One-Eighth

Well...the semester came and went. It took some adjusting. The first month was especially rough. It wasn't just an adjustment to being back in school after 4 years, but this is a different kind of academics. In my undergrad in International Business, it was very cut and dry. Here's the information, now take a test on it. More information, then take a test. Theology is very different. Tons of reading and writing, and a lot of "Tell me how you feel about that." That's not to say it's bad. Actually, I very much enjoy it. It's just different. It's amazing how much something doesn't feel like difficult work, when you're passionate about it. 1 semester down, 7 more to go. I did well despite the challenges, however, and I felt affirmed again in my decision to pursue this.

Affirmation is an extremely powerful force. I think we all seek affirmation in our lives. From bosses, friends, mentors, family... We want to know that who we are and what we do matters. You do. And it does. I find it amazing how far an affirming word can go.

You are valuable, and you are loved.

When we treat everyone we encounter with respect, care, and love, we are actively participating in God's work in the world. I believe we can and will see a time in our lives where love and peace rule, instead of the violence and hatred we often see today.

I am going to change the world.

We are going to change the world.

looking north from Roosevelt.

Catching up.

Wow! It's been a while since I posted on here... So, I guess I should catch up to where I'm at currently. I took a job at a new company in August. It's been really great. I've been able to expand my skills as an analyst and gain some new insights. At the same time, I began applying to seminaries and starting the candidacy process as well. All that means is that starting in August, I'll go back to being a student again. Oooof... Don't think I'm ready for that. It also means Tiff and I will be boxing up our life and headed up north. Not sure if it will be Chicago or Minneapolis yet, but one thing's for sure, it's going to be COLD!!! Definitely not ready for that either. 

This is an extremely exciting time for us, but also incredibly scary. It's unnerving to completely change courses in life, but if what you are pursuing is your passion, how can you justify not devoting your entire being to it? This is where it becomes difficult to rationally explain the journey I'm entering into. The world of religion and theology is not something that fits well into our "boxes." It's in our nature to build structures around our ideas so that they make sense to us. This is why many of our ideas end up as institutions. Science, Religion, Philosophy...all started out as ideas, and now reside in structures with sets of rules, strict order, and hierarchies.

To me, that is our fatal flaw. We fail to see our world as a fluid motion and interaction of ideas, and instead see only imposing structures used to exercise control over our lives. I want to change that. I want to invite people to experience Christianity. The path that I'm starting on is not one that I can define easily, but I can tell you about it. I can relate my experiences. With that said, I would invite you to pursue your passion. Find what feeds you, and devote your life to it. It's a very fulfilling and rewarding way of living, and you just might find out some things about yourself.

Community. One-ness.

The truth is, if you asked 10 people how BBQ should taste, I’d bet you would get at least 5 different answers. The same is definitely, if not more so, true when it comes to religion, Christianity in particular. So much has been made of how we are all different, that very often we fail to recognize what we have in common.

A lot of religious people, particularly Christians, make the mistake of assuming that everyone knows everything about their particular flavor of belief. The truth is, there are so many different religions, denominations, fellowships, and schools of thought, that it would extremely rare to find anyone that knew everything about all of them. The problem we find ourselves in is that we become so entrenched in our own brand of theology that we neglect to be open to other viewpoints and find ourselves in an I'm-right-they're-wrong mentality. I'm not saying that I agree with every opposing viewpoint expressed to me, but I need to at least hear their thoughts, because I just might learn something about my own views.

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a Christian in today’s world, and how does that impact how I interact with everything around me. I will be the first to say that living in our world in present times is definitely not all rainbows and butterflies. It’s hard. Difficult. We live day to day just wondering if we’ll make it to tomorrow. I’m starting to learn the extremely complicated task of not letting worry consume me, but to instead living completely into each day. I’m trying to approach each interaction I come into as a way to improve not only my life, but that other person’s life as well.

Let me explain. I believe that living is a collaborative effort. My life is intricately involved with every single person I come in to contact with, sometimes separated by five, six, or more degrees. It is because of this involvement and its potential impact on my life down the road that I need to take care not to set myself or that other person up for future negative effects. As humans, we’ve become so inwardly focused that we often do not see how we affect those around us. When we live with an acute awareness of the community between everyone and everything, I believe we inherently make a conscious effort to make those relationships positive and uplifting, as opposed to negative and damaging.

Community is what I would offer up as a building block on which this changing Church will be built. We will recognize that we are stronger together than we are divided. We bring about more and greater change through positivity than hateful narratives. These communities will start small, maybe only a handful of people, but lots of handfuls creating constructive changes in those around them will give way to a snowball effect of transformative and lasting change. This idea is certainly not unique to Christianity, but it is understood as part of God's design for the Christian way of living, and that is what the Christian hopes for when they say, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…”

What is a "BBQ Christian"...?

I grew up in a Lutheran church. I still attend a Lutheran church. I will probably always go to a Lutheran church. A lot of people have zero idea what a Lutheran is. This came as a shock to me in my narrowly-minded former world view.

A few years ago, a group of friends and I were talking about religion, denominations, etc. At one point, I proudly proclaimed, "Well, I'm Lutheran." One of my friends then asked, "What, like the barbeque?" I had no idea what he was talking about, so I responded, "Well, Lutherans are known for throwing a pretty mean potluck...", to which he responded, "No, like the restaurant...Luther's BBQ." Come to find out, Luther's BBQ is a restaurant down in Houston, TX and I'm told they serve up some delicious brisket.

There aren't many parallels to be drawn between Christianity and down-home Texas cooking, but I will attempt one.

There are many different interpretations of what "good barbeque" is, but there is a general consensus that it starts with good meat.

As much as Christians differ about a myriad of theological issues, there are a few central tenets of the faith that you would find common among all churches. It is because of this commonality that I believe we are about to see a change in the Christian church. Nearly every church leader agrees that we are approaching a watershed moment in the faith. I see this not as a dismantling of the church, but a renewal of the faith that places emphasis on what we hold in common, rather than how we are different. I may not care for the Memphis-style dry rub barbeque, but even I have to admit, that beef comes out mighty tasty...

This is my first foray into the world of blogging. This blog will primarily be me working out my own theological questions, but I hope to give you some points of thought to work out your own ideals. My point is not to say that I'm right and you're wrong, but rather to explain why I believe what I do, and hopefully find some common ground between different viewpoints.