Recently with the Fort Worth Dish Out...

For those of you new to this little blog you may not know about a side project that I was involved in for a bit called Fort Worth Dish Out. While not involved as I once was, I still believe in this ministry/project and occasionally share on this site about the Dish Out. So here are some of the latest happenings:

Fort Worth Dish Out was covered by TCU magazine.

Fort Worth Dish Out is connected to the Sunday Soup Network, of which Detroit Soup was featured on the Nightly News with Brian Williams.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Finally, if you are interested in attending the next Fort Worth Dish Out, you can see the recent announcement here

Shawshank Redemption, Lion King, O' Brother

Today is the Sunday the Church recognizes the baptism of Jesus and in worship we will be talking about dominate understandings of baptism and why it is an important sacrament in the Christian life. 

The question for you is which (if any) understanding do you have when it comes to baptism.

Are you a "Shawshank Redemption" person who understands baptism as a rebirth into a new life. Discarding the past and being 'born again' into a new life. 

Or are you more of a "O Brother Where Art Thou" sort of person. In which baptism is a washing away of your sins and you are forgiven for all transgressions.

Or perhaps you are persuaded more of the "Lion King" understanding in which baptism is a rite of a person being initiated into the community of faith by receiving a new name.

These are just three basic understandings, but perhaps you have another? Or some sort of hybrid of sorts? I would love to hear what your thoughts on baptism would be.

Just a problem with living in the moment

A common practice in popular spirituality is to "live in the moment". "Live in the moment". "Savor the moment". "Being in the present", There are a number of slogans that emphasis the importance of being present moment-centric.

There is a story of Jesus going up on a mountain with some disciples and Jesus is transfigured before them. While some of the disciples want to 'live in the moment' and build shrines so not to come down the mountain, God commands that they must come down from the mountain.

Why?

When we are present moment-centric then we do not think about the future. Which is a bit problematic for those who believe that we should be doing what we can to better the world around us. Why would I want to better the world around me if I am only living in the moment? 

It is clear that to live in the moment does not take seriously the work of the future or the lessons of the past. Present moment-centrism might be good for the individual for a time, but that is all that it is. Good for the individual.

And when we have a spirituality that is focused on the individual I am not sure if that spirituality is not just an idolization of the self.