God's Kingdom to come. My specific task is the second advent...to make a gallery of the future (why do I get stuck with the hardest task?). The images I came up with had to do with streams in the desert, polluted lands experiencing deuglification (a CS Lewis word), the hungry finding food, the downtrodden experiencing God, etc. I was very proud of all of these. One image I had was of an AK-47 that was transformed into farming equipment, based on Isaiah 2:4 and the dream that one day there will be no more violence. Call me crazy but I don't really think God loves war. Apparently I am, because I was shot down, as one of my fellow staff members found the very idea offensive. I tried not to preach my politics, and maybe I failed, but it seems idiotic (no matter which side of the current war debate you are on) to think that God loves war and wants there to be more of it in His Kingdom. Even if you think the current war is necessary (which it is not), how could you possibly think God likes it? Who are we gonna kill in Heaven? Am I taking crazy pills here?
Compounded onto all of this is the fact that my dad goes into the hospital today to see if he is still cancer free (it has been one year now since he ended treatment). It's so scary. I come to the world today feeling discouraged and defeated. But maybe that is what advent is about. Today is the day to see hope when everything seems preposterously out-of-whack and you can only look at the world and say "this is not the way it's supposed to be" (the title of Platinga's book on sin).
I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the LORD's anger. He has brought me into deep darkness, shuting out all light. He has turned against me. Day and night his hand is heavy upon me. He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones. He has attacked me and surrounded me with anguish and distress. He has buried me in a dark place, like a person long dead. He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains. And though I cry and shout, he shuts out my prayers. He has blocked my path with a high stone wall. He has twisted the road before me with many detours. He hid like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me. He dragged me off the path and tore me with his claws, leaving me helpless and desolate. He bent his bow and aimed it squarely at me...
Yet still I dare to hope when I remember this: the unfailing love of the LORD never ends! Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day.
-From Lamentations 3 (NLT)
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: God in Search of Man : A Philosophy of Judaism by Abraham Joshua Heschel.
Currently Listening To: Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks.
Right now at work I am helping to prepare an "advent room." It is a sort of gallery where people will experience waiting; waiting for things that they wish would come in this life, experiencing the waiting that the ancient Jews felt before Christ came, and seeking to understand what we are waiting for when we say we want God's Kingdom to come. My specific task is the second advent...to make a gallery of the future (why do I get stuck with the hardest task?). The images I came up with had to do with streams in the desert, polluted lands experiencing deuglification (a CS Lewis word), the hungry finding food, the downtrodden experiencing God, etc. I was very proud of all of these. One image I had was of an AK-47 that was transformed into farming equipment, based on Isaiah 2:4 and the dream that one day there will be no more violence. Call me crazy but I don't really think God loves war. Apparently I am, because I was shot down, as one of my fellow staff members found the very idea offensive. I tried not to preach my politics, and maybe I failed, but it seems idiotic (no matter which side of the current war debate you are on) to think that God loves war and wants there to be more of it in His Kingdom. Even if you think the current war is necessary (which it is not), how could you possibly think God likes it? Who are we gonna kill in Heaven? Am I taking crazy pills here?
Compounded onto all of this is the fact that my dad goes into the hospital today to see if he is still cancer free (it has been one year now since he ended treatment). It's so scary. I come to the world today feeling discouraged and defeated. But maybe that is what advent is about. Today is the day to see hope when everything seems preposterously out-of-whack and you can only look at the world and say "this is not the way it's supposed to be" (the title of Platinga's book on sin).
I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the LORD's anger. He has brought me into deep darkness, shuting out all light. He has turned against me. Day and night his hand is heavy upon me. He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones. He has attacked me and surrounded me with anguish and distress. He has buried me in a dark place, like a person long dead. He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains. And though I cry and shout, he shuts out my prayers. He has blocked my path with a high stone wall. He has twisted the road before me with many detours. He hid like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me. He dragged me off the path and tore me with his claws, leaving me helpless and desolate. He bent his bow and aimed it squarely at me...
Yet still I dare to hope when I remember this: the unfailing love of the LORD never ends! Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day.
-From Lamentations 3 (NLT)
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: God in Search of Man : A Philosophy of Judaism by Abraham Joshua Heschel.
Currently Listening To: Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Advent
I am reading/praying through Phyllis Tickle's The Divine Hours this advent. My plan is to do this year round, but I decided to start during advent. I've never prayed the hours before, nor really celebrated advent, but I am very excited about both. At one time I thought that both were a joke, as they were not explicitly detailed in scripture, but God is opening my eyes to the wonders of our Christian tradition, which is excitingly rich, and to the fact that his Spirit did not stop inspiring people just because the Bible was done being written. I would highly recommend to everybody that they try something like this.
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: The two newest issues of Mother Jones (they put out two this month), the newest issue of Time (Effie got me a subscription), as well as Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me Ultima, The Named God by Stan Grenz, and the Tickle book mentioned above. Happily busy this season!
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: The two newest issues of Mother Jones (they put out two this month), the newest issue of Time (Effie got me a subscription), as well as Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me Ultima, The Named God by Stan Grenz, and the Tickle book mentioned above. Happily busy this season!
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Life is crazy!
As my life continues its non-stop craziness, I thought I'd take a minute to share what's going on... First, I have to be ready for my Sunday night program coming up, which I'm not because I had to finish arranging post-retreat stuff and do my 2006 youth budget. Second, I'm speaking at a retreat in Cle Elum this entire weekend, for which I need to have 4 messages, small group questions, and activities and slides prepared for. The hard part is, third, I have to be prepared to discuss how we're going to do Advent this season ("outside the box" style). I drive straight from the retreat back to church to do my program. After that I have three days to do a week's work before taking off to do Thanksgiving (which will be great), followed shortly after by me running the Seattle Marathon. Tiring.
The good news is that I ordered Stan Grenz's final book, which looks extremely difficult yet entirely amazing. Maybe someday I'll write about what he did for my life. It's great to meet a theologian who is also a caring human being. Good heart and mind together...that's my dream.
Peace,
Matt
The good news is that I ordered Stan Grenz's final book, which looks extremely difficult yet entirely amazing. Maybe someday I'll write about what he did for my life. It's great to meet a theologian who is also a caring human being. Good heart and mind together...that's my dream.
Peace,
Matt
Thursday, November 10, 2005
For those interested in Revelation...
Our mandatory class on Revelation was actually quite amazing. I typically feel like the freak at work because my theology doesn't line up with a lot of other peoples'. So when an outside expert came and shared about Revelation and affirmed everything I say and stand for, well, I just have to say that I felt much better about what I believe.
The most important thing to me was that he put the entire book in its 1st centruy context, which makes an amazing difference in how you read it. He also made sure to continually point out that the point of the book is to cause us to live differently today, specifically living into God's kingdom. If we are continually trying to figure out when the world will end, who the antichrist is, or whether or not some new technology is "the mark of the beast," we are no longer living fully into God's kingdom.
I could go on, but I have to go to work... My parting shot is this: Prof. Ron's reading of Revelation is that John's apocalypse was written because churches weren't being persecuted enough and needed to set themselves apart from their corrupt culture. Where are we doing the same? And why do we believe in a rapture if God calls us to be persecuted?
Okay, okay, one more thing. The rapture is garbage. It could happen, but it is doubtful. There is only one small passage in Revelation that could cause somebody to believe in it. Most rapture belief comes from Thessalonians. But the point of the passage is that the people come out to welcome their king into town, a common occurrence in the ancient east. Which means the king then comes into the city with the people, rather than lead everybody out. It is a historically based passage that continues to be read out of context.
Now I really have to get back to work. Maybe I'll blog more about this if anybody is interested.
Peace,
Matt
The most important thing to me was that he put the entire book in its 1st centruy context, which makes an amazing difference in how you read it. He also made sure to continually point out that the point of the book is to cause us to live differently today, specifically living into God's kingdom. If we are continually trying to figure out when the world will end, who the antichrist is, or whether or not some new technology is "the mark of the beast," we are no longer living fully into God's kingdom.
I could go on, but I have to go to work... My parting shot is this: Prof. Ron's reading of Revelation is that John's apocalypse was written because churches weren't being persecuted enough and needed to set themselves apart from their corrupt culture. Where are we doing the same? And why do we believe in a rapture if God calls us to be persecuted?
Okay, okay, one more thing. The rapture is garbage. It could happen, but it is doubtful. There is only one small passage in Revelation that could cause somebody to believe in it. Most rapture belief comes from Thessalonians. But the point of the passage is that the people come out to welcome their king into town, a common occurrence in the ancient east. Which means the king then comes into the city with the people, rather than lead everybody out. It is a historically based passage that continues to be read out of context.
Now I really have to get back to work. Maybe I'll blog more about this if anybody is interested.
Peace,
Matt
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Human Rights for Some
"There's an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again," he said. "So you bet we will aggressively pursue them, but we will do so under the law."
"We do not torture."
So says the president, even as VP Cheney pushes to change a ban on torture being pushed through the senate so the CIA would still be allowed to do so. "The administration has said in a statement that while it does not condone torture, it opposes the measure because it would be unnecessary or duplicative and could restrict the president's ability to conduct the war (on terrorism) effectively under existing law" (USA Today). I feel like, as usual, I'm the only one hearing two very different things coming from one White House. Do these people have multiple personalities, or do they just see nothing wrong with blatantly contradicting themselves?
Meanwhile, the US has just reached an agreement with China over textile trade, never mind that they are one of the world's worst countries when it comes to human rights violations. Sure, they send people into Myanmar to completely decimate the northern forests, so the Myanmar army can then have an easier time wiping out the northern villages because they are a different ethnicity. And sure, they keep Western countries from asking about it because everybody loves China and doesn't want to tick them off. But who really wants to do anything about it considering China is one of our favorite providers of cheap (aka sweat shop produced) clothing?
And of course, the US has now become friendly with India, who illegally produced atomic weapons. We continue to threaten war on Iran and Korea for even thinking about it, but India is okay, even if the rest of the world (including the UN) is against their actions. After all, who needs the okay of the rest of the world when you are the US?
In the 21st century America has seized absolute power, which does corrupt absolutely, and twisted what was once good into something hideous and evil. Why do we care about human rights in some cases, but not others? Why do we think that every other Western nation is wrong when they disagree with us? I'm sorry for going so political, but something needs to change. I fear for the safety of the people of the US, who are becoming universally hated. I fear for the people of poorer nations who have to suffer at the everchanging whim of an overpowering capitalist system where the bottom line is all that matters. I pray for God's kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: The book of Revelation.
"We do not torture."
So says the president, even as VP Cheney pushes to change a ban on torture being pushed through the senate so the CIA would still be allowed to do so. "The administration has said in a statement that while it does not condone torture, it opposes the measure because it would be unnecessary or duplicative and could restrict the president's ability to conduct the war (on terrorism) effectively under existing law" (USA Today). I feel like, as usual, I'm the only one hearing two very different things coming from one White House. Do these people have multiple personalities, or do they just see nothing wrong with blatantly contradicting themselves?
Meanwhile, the US has just reached an agreement with China over textile trade, never mind that they are one of the world's worst countries when it comes to human rights violations. Sure, they send people into Myanmar to completely decimate the northern forests, so the Myanmar army can then have an easier time wiping out the northern villages because they are a different ethnicity. And sure, they keep Western countries from asking about it because everybody loves China and doesn't want to tick them off. But who really wants to do anything about it considering China is one of our favorite providers of cheap (aka sweat shop produced) clothing?
And of course, the US has now become friendly with India, who illegally produced atomic weapons. We continue to threaten war on Iran and Korea for even thinking about it, but India is okay, even if the rest of the world (including the UN) is against their actions. After all, who needs the okay of the rest of the world when you are the US?
In the 21st century America has seized absolute power, which does corrupt absolutely, and twisted what was once good into something hideous and evil. Why do we care about human rights in some cases, but not others? Why do we think that every other Western nation is wrong when they disagree with us? I'm sorry for going so political, but something needs to change. I fear for the safety of the people of the US, who are becoming universally hated. I fear for the people of poorer nations who have to suffer at the everchanging whim of an overpowering capitalist system where the bottom line is all that matters. I pray for God's kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: The book of Revelation.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Back to complaints as usual
Okay, I've been trying not to complain as much on my blog lately, but today I just gotta let it out.
First of all, is even one person out there who really gets what the church is here for? I received an e-mail from a student today that literally said "this god thing isn't working for me anymore". What the heck do you do with something like that? Lately I'm averaging two people per week (literally) who threaten to stop coming to our church. Never is it a matter of theological disagreement, just simply people choosing when to be and not be "religious" depending upon their emotional state. Has anybody read the gospels? Do we get that this is about God, not us? About his kingdom, not our will? Frustrating!
Secondly, I have many theological heroes who fall under the "emergent" umbrella. Part of this means that they are supposedly bloggers. What sucks is this: their blogs have turned into massive advertisements! "I'll be speaking here next Tuesday..." "My book comes out next month and ______ says you should buy it..." I'm not saying they shouldn't mention these sorts of things, but really if that's all they mention, I'm done going to their pages. Which is exactly the truth.
Lastly, I am spending all day tomorrow in a mandatory class on Revelation. It could be good... the problem is in the fact that I seem to disagree with a majority of my church co-workers and I can't help but think that it's all about to hit the fan (again). I don't want to get peeved-off, or make anyone else angry. Guess we'll see what happens.
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: Religion, Politics, and the Christian Right by Mark Lewis Taylor. I love that it is based on Tillich's writing, but I'm still not overly impressed. I'm also reading some N.T. Wright articles dealing with the book of Revelation so I can be ready for tomorrow.
First of all, is even one person out there who really gets what the church is here for? I received an e-mail from a student today that literally said "this god thing isn't working for me anymore". What the heck do you do with something like that? Lately I'm averaging two people per week (literally) who threaten to stop coming to our church. Never is it a matter of theological disagreement, just simply people choosing when to be and not be "religious" depending upon their emotional state. Has anybody read the gospels? Do we get that this is about God, not us? About his kingdom, not our will? Frustrating!
Secondly, I have many theological heroes who fall under the "emergent" umbrella. Part of this means that they are supposedly bloggers. What sucks is this: their blogs have turned into massive advertisements! "I'll be speaking here next Tuesday..." "My book comes out next month and ______ says you should buy it..." I'm not saying they shouldn't mention these sorts of things, but really if that's all they mention, I'm done going to their pages. Which is exactly the truth.
Lastly, I am spending all day tomorrow in a mandatory class on Revelation. It could be good... the problem is in the fact that I seem to disagree with a majority of my church co-workers and I can't help but think that it's all about to hit the fan (again). I don't want to get peeved-off, or make anyone else angry. Guess we'll see what happens.
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: Religion, Politics, and the Christian Right by Mark Lewis Taylor. I love that it is based on Tillich's writing, but I'm still not overly impressed. I'm also reading some N.T. Wright articles dealing with the book of Revelation so I can be ready for tomorrow.
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