everyday about this time, i try to figure out what i want for lunch. even if i am sitting in a restaurant looking at a menu, i try to figure out how to take the combination of ingredients that they offer and put them together in a way that is appealing to me. my friend says that every restaurant should just have something called "the tara"--the meal that i have already created from their current offerings. they should. but i am willing to offer that i should have had to order it at least 3 times before they do that.
it's kind of an overindulgent and over blessed problem, i realize and i certainly feel a little petty complaining about my super taster taste buds, but they do complicate my life. pepper is a little too much for me. i like my life far more spicy than my food. i have tried and it's just too much for me (the food).
i spent this morning reading from the book of acts. this sunday i am preaching the cornelius story--talking about how kingdom of heaven makes us more open, but reading about peter's vision as he prayed made me long for food.... a large blanket filled with forbidden foods.... bacon wrapped anything (no shrimp mentioned)... delish. which made me wonder what am i having for lunch?
i am tempted to try something new... maybe, live a little bit more like peter. step outside of what i am comfortable with and taste and see that the Lord is good. we will see. i need to put my hands and eyes on the menu before i can decide that. but i am willing to try. if i am going to encourage the people that i lead to open themselves us to flavors of life metaphorically, then i should be willing to do it literally...
Monday, August 15, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
There is this story in the book of Acts (19:1-10) where Paul is passing through Ephesus and he stumbles upon some disciples (appropriately numbering 12). I hope that there is more dialogue than what is being recorded, because Paul in his typical anti-foreplay kind of way just jumps right into the conversation and relationship with all sorts of rudeness and presumptuousness. Having met these disciples, he asks them if when they were became believers if they received the Holy Spirit. They said no. And Paul, all concerned inquires into what they were baptized and they said the baptism of John--which is one of repentance. So, Paul remedies the situation and rebaptizes them.
It's these kinds of stories that frustrate me with Paul. I admit that my issues with Paul really stem from the way that the church has used Paul's writings over the centuries as a way of drawing lines and I wonder if Paul had known how his words would be used if he would have chosen different ones. Maybe, he would have been even less yielding. Who knows. But I tend to lean away from Paul when he is up because of this. Not completely fair. I realize.
Besides pointing to the fact that Paul re-baptized someone (the methodist in me cringed), this episode points us to an awareness that the Gospel as we know it and as we practice it is not the only legitimate form. The disciples that Paul met that day were clearly living like followers of Jesus; they had gotten the message and believed. They had a less complete (though not wrong) understanding of one element of The Way. After the resurrection and ascension, the apostles went out and told the story of Jesus and just like the Gospels, they had different understandings of what happened and interpreted the events differently. Sometimes big differences, sometimes very small.
But in this episode, Paul wants to correct and make these other disciples more like the way that he understands. I don't blame him; we all do that. We correct seen fallacies.
However, I like to think that the Gospel is bigger than we than we make it out to be. It is bigger than one understanding. And so the struggle is how to be open to more than one way of understanding; how not to come across as judgmental or condescending. How do we try to make others not in our image?
It's these kinds of stories that frustrate me with Paul. I admit that my issues with Paul really stem from the way that the church has used Paul's writings over the centuries as a way of drawing lines and I wonder if Paul had known how his words would be used if he would have chosen different ones. Maybe, he would have been even less yielding. Who knows. But I tend to lean away from Paul when he is up because of this. Not completely fair. I realize.
Besides pointing to the fact that Paul re-baptized someone (the methodist in me cringed), this episode points us to an awareness that the Gospel as we know it and as we practice it is not the only legitimate form. The disciples that Paul met that day were clearly living like followers of Jesus; they had gotten the message and believed. They had a less complete (though not wrong) understanding of one element of The Way. After the resurrection and ascension, the apostles went out and told the story of Jesus and just like the Gospels, they had different understandings of what happened and interpreted the events differently. Sometimes big differences, sometimes very small.
But in this episode, Paul wants to correct and make these other disciples more like the way that he understands. I don't blame him; we all do that. We correct seen fallacies.
However, I like to think that the Gospel is bigger than we than we make it out to be. It is bigger than one understanding. And so the struggle is how to be open to more than one way of understanding; how not to come across as judgmental or condescending. How do we try to make others not in our image?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)