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Sunday, December 28, 2003
Wake Up, Dead Man A lot of people in the emergent, "see God in the arts" crowd talked a lot about the celebration scene in the second Matrix movie. They saw it as a parallel to how gatherings of believers should be (at least in a figurative sense... even though some perhaps desire it to be in a very literal sense). Now, I'm not NECESSARILY one of those people. I was raised to be pretty reserved with my emotions during "church" time. People who let it all hang out were "charismatic"... which, in our lexicon, translated as "overly-emotional weirdos". I certainly don't think it is a good thing that I'm like this. I would like to be open to more displays of excitement, mourning, anticipation, joy, etc. during "church" time. And today, I got a small glimpse of that. People sang to God, and allowed what they were singing to be expressed in their faces and bodies. People were honestly excited. Scripture was read in a way that was meant to inspire a longing for Christ and his coming. The musicians followed the lead of those who got up to read scripture. It was very cool, and in a small way, it reminded me of that celebration in Zion in the Matrix movie. Contrast that to the lifeless, sterile... let's just say it, death that is found in most "church" services. How many of us walked away from our candle light services on Christmas eve inspired, or even invigorated? Every year when I was growing up, my home "church" would do the exact same flippin' service. Same songs. Same routine. The only thing that ever made it worth sitting through was one woman who, incidently, sang the same song every year, but we didn't care, because she sang it so well. Everything else was a race so we could get out the door and meet other families at a restaurant. Now I wonder why we didn't just cut the crap and get to the food. There was more Christ in those conversations than there was in the "Service of the Same Old Same Old." Where did we get so addicted to routines? Where'd we get so somber? When did we become content to sit our cheeks down in a pew and get numb for an hour? Why do we engage in such torture? When the children of God get together, it should be an exciting event! If for any other reason that that God has, through is grace, given us the opportunity to be together again! One time a friend of mine asked why he couldn't feel as "worshipful" in a church service as he felt at the U2 concert he went to. Of course, he was quickly set straight. "Church services aren't meant to be like concerts." And I agree (mainly because, if they were, people would quit buying tickets to the concerts). At the same time, am I the only one who sees and incredible lack of authentic emotion at a gathering of people who are supposed to be in service to the one person who is King over even the kings of the earth? Doesn't that give us SOME clue that something might be wrong? We call ourselves "the body" but are lacking life! Andy Kaufman used to do whatever he could on stage to evoke any type of emotion he could get his hands on... if anger happened to be that emotion, then he settled for anger. Why was it so important? Because, folks, it's emotion that separates us from computers. Without it, you're a robot. I'm fed up with being a robot. I want my "church" time to be like life, not this clean little sanitized corner of my life. That's deception. If that's all people know of me, then they don't know me, and there is no community. Until we are willing to allow volatile, colorful, unpredictable, living, breathing, moving emotions back into our "church" time, we will continue living these lies right in front of each other. Happy New Year. Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Monday, December 22, 2003
 From David Hopkins' BlogI would have just linked to it, but I couldn't get his direct link to the post to work correctly: From Jimmy: As a side note, Amy and I ran into various incarnations of this same souless student at the Return of the King this past weekend. There were about 4 of them sitting on the front row. They talked and laughed loudly during the scenes that weren't action filled enough for their media addicted eyes and minds. There was no thought as to how they might be ruining those sometimes meaningful scenes for the other movie-goers. Meanwhile... 70% of all Black children are born out of wedlock. 43% of black pregnancies end in abortion. More on this at Rudy's blog and the article by Anthony Bradley where Rudy where he found it. Sunday, December 21, 2003
 I have often gotten the feelingthat some people in the Emergent community find more identity in being "pomo" than in being a child of God. I think some people very badly want to be in on the next new thing. Some people want for the emergent thing to be the next reformation, not because they want for the bride of Christ to be pure, but because they want to be Martin Luther. Friday, December 19, 2003
P-stM-dernism Is this new holy name for G-d? I didn't get the memo... Written in a moment of feeling like the trends lend more to being passionate about an idea than we should be. Thursday, December 18, 2003
Modeling Appropriate Behavior... ramblings from a guy in need of a vacation How many times have I said this to adults or kids. You need to model the appropriate behavior. These day's when I think of models outside of Christian circles I think of I think of Abercrombie and Fitch models plastered in gigantic photographs on walls or Victoria Secret models walking the runway in some skimpy outfit that looks really uncomfortable... I'm guessing...(and this is just a guess) that most of those models don't wear that stuff. Some folks tell celebrities like Tiger Woods, Charles Barkley and Eminem that they are role models. We pastors tell people to behave... or more sinister... to act like we are behaving. (isn't that what modeling behavior is). Look folks I'm coming to terms with the world we live in being pretend. nothing is what it seems. Our sound bite culture conveys partial truths and paritial lies. nothing is what it seems. we don't just wear masks, we wear costumes. Talking with my friend Joe Myers last week he said sometime like: By telling various people in various contexts and situations who they are ... WE DISCOVER who we are.... let me get this straight.... We tell me people who we are and then we discover who we are as we describe ourselves. I think that is true. and wicked scary. I do this. the arguement could go that by acting a certain way we discover how we act. but i'm not convinced of that. What I am tired of doing is playing pretend in all my circumstances. I'm definately tired of playing pretend with my understanding of my self. A couple questions I'm asking myself today: Am I seeking a purity of life and character or the appearance of it? Am I moving toward the simplicity (and complexity I suppose) of living a very simple life that is revolutionary? Would I be ok with a simple revolutionary life? What the hell does a simple revolutionary life look like? It is possible to stop pretending? Is it possible to redeem a pretend world beyond a pretend redemption? I like that last question..... that's enough for now. Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Misspent Energy Too much time is spent on getting people to live for Christ instead of encouraging them to live in Christ. Tuesday, December 16, 2003
 How to amuse yourself through the gruelling three hours and 12 minutes of The Return of the KingTaken from Bob's blog. Monday, December 15, 2003
My Very Own Polka LOL...I was messing around with google and came across this link, where I found a Polka by my name. Here's the sheet music:  I know its about one of the other millions of Jimmy Doyles out there. But I thought it was funny. I'll have to learn to play it!  Chesterton On Christian OriginalityFrom his book Orthodoxy--I stole this quote from Jamie at BeChurch. Dreams I had a dream while taking a nap yesterday where I solved some of the greatest mysteries of existence. Something about the essence of being, names, and such. I remember waking to the thought that I had come up with something brilliant. Unfortunately, I can't remember my dream. Sunday, December 14, 2003
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
 TithingNote on number 7 in the previous post: If I hear one more message on the tithe based upon Malachi 3:6-12 I think I might actually scream. Preachers use that verse to get people to give to their churches. "You're robbing God if you don't tithe...test Him...He wants you to put Him to the test on this one thing." One church I know even gives a "Money Back" guarantee if you aren't "blessed" by tithing to their church. Now, I don't disagree that perhaps by not tithing we could be robbing God. But I think we miss the context of the tithe entirely. In the Torah1 the tithe is described most clearly in the following passage from Deuteronomy 14: TithesThe book of Numbers clarifies for us that part of the tithe was to be presented as an offering in the Temple and that part belonged to the sons of Aaron--the priests and a portion of it was to serve as the inheritance of the Levites. Honestly, I like the Scriptural version of the tithe rather than the version I hear in most churches. How cool would it be to use the tithe of your annual income to pay for a big cook-out for your family at the end of the year? You invite the pastor and the poor over...what a time! And every three years, your tithe is completely dedicated to those who have no inheritance. That's the storehouse God is talking about in Malachi. God repeatedly identifies Himself with the poor and disinherited in the Scriptures. By not brining food into the storehouse, the Israelites were not taking care of those members of their society. Why don't we present it that way to our congregations: "Hey, gang. We're robbing God by not using a tithe of our stuff to take care of the poor." It seems that we've confused the tithe with the Temple tax...the money used to take care of the Temple facility and its services. Of course the word tax would be harder to sell to congregations. "At this time in our service, we will now take up the taxes and offerings." 1Of course, the New Testament doesn't mention the tithe at all. It does mention offerings to support the poor, and as well as passages that suggest that church leaders are supported by the congregation. I guess if we were to actually keep the tithe, we should be giving our money to a synagogue somewhere. Here's a great humorous link about tithing. Some thoughts and struggles I still have: 1. In the New Testament, the roles of prophet, teacher, apostle, pastor, and leader are functions not titles. 2. Members of the body of Christ are not to be ruled over or "held accountable" by the clergy. 3. The system of professional church™ staff has more to do with comfort, good salaries, compensation packages, and furthering of professional clout than the building of the Kingdom of God or calling. 5. The church™ has become success and image centered at the expense of being Christ centered. 6. Church™ buildings generally come at the expense of using money to help those in need. 7. The teaching on the tithe in the Church™ today is incorrect at best....manipulative, abusive, and perverted at worst. This is based on two primary conclusions: 1) the tithe in the Scripture was meant for those without inheritance: the poor, widows, orphans, foreigners, and the Levites. 2.) It has become a modern indulgence which allows the church consumer to pay someone else to do the work of Christ. 8. The reading of Scripture, prayer, and the Sacraments have become tools of control.  Cool StoryOkay...here are the instructions: Go to Mike Riddell's site (Mike...not Mark...it's not a typo), click on the Spirituality link, then scroll down to the articles. Click on the article called Jesus At the Diner. Or...if you want to skip Mike's site, you can just go here. Here's the intro to catch your attention: This is a true story. Absolutely true in every respect. It just hasn't happened yet. All stories are true if you wait long enough. Someone once asked Mao-Tse-Tung if he thought the French Revolution was a success. He replied that it was too early to tell. At that stage the world cup still hadn't been played. Anyway, back to the story. This is all about what happened the day that Jesus came back. Of course everyone had been hanging about waiting for Jesus for centuries and centuries. After a while people just gave up and got on with their lives, you know what I mean. Nobody wanted to admit that they'd been stood up, but there's only so long that you can stand on the corner twiddling your thumbs. The followers of Jesus had been forced to go ahead without him. And to tell the truth, they hadn't made a bad fist of things. They'd got buildings and land and money and power; all the things in fact that Jesus hadn't quite managed in his own short period of ministry. There were universities and political parties and tourist operators and even television stations operating in his name. The church had developed rule books and rituals and all manner of fancy costumes for itself. So it was a bit of a surprise that when Jesus finally chose to return from the longest holiday in history, that he should come back in the way he did. You might have thought he would have turned up at the Vatican or Lambeth Palace or even Graceland. But no, of all the holy and revered sites on the planet, Jesus had to pick Al's Greasy Diner to show up at... --©Mike Riddell 2003 Tuesday, December 09, 2003
 Mary As a parent I've thought many times about the pain experienced by Mary. I wonder how soon she knew that her Son would die a terrible death? On that first Christmas, what thoughts did she have as she held her divine child? Did she believe her son was going to be a great conquerer...who would ride in and save the day? Or was she aware of His calling...of the brutality of His coming sacrifice? I'm not sure I envy her. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... I never knew as a child and a teenager that the teachers actually craved snow days more than the students. Now that I'm a teacher, sitting here watching the snow collect in my backyard, I know that the first thing I will do in the morning is anxiously check the news to see if our school is on the list of closings. Addendum: Sometimes shallow prayers work best. Today we're out of school for a snow day. Monday, December 08, 2003
Would be theologians...must be on their guard lest by beginning too soon to preach they rather chatter themselves into Christianity than live themselves into it and find themselves at home there. --Soren Kierkegaard as recorded in his journal, July 11, 1838  Some Cool Links for Bible Nerds Isaiah Scroll Online This is so cool...you can get actual pictures of every page of the Isaiah scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Each page has a discussion of the text. There is also an English translation. Pretty cool for you Hebrew students out there! The Transmission of the New Testament Great site which explains how the New Testament text developed. Also a great explanation of the process of textual criticism. Go to the index page and work from there. Early Jewish Writings A great collection of links to info and texts from many Early Jewish texts. Aides to Biblical Studies Links to early Christian writers, sources, Biblical Texts, etc. Sunday, December 07, 2003
"Christianity And"  From C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters"My dear Wormwood, the real trouble about the set your patient is that it is merely Christian. They all have individual interests, of course, but the bond remains mere Christianity. What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in the state of mind I call "Christianity And." You know - Christianity and the Crisis, Christianity and the New Psychology, Christianity and the New Order, Christianity and Faith Healing, Christianity and Psychical Research, Christianity and Vegetarianism, Christianity and Spelling Reform. If they're going to be Christians, let them at least be Christians with a difference. Substitute for the faith itself some Fashion with a Christian colouring. Work on their horror of the same old thing." Allow me to add to his list - "Christianity and contemporary worship, Christianity and relevance, Christianity and post-modernism, Christianity and the poor, Christianity and community." I say this somewhat flippantly, but it troubles me immensely. I desire mere Christianity, yet I see the fingerprints of "Christianity And" all over my life (usually after I've spent a lot of time condemning its rampant, disgusting, unseen presence all over the midwest). I wonder if Lewis ever really discovered the secret to mere Christianity, or if the dirty little secret is that struggling with this very thing is characteristic of a western Christian. I have friends who live outside of the bible belt who talk about how the IC's they go to ARE community, simply because if you want to know other Christians, you have to attend an IC. There are people that really do look down on them for being Christians. And the thing about it is that this type of environment really simplifies things. I love Bread of Life Fellowship. People live their lives there with authenticity, and real life is allowed to exist there. So much of the crap that characterizes many midwest IC's simply doesn't exist there. Not that it's this utopian Christian fellowship, because ugliness exists there. But they make an honest effort to see ugliness for what it is without justifying it or rationalizing it or ignoring it. They desire Christ because he is Christ, not because he will accentuate their lifestyle or cause political change or bring social justice. Again, from Screwtape, "The thing to do is to get a man at first to value social justice as a thing which the Enemy demands, and then work him on to the stage at which he values Christianity because it may produce social justice. For the Enemy will not be used as a convenience. Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of Heaven as a short cut to the nearest chemist's shop. Fortunately, it is quite easy to coax humans around this little corner. Only today I have found a passage in a Christian writer where he recommends his own version of Christianity on the ground that "only such a faith can outlast the death of old cultures and the birth of new civilizations." You see the rift? "Believe this, not because it is true, but for some other reason." That's the game. Saturday, December 06, 2003
 What's wrong with me? I have never felt the burning desire to read the Bible on an extremely regular basis. Even when I thought that the sum total of my spiritual life hinged on my ability to have a regular quiet time, I just couldn't make myself do it. I start. I do it for a while. I give it up. I resolve myself. I set time aside. It gets lost in the shuffle. I really want to know what's wrong with me. It's not that I don't like the Bible (duh!). In fact, I feel that I've learned more about what it has to say about God in the past couple of years than I have since I was a kid learning the stories in Sunday School. But I have a lot of friends who talk about how important it's been for them to discipline themselves to studying the scriptures regularly and how they've burned for the scriptures, and it's starting to make me wonder what's wrong with me. Why am I so much more likely to pick up a book about Abraham Lincoln or Greek philosophy than I am to pick up the "good book"? It doesn't help to see people around me practically equate the Bible with Jesus and, I believe, wrong-headedly refer to it over and over again as the Word of God. So my oppositional nature kicks in some there, and I'm sure I've got some kind of unconscious negative association with having my own time to study the scriptures. Maybe I need to rebel against myself. What I really wish is that Christ would take this the way he has taken other personal deficiencies of mine. I want him to badly, but apparently I'm having a tough time letting it go, and I'm not exactly sure how or why, because I feel so willing. Jeez, being a Christian can strand you in a schizic sense of being. I'm fighting myself. I'm sure plenty of people would find that unhealthy. I just keep wondering why I won't die!!! A little more about Stephen I'm sort of an oppositional person. For some reason, when things are going one way, I feel the need to go the other. This served me pretty well in the Christian subculture for a number of years, because while I was in high school it made it really easy for me to define myself by what I didn't do and what I wasn't (I wasn't a freak, and I didn't party or sleep around). The result wasn't so pleasant when I ended up at conservative Christian John Brown University in Siloam Springs, AR. A lot of my opposition was justified. I saw Christianity abused for selfish purposes and I saw people who claimed to follow Christ manipulate his message to hurt other people. I feel like my current situation regarding church is the logical continuation of that. I feel like, at some level, that I'm rightly disturbed by the current condition of the body of Christ. But at the same time, sometimes I wonder how much of it is just me being a jerk. I definitely have it in me. Sometimes I just like to be difficult. How much of this is God's mark on my life... his making me a certain way to serve his purposes? How much of it because the devil's got a hold on me? How much of it is just me being me? I've been accused so many times of throwing the baby out with the bathwater and having unnecessarily high expectations of the IC. I've lost a lot of that original fire and thought that started me down this journey. It's caused me to re-evaluate a lot, and sometimes I start to wonder if my accusers are right. I'm not saying I'd ever go back to being the way I was (I can't), but eventually that type of stuff has an impact on you, especially when it comes from people who you respect and care about. Wednesday, December 03, 2003
The Words of Friends In St. Louis I was able to get together with some friends I hadn't seen in a couple of years. We stayed up late in their hotel room talking and having a great time. Today I got an email from one of them. He closed by saying this: "By the way I want you to know how much i enjoyed the conversations sitting in the hotel room. I think you are a pretty amazing guy and thanks for the insight." Isn't it incredible how words like this from people you love make you feel great and humbled at the same time? It brightens your whole day. It's good to be encouraged. Such moments also bring me to the realization that I don't speak enough words of encouragement and praise to my friends and family. Tuesday, December 02, 2003
The Dilemma of Life from Henri Nouwen Do we desire to be with Christ in the resurrection? It seems that most of us are not waiting for this new life but instead are doing everything possible to prolong our mortal lives. Still, as we grow more deeply into the spiritual life - the life in communion with our risen Lord - we gradually get in touch with our desire to move through the gate of death into the eternal life with Christ. This is no death wish but a desire for the fulfillment of all desires. Paul strongly experienced that desire. He writes: "Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would be a positive gain. ... I am caught in this dilemma: I want to be gone and to be with Christ, and this is by far the stronger desire - and yet for your sake to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need" (Philippians 1:21-24). This is a dilemma that few of us have, but it lays bare the core of the spiritual struggle. Monday, December 01, 2003
Back From St. Louis and Thanksgiving I had a great time at the Youth Specialties Convention in St. Louis. It was good to see so many friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. The best thing is that YS paid for all of our lunches and dinners together! It was a whirlwind, but all of it was good time. I found out on Wednesday before Thanksgiving that my mom's tumor count had risen again. It's now at 112. She was diagnosed with breast cancer last year about this time. It has spread to her bones (a place on her hip, one on a rib, and possibly one on the skull). So far none of the medications have stopped the spread of the cancer. She's got a couple more hormonal options before the necessity to resort to chemo (which she has said she doesn't want to do). It's a hard thing. Please keep her and my family in your prayers. Strangely, if there's a possiblity of a blessing coming with the curse of cancer, its that time with my mom is all the more meaningful. I embrace those moments. So, instead of Thanksgiving being sad after hearing such news, it was actually great. Amy had a great Thanksgiving with the grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, etc. We stayed with my parents until Saturday, and Hailey got to play everyday with her cousins. Really a good time.
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Jimmy Doyle is a dad, husband,
teacher, friend, and other things. Currently he's just trying to figure out what it means to follow Christ and be in community with others. He enjoys having conversations with fellow pilgrims on the journey.