Dawkins - Beware The Believers- [Dicky D Rap]

Dear Dick,

Wish you were here to see this.

Shalom!

Miche

Dawkins - Beware The Believers- [Dicky D Rap]
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Big Bad Bald Man Nurse

Go Monster-ize yourself at Monster by Mail. Let Len draw you like I did...lots of fun!

I have been listening to Len's podcast on Jawbone Radio for a long time. I have never met him and his family in person, but I feel like I know them like they lived across the street. One of those funky web phenomenons.

Shalom!

May the Hyenas Never Touch You!

!HAPPY EASTER SHALOM!

The Maasai Creed

The Maasai Creed is a creed composed in about 1960 by Western Christian missionaries for the Maasai, an indigenous African tribe of semi-nomadic people located primarily in Kenya and northern Tanzania. The creed attempts to express the essentials of the Christian faith within the Maasai culture.

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created man and wanted man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the earth. We have known this High God in the darkness, and now we know him in the light. God promised in the book of his word, the Bible, that he would save the world and all nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good his promise by sending his son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left his home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing that the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He was buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, he rose from that grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through him. All who have faith in him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love, and share the bread together in love, to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.

My Favorite Bruce Cockburn Cover

Love Those African Grey Parrots!

Youth Pastor Tounge-Tied and Red Faced

Rob Bell Answers a Few Questions

The OOZE interviews Rob Bell and here are a couple of question/answers that make me like Bell more and more!


So the band never toured but now you have. Your ministry has created some controversy particularly among some more traditional churches and leaders, why do you think that is?

I think that what a lot of people call religion is actually fear. I think they say it is historic Christianity but I think it is a lot of terror and fear and shame and all sorts of other darkness, so they are not free. They are bound and terrified and working very hard to preserve and prop up whole systems and ways of thinking, living and believing things that are actually totally destructive. So I assume that sometimes those are the real issues. When people criticize you it says much more about them. For that matter when people praise you it says more about them. I don’t read reviews, I don’t read blogs, I don’t Google my name…it just has no place in my life, I don’t know what good that would do.

As a pastor what would you say to someone who has become disillusioned with organized church or what they have seen of Christianity?

I would wager that the things that most turn them off are the things that most turn Jesus off. There is not one instance in Jesus’ teachings where he gets angry with somebody who isn’t a follower of his or someone who doesn’t love God. His anger is always for religious people who claim to speak for God but live in another way. So if you find hypocrisy absolutely revolting so did Jesus. If you find people who think they are the moral police of culture repulsive, so did Jesus. If you find people who are ready to throw stones at the next sinner very hard to take, so did Jesus. And if you think that people who use Jesus to accumulate political power, to coerce people to live according to their laws, well Jesus had a problem with such things as well. I would say that your anger is shared by Jesus. He’s angered by all the same things.





Shalom!

Supertramp -- The Logical Song

U2 -- Please

Thinking Missionally

Linkin Park -- What I've Done

The Alchemy of Life

A Definition of Alchemy: any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.

I have been thinking a little bit about what it means to be made of dirt and to be so fragile these days. The only thing that makes this "dirtman" meaningful is that the I Am decided to breath on/in me. 2007 was one of those years I have not been too fond of God. I have had several years like that, and I am not proud to admit this, but if I am honest I would sum up this past year admitting to this.

Friends might think I am rather "gifted" at telling God exactly what I think of Him, especially when I am angry. I have watched them cringe many times. If anyone deserved a lightening bolt here and there, it would be me in "one of my moments." LOL!

The reason I bring this up is because I am aware of how God takes something of such little value as my anger toward Him and somehow "alchemizes" it into great value. Not because I am ever right to be so angry or vocal about it, but because this is just the way He is. To say it is humbling to acknowledge God still loves you after giving Him the worst anger you can throw at Him, seems a mild acknowledgment.

As much as my heart can scream at God, I still find Him there...I am grateful.

Shalom!


-----------------------------------
As I Stare into the flame
filled up with feelings I cant name
Images of life appear
regret and anger, love and fear
Dark things drift across the screen
of mind behind whose veil are seen
loves ferocious eyes, and clear
the words come flying to my ear
Go on -- put it in your heart
Put it in your heart

Terrible deeds done in the name
of tunnel vision and fear of change
surely are expressions of
a soul thats turned its back on love
All the sirens all the tongues
The song of air in every lung
Heavens perfect alchemy
put me with you and you with me
Come on -- put that in your heart
Come on put it in your heart

All the sirens all the tongues
The song of air in every lung
Heavens perfect alchemy
Put me with you and you with me
Come on put it in your heart

"Put It in Your Heart" ...Bruce Cockburn

Light in the Clouds

I had just finished N.T. Wright's book entitled, The Challenge of Jesus. I was soaking up the great points he had made in his final chapter and thanking God for being able to read this book at this challenging juncture of my life. I look up and see a brilliant rainbow just off to my right and above some trees. Can anyone look at a rainbow and not smile, even if it is only internally?

I did not realize how much I needed to see a rainbow. It sure was a nice surprise.

Shalom!

The Lament of a Believer in Exile:

A poem entitled The Lament of a Believer in Exile. From the book "Jesus for the Non-Religious" by John Shelby Spong.



Ah, Jesus!

Where have you gone?

When did we lose you?
Was it when we became so certain that we possessed you
That we persecuted Jews,
Excommunicated doubters,
Burned Heretics,
And used violence and war to achieve conversion?
Was it when our first-century images
Collided with expanding knowledge?
Or when biblical scholars informed us that the Bible does
Not really support what we once believed?
Was it when we watched your followers distorting people
With guilt,
Fear,
Bigotry,
Intolerance,
And anger?
Was it when we noticed that many who called you Lord
And who read their Bibles regularly
Also practiced slavery,
Defended segregation,
Approved lynching,
Abused children,
Diminished women,
And hated homosexuals?
Was it when we finally realized
That the Jesus who promised abundant life
Could not be the source of self-hatred,
Or one who encourages us to grovel
In life-destroying penitence?
Was it when it dawned on us that serving you would require
The surrender of those security-building prejudices
That masquerade as our sweet sicknesses?
We still yearn for you, Jesus, but we no longer know where
To seek your presence.
Do we look for you in those churches that practice certainty?
Or are you hiding in those churches
That so fear controversy that they make "unity" a god,
And stand for so little that they die of boredom?
Can you ever be found in those churches that have
Rejected the powerless and the marginalized,
The lepers and the Samaritans of our day,
Those you called out brothers and sisters?
Or must we now look for you outside ecclesiastical setting,
Where love and kindness expect no reward,
Where questions are viewed as the deepest
Expressions of trust?
Is it even possible, Jesus, that we Christians are the villains Who killed you?
Smothering you underneath literal Bibles,
Dated creeds,
Irrelevant doctrines,
And dying structures?
If these things are the source of your disapearance, Jesus, Will you then reemerge if these things are removed?
Will that bring resurrection?
Or were you, as some now suggest, never more
Than an illusion?
By burying and distorting you were we
Simply protecting ourselves
From having to face that realization?
I still seek to possess what I believe you are, Jesus:
Access to and embodiment of
The source of Love,
The ground of Being,
A doorway into the mystery of holiness.
It is through that doorway I desire to walk.
Will you meet me there?
Will you challenge me,
Guide me,
Confront me,
Reveal your truth to me and in me?
Finally, at the end of this journey, Jesus,
Will you embrace me
Inside the ultimate reality
That I call God
In whom I live
And move
And having my being?

Taking a Pounding From Fear!

Sometimes life just seems to pound at you, or even on you. That has been my feeling these last couple of weeks. I am now old enough that change is more difficult than it use to be and I like having a certain comfort zone of regular-ness in my life. It has just dawned on me these last couple of weeks that I no longer want to work as a floor nurse. I am thinking about becoming a surgical nurse. It is very interesting to have this challenge before me and learn things about myself that I would not know otherwise. I am a fearful person. I know that is not cool to say, because we always admire those who seem to have no fear and push the limits against all odds. Well, I guess that's not me, at least these days. It will work its way out and resolve without the majority of any of my fears materializing. I know this, but it seems important for me to recognize how fearful I am, and to try to learn from this. I recently listened to Rob Bell being interviewed by someone from his church. http://www.marshill.org/teaching/

Rob talked a little about fear toward the end of this two hour twenty minute interview that spanned the several services they had at the church that day. Rob Bell sort of summed up the goofiness of having any fear in our lives because we claim we believe in a Jesus who who died and then came back to life. He says it much better than that, of course, but it does hit home and challenges me to really, really stretch regarding how I handle the things I am presently fearing. It is humbling to realize how little I believe what I claim to know about Jesus, but instead of beating myself up about my lack of belief, I am going to try and just let this Jesus help this pathetic soul of little faith. I am hoping to stay out of the way enough to let this happen!

Shalom!

Hang Time With Jesus

I have been thinking...dangerous, I know. The fact that Jesus hung out with sinners so much he was put down for it is often mentioned by others to justify having friends that do not share our Faith, but what did that actually look like? I do not think I have ever heard, or read, about what that might have actually looked like; it is just referred to as an example.

While hanging out with these folk, what did Jesus say/do when he was sexually propositioned by someone who was gay or straight? Am I wrong to even think this may have happened? Sitting around listening to others gossip, and drinking too much, and swearing like "sailors," just what did He think/say/do? These are the things that happen when I am around some people, could it have been any different for Jesus?

The temptation seems to be to sanitize these instances with only thinking about how Jesus "loved" these sinners and leave it at that. I find this frustrating, especially when I want to know how to best deal with these situations that expresses my faith. If just the presence of Jesus somehow changed the hearts and actions of these sinners to not sin while He was present with them, then why did this not work with the disciples? They argued over the power seats in the new kingdom and who would sit next to the power throne, didn't they? No, Jesus must have hung out with sinners who sinned. What did pure Love look like in these situations?

These people would not have hung around if Jesus had any ill feelings toward them. I have seen this mass exodus of "sinners" many times with religious Christians who just have that way about them that these "sinners" realize they are being, well, sinners. This type of scorn can be subtle, but it is still powerful. I do not think this type of exodus happened when Jesus was with them. So what did Jesus say/do/think while being in the middle of a group of people who expressed their sin like they did around anyone else?

I guess I am still thinking about it...

Seriously Jesus...

Moans...

I am an oncology nurse, and some weeks are not real pretty at work. There was nothing all that different at work this week, but I kept hearing myself moan deep inside myself at different times this week.

I got floated to another floor one day and one of my patients was a lovely 83 year old lady in for detox from alcohol...moan.

Another patient was a beautiful 35 year old women addicted to pain medication and constantly tried to manipulate more medication from me all night long...moan.

Back up on my floor a gentleman completed his radiation treatment to his throat for esophageal cancer. The flesh on his neck was basically falling off, or sloughing, due to the radiation treatments. He has never complained to me. I applied a gel to his neck for him, but it only helps to soften the toughened, damaged and dead skin...moan.

This gentleman has been on my floor many times throughout his treatment. I have watched him go from a vibrant, fun loving man, to just sitting on the edge of his bed looking into space. The last time he was in the hospital we had to call a code "violet" (for violence) because we had to confront his son when we discovered the son was stealing this man's pain medication and selling it on the street. The son was not a happy camper when he realized that his funds were going to be diminished...moan.

I wonder if I will be at his bedside when he dies...moan.

I stood and listened to a women cry because her father was not dying fast enough and it was making her life too inconvenient. I just stood there watching her tears fall down her face...moan.

I am sure I will write about some of the many beautiful encounters I have with patients and their families, but this week was just unusually complicated with undercurrents of moaning in my soul. I guess it does not help to go to Starbucks for some coffee only to hear the patron in front of me proclaim in a huff about how her latte was not hot enough. I just looked at her beautifully skinned neck...and moaned deep inside.



One Day I Walk
by Bruce Cockburn


Oh I have been a beggar
And shall be one again
And few the ones with help to lend
Within the world of men

One day I walk in flowers
one day I walk on stones
Today I walk in hours
One day I shall be home

I have sat on the street corner
And watched the bootheels shine
And cried out glad and cried out sad
With every voice but mine

One day I walk in flowers
one day I walk on stones
Today I walk in hours
One day I shall be home
One day I shall be home

Life is Messy

When I get frustrated with the way events are going in life, I often throw out the phrase that "Life is messy." It just seems to wrap it all up and it makes me feel like I have power over whatever helplessness I am experiencing at the time. For the most part, this is pretty effective for me, and it seems to help take some of the edge off of my frustrations. If I am talking to a friend about some of the issues they are struggling with, this little phrase just hits a brick wall. This leads me to another phrase I often use to summarize others around me.

"No matter what exterior another person is showing to me or others, they ultimately are a fragile person like anyone else." So what happens when messy meets fragile? I suppose how one chooses to answer this question shows what they believe (How's that for a profound statement?).

Today, my answer to "messy meets fragile," is that life can suck. Theologically we step back and state that the world is fallen and the consequences of sin are all around us. Okay, but it still sucks. I am not stating this out of hopelessness, but out of frustration. "Life is messy" hit the brick wall with a conversation I had with someone today, and I just want their fragility protected more than I know how to protect it. I guess that is why we are asked to "mourn with those who mourn," not fix everything...

Easter wonderings...

So Jesus was in the tomb for three days. I wonder if there were any spiders, bugs or rats in there with Him? If there were, I wonder what they saw that third day? Christmas has some pretty big moments, like angels popping out of the sky and singing big time. Magi come from somewhere far with mega gifts; there is a big bright star that shines. It's quite the celebration. Obviously, we are not privileged to know about any angelic celebrations, but it's hard to imagine they just ignore the Easter event.

Easter changed everything, right? I wonder if galaxies shifted or tilted in some sort of celebration along with exploding super novas and black holes doing whatever a black hole does, only special? I wonder if whales sensed something that day and if dolphins were extra playful? I wonder if somewhere on earth a lion laid along side of a lamb unbeknown to any of us, or eagles sored higher than they ever had, or will again? I gotta believe that God displayed His pleasure of this Resurrection triumph in some form which includes His unknowable depths of creativity.

Easter is a big deal and I never feel like I celebrate it in a way that displays the depths of what I can comprehend about it. I just cannot give it its just acknowledgement of beauty and grace and awe and irony.

Let's say there were all kinds of cosmic celebrations beyond what any of us can imagine. The whole unseen world is exploding with a God size, super sized, party...it just seems like it will never end. It strikes me funny that when Jesus steps out into the world again after rising from the dead that in his first encounter with us, he is mistaken for the Gardner. That cracks me up! He steps onto green turf after beating death and he gets "Hey look, it's the Gardner." I suppose it's just my goofy sense of humor...

...or is it a throw back implication to Eden?

hmmm....... I wonder...

Shalom!

Am I weird, crazy or both? ..don't answer!

So I am driving away from Starbucks headed to another Starbucks to just hang out some more. I am attempting to follow Jesus in my life, but I try to keep this fact under cover because I do such a poor job at it that I do not want to tarnish Christianity even more than it already is...if that's possible. I am doing my very best to not go to church as well. I have some big beefs with church, but perhaps my explanations should wait for another time, if at all.

Okay, back to driving today. There is this church that God keeps popping into my brain to go to. (For any reader not of the Christian faith, this is where you appropriately label me as crazy, weird, with magical thinking tendencies). When God does this to me, I just give into it any more. I never win. I knew this church was having some sort of laid back communion gathering, so I point my Toyota in that direction, and ask myself "what am I doing" the whole way there. I know why I am going. When "I Am" sits on your shoulder and tells you to go, are there any options? I have yet to find 'em.

I get to the church and the lights are very dim with candles and I see the communion stuff. Only now they are watching a movie...argh. It's Mel Gibson's The Passion. There was such a ruckus about this movie when it came out that I never went to it because I got so tired of hearing about it. I still missed some of the beginning; how much I dunno...Jesus was in the garden praying.

The blood and gore stuff did not impact me much because I have always felt my imagination was worse than any movie could depict. What I found surprisingly moving was the way the movie portrayed the relationships in Jesus' life. That was a wonderful surprise for me.

I have always felt that as much as I would have liked to have been one of the "good guys" had I lived back in those times of Jesus' crucifixion, I know I would have been one of those in the crowd shouting for his death, or even one of the scribes if I would have been "lucky" enough to have been successful back then. That's sobering.

When I daydream about what it would have been like to have been living back when Jesus lived, I always dream about stalking Jesus. Yep, stalking. I like thinking about hiding behind trees and walls and just watching Him from afar. I am too scared to hear what he would say to me...yeah, I am weird and crazy. I have always heard what other people would say or ask Jesus if they lived back then. Not me! Although, there is one thing that would have been wonderful to have experienced had I lived back then.

I have always wanted to stand beside Jesus and have Him put His hand on my shoulder. Of course He would have to sneak up on me to do it. I would not want Him to say anything, just touch my shoulder or grab my forearm. That would be all I would want. I imagine that this touch would be healing and that all of my past would be healed without anything said. It's a wonderful daydream that I will take to my grave, and if you are as weird and crazy as I am to have this faith, I have this other daydream that when I actually do get to hang out with Him for the first time, He won't say anything to me then.

...so it strikes me that I don't mind having the "I Am" sitting on my shoulder telling me to go to church as much as I like to complain about it. I'll take His touch whenever I can get it. Happy Easter...He has Risen!

Shalom!

Why?

Why am I starting a blog? I dunno. I love reading what others have to say, but I am not sure if I really have anything of value to add to blog world. I guess this is just an expierment and I will wait and see if anything comes of it. Time will tell.

Shalom!