Imprints - Clergy making an imprint on God's world through publishing

In the book Culture Making: Rediscovering Our Creative Calling, Andy Crouch makes the argument that the only way to change culture is to make more culture to give options for people. So if you don't like something, like a movie or a book or a tradition or whatever, instead of critiquing or condemning it, if you really want to change things you have to cultivate and create new cultural options. (Thus another reason I like the idea that we have to be the change we wish to see in the world. We have to do the work of cultivating and creating in the world rather than consuming, copying, critiquing and condemning.)

Yes, Imprints looks like the Five Thousand Words Publication (see the "About" page for more info about Five Thousand Words.)

I have created a magazine that I call Imprints with this in mind. 

Imprints is a magazine that will be a curated collection of the published works of the clergy of the Central Texas Conference. It is a single source that people can see what "imprint" the clergy of my conference are making in the wider Christian conversation. It is my hope that this resource might help us in the CTC build relationships of mutual support and respect. We need to be a clergy group that is willing to share the work of our peers in order to build one another up. And what is good for the clergy for the CTC is good for the CTC.

Bottom line, I believe in the work of my clergy peers and feel like what they contribute is worth everyone taking a look at. There is some amazing work out there and you may not know about it just because you happen to live in Fort Worth and don't know the people in Waco. 

Take a look a Imprints here or on the top menu bar. As a new edition comes out I will post so that you can read/see it. 

If you subscribe to this blog you just got a free magazine subscription. Thank you Central Texas Conference clergy for your imprint on God's world.

"Very Good" is not perfect

It may be obvious, but when someone says something is very good it is assumed that the thing is not perfect. In fact the use of the qualifier "very" denotes that "goodness" is collection of shades of grey. Something can be very good, good, sorta good, kinda good, almost good, formally good, etc. There is no grey in perfection. Something is either perfect or it is not. If something is kinda perfect means that it is not perfect. 

This is important to remember when Christians read Genesis this point that God does not declare creation as perfect but "very good". Creation was never perfect. Even the garden where Adam and Eve trotted was not perfect. It was very good. 

There has never been a state of perfection that we "fell" from. There are only shades of good. 

Which means that we can see places and times in the world that are very good. We will never see perfection. But when we see very good, we get a glimpse of what God intends. 

Looking for a geographic location for "Eden" is a red herring. Creation is infused with good and the very good. Stop looking for perfection. 

It was never made.

Spiritual Gifts and Perfectionism

“The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.”

— Isaiah 11:2-3

Traditionally the Scripture in Isaiah is used to talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There are seven: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Might (Fortitude), Knowledge, Piety, and the Fear of the Lord (humility)

Some of our Christian brothers and sisters believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit were perfected in Jesus Christ but these gifts are also present in the lives of anyone receiving God’s sanctifying grace.

I would submit that all these gifts are not present in anyone but all these gifts are present in everyone. These gifts not in one person (sans Jesus) but in a group of people - not an individual but a community. 

What would it look like if you gave your friend a gift and as soon as they opened the gift your friend said, this is great, but when and how can I get another gift? Would we see gratitude in our friend? Would we see greed in our friend? Would we think our friend is caught up in materialism? Is there a way you could tell your friend how much more important it is to want what you have rather than to have what you want?

Are we not doing the same thing when we look at the gift God has given us and then wonder when and how we can get another gift? Are we not just as blind as our friend?

The Good News is the spiritual life is a life that is not alone. We live in connection and community with others. We understand that interdependence is not an infringement on our independence. 

The Good News is the spiritual life is one that is in community so that we don't have to take on the individual burden of being perfect, we don't have to have it all or do it all. We live in community that embraces that some are gifted with wisdom and others are gifted with courage. 

The Good News is that the spiritual life is one that cultivates relationships so that we are all aware of how everyone is gifted so that we do not have to constantly seeking out how and when we are going to get the next gift.

This is why it is important to know what you gift is, but it not enough for just you to know what your gift is. It is not enough for you to know your gift but not the gift of others in our church community. If you are in search for the next spiritual gift, just look at the lives of the person next to you. God has placed gifts in those people. Build a relationship with those persons and you will have access to a broader Spirit.

The Problem with Science

Science is fantastic. It is amazing what medical science can understand about the human body and healing it. It is mind boggling what physics shows us about the mysteries of the world. It is humbling when a geologist points out a layer of rock that is millions of years old. Science is fantastic. 

Science is constantly in pursuit of the truth. Previously I pointed out that when anyone is engaged in truth telling they are in the prophecy business. Prophecy is being able to tell what will happen in the future if the current reality does not change. You can do this at home. What do you think will happen in the future to a person if they stopped eating and drinking? Yes, they will die. When you speak this truth to someone suffering from anorexia this simple truth becomes a very difficult thing to say. Prophets have a simple message that is difficult to say, which is why there are so few prophets. 

And this is where science is a great blessing. Science systematizes truth telling. Science gives a weight and authority to the prophet. So much authority is given to the truth telling and prophetic voice of science that it is a bit of a problem. It puts prophets voice as more important than other voices.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about different spiritual gifts are needed for the body of Christ to function. In fact he goes on to say that all gifts are equally important even though some in the Corinth church think that the voice of those who speak in tongues are more important than other voices. Paul argues that all gifts are important and no one gift is more important. He then uses the famous body image where the body is more than an eye and more than a hand. 

Just as Corinth church had those who put more authority in speaking in tongues, we have a culture now that puts more authority in truth telling (AKA prophecy). 

And this is the problem with science these days. It is so wonderful and great that we all give it a disproportionate amount of authority in our lives.

We need truth tellers. We also need those who are able to discern the signals from the noise (the gift of wisdom). We need those who are able to discern the moral from the possible (the gift of discernment). We need those who are able to inspire the downtrodden (gift of faith) we need those who are able to reconcile us together (gift of healing). 

Some of these other gifts do not have the measurable data that science benefits from. That does not mean that these other gifts are less important or that those who use these gifts are to be discarded. Science cannot help reconcile people together. Science cannot help us forgive ourselves. Again, this is not to say that science is bad, it just is one voice that is needed in body for the common good. 

We need science. We need truth tellers. But we have a problem when we elevate the gift of truth telling over the other gifts. This was true of Corinth and this is true today.