Monday, June 23, 2008
VBS! ... 'Just Faith'! ... Romans 6: 1-11!
LOL! I volunteered to help with Vacation Bible School later this month at church! I must be mad! Uno, it's rugrats mostly. Two-o, it's been something like 30 years since this church has had a VBS! Hey, it'll be fun.
Last time I helped with a VBS, I was an older teen, it was the Southern Baptist Church I grew up in -- and after the first couple of days they kept me in the office. It seems my notions of God -- God's, like, LOVE, man -- didn't fit the theme.
Go figure. And is it any wonder I finally found this wonderful church? Motto one: "Where head and heart are equal partners in faith." Motto two: "Unapologetically Christian. Unapologetically liberal."
I think seeing those mottos will make yesterday's Prayer of Confession make more sense. Note that it's a corporate prayer, said aloud in unison, and that it starts with us addressing God, and ends with us addressing ourselves.
Lord of Life, we know that being a member of the body of Christ is not the same thing as belonging to a study group, or enjoying intellectual conversation on spiritual topics, or gathering with like-minded liberals. We are the spiritual heirs of those who believed that in the death of Jesus, they had "died" to old ways of being in the world, and been raised with Christ into new life. What would that mean today? How seriously do we take this claim? What would happen if we indeed "buried" our old selves, and accepted grace and forgiveness as the gifts of Easter? This is the heart and soul of the gospel. Beware. Amen.
Beware! Indeed. The Scripture reading was Romans 6: 1-11. It came in the nick of time.
Friday and Saturday, I wanted to drive to Boulder and end up in the county jail. Still might. But for the moment, and minute by minute, the fury I feel for the one who wronged my beloved Dr. ER, and myself, is buried with Jesus, and hope is renewed and alive with Christ.
While I'm on the subject of injustice, and justice, minor and major, I'm thinking very hard about signing up for this 30-week put-feet-to-your-faith program, Just Faith.
I wanted to last year but didn't, figuring I'd have to quit in the middle and move to Colorado. That's what I get for figurin'. So, this year I think I'm going to do it. It fits my church experience the past few years to a T:
The people of Mayflower Congregational UCC church of Mayflower of Oklahoma City invite you to experience Christianity as a way of life, not a set of creeds and doctrines demanding total agreement. We invite you to join us as we seek to recover the meaning of the gospel for our time, looking to scripture, faith, and reason -- interpreted by love. At Mayflower we believe that what Jesus teaches us about God is more important than what the church has taught us about Jesus. We believe in the liberty of of conscience, the responsibility of every believer to work out his or her own salvation, and the obligation of faithful men and women to become partners with God in building the kingdom. We take the Bible seriously, not literally, and believe that in our time the church must recover, above all, its radical hospitality -- welcoming all persons into her midst, without regard to race, age, gender, sexual orientation, or physical abilities.
Amen.
--ER
Last time I helped with a VBS, I was an older teen, it was the Southern Baptist Church I grew up in -- and after the first couple of days they kept me in the office. It seems my notions of God -- God's, like, LOVE, man -- didn't fit the theme.
Go figure. And is it any wonder I finally found this wonderful church? Motto one: "Where head and heart are equal partners in faith." Motto two: "Unapologetically Christian. Unapologetically liberal."
I think seeing those mottos will make yesterday's Prayer of Confession make more sense. Note that it's a corporate prayer, said aloud in unison, and that it starts with us addressing God, and ends with us addressing ourselves.
Lord of Life, we know that being a member of the body of Christ is not the same thing as belonging to a study group, or enjoying intellectual conversation on spiritual topics, or gathering with like-minded liberals. We are the spiritual heirs of those who believed that in the death of Jesus, they had "died" to old ways of being in the world, and been raised with Christ into new life. What would that mean today? How seriously do we take this claim? What would happen if we indeed "buried" our old selves, and accepted grace and forgiveness as the gifts of Easter? This is the heart and soul of the gospel. Beware. Amen.
Beware! Indeed. The Scripture reading was Romans 6: 1-11. It came in the nick of time.
Friday and Saturday, I wanted to drive to Boulder and end up in the county jail. Still might. But for the moment, and minute by minute, the fury I feel for the one who wronged my beloved Dr. ER, and myself, is buried with Jesus, and hope is renewed and alive with Christ.
While I'm on the subject of injustice, and justice, minor and major, I'm thinking very hard about signing up for this 30-week put-feet-to-your-faith program, Just Faith.
I wanted to last year but didn't, figuring I'd have to quit in the middle and move to Colorado. That's what I get for figurin'. So, this year I think I'm going to do it. It fits my church experience the past few years to a T:
The people of Mayflower Congregational UCC church of Mayflower of Oklahoma City invite you to experience Christianity as a way of life, not a set of creeds and doctrines demanding total agreement. We invite you to join us as we seek to recover the meaning of the gospel for our time, looking to scripture, faith, and reason -- interpreted by love. At Mayflower we believe that what Jesus teaches us about God is more important than what the church has taught us about Jesus. We believe in the liberty of of conscience, the responsibility of every believer to work out his or her own salvation, and the obligation of faithful men and women to become partners with God in building the kingdom. We take the Bible seriously, not literally, and believe that in our time the church must recover, above all, its radical hospitality -- welcoming all persons into her midst, without regard to race, age, gender, sexual orientation, or physical abilities.
Amen.
--ER
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Save some of your VBS materials for me. I'm a recreation leader at a youth conference in Chicago in August, and I need games, ice-breakers and energizers to share.
I was thinking about doing Just Faith, and then I thought, "Am I crazy, it's like adding yet another class to the 12 hours I'm taking already!" You'll have to let me know how it goes if you take it, it sounds pretty good.
And, if you're interested, I might be teaching an adult Bible/Sacred Text class starting in the fall. I'll let you know.
I was thinking about doing Just Faith, and then I thought, "Am I crazy, it's like adding yet another class to the 12 hours I'm taking already!" You'll have to let me know how it goes if you take it, it sounds pretty good.
And, if you're interested, I might be teaching an adult Bible/Sacred Text class starting in the fall. I'll let you know.
VBS! Oh how many times? My wife continuously led the VBS at our church up until a decade ago. The number of projects attached to that were many. No more.
Now, as far as the Colorado boss, worry not, retribution is always available in that world. Also, revenge is meal that taste much sweeter cold. Also knowing DR.ER, she will not let it pass. My advice, forgive and remember, and then get exactly even.
Now, as far as the Colorado boss, worry not, retribution is always available in that world. Also, revenge is meal that taste much sweeter cold. Also knowing DR.ER, she will not let it pass. My advice, forgive and remember, and then get exactly even.
Drlobo, I know your motto:
"My advice, forgive and remember, and then get exactly even."
Not to sound too pious -- for piety has nothing to do with it, only my own sanity -- but I can't forgive and plan to remember; on the other hand, it's impossible to forget; and I try to let those equations work themselves out, bread on the water, coals on their heads, 70 times seven, and so on.
"My advice, forgive and remember, and then get exactly even."
Not to sound too pious -- for piety has nothing to do with it, only my own sanity -- but I can't forgive and plan to remember; on the other hand, it's impossible to forget; and I try to let those equations work themselves out, bread on the water, coals on their heads, 70 times seven, and so on.
Sounds conflicted. I'll punish them by being good to them, and thus allow them to continue doing what they do. Or will they come to understand what they are doing by your forgiveness and cease doing it?
It is always best to look a Jesus and his sayings as a total.
Without an exact tit for a tat how will they know what they are doing, and what effects it has?
Which is better, tit for tat or retribution through kindness? What if your kindness causes harm to an innocence third party down the way because those you forgave continued their practices unchanged?
Under that scenario are you loving your neighbor as yourself?
Grace? Grace for whom? Grace when?
A paradox, no?
It is always best to look a Jesus and his sayings as a total.
Without an exact tit for a tat how will they know what they are doing, and what effects it has?
Which is better, tit for tat or retribution through kindness? What if your kindness causes harm to an innocence third party down the way because those you forgave continued their practices unchanged?
Under that scenario are you loving your neighbor as yourself?
Grace? Grace for whom? Grace when?
A paradox, no?
I did VBS a couple of weeks ago. I got to be a "character", Sam the Janitor, and dress in coveralls and talk to the puppets. Then escort a class of 2nd graders.
My kids go to VBS about every week in the summer to different churches. People ask if they are learning anything... well, no. They are way ahead of the curriculum for their ages. But working at home is difficult with kids around, so it's a break for me.
My kids go to VBS about every week in the summer to different churches. People ask if they are learning anything... well, no. They are way ahead of the curriculum for their ages. But working at home is difficult with kids around, so it's a break for me.
RE: Rugrats
Howdy, Lee. It is that. But, by extension, it can means any little ones, still crawling or not.
Hi ER,
There must be an upper limit though, when do they stop being a rugrat? Is it when they can vote?
Lee
Howdy, Lee. It is that. But, by extension, it can means any little ones, still crawling or not.
Hi ER,
There must be an upper limit though, when do they stop being a rugrat? Is it when they can vote?
Lee
Ha! I'd say that when a young'un quits getting down on the floor to play, then he or she is no longer a rugrat.
Which means, I guess, that sometimes, when I get down on the floor to play with my cats, I am still a rugrat!
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Which means, I guess, that sometimes, when I get down on the floor to play with my cats, I am still a rugrat!
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