Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Why didn't God just destroy chaos
In the book of Job there is a section (chapter 41) where God is speaking to Job about a creature called Leviathan. Leviathan is the ancient creature of chaos that is often depicted as living in the sea. When God begins to talk about Leviathan to Job, it is in the context of God and Job having a conversation whereby God reminds Job that there are mysteries that are beyond his knowing. For instance, can Job draw out Leviathan with a fish hook? Can Job control Leviathan in ways that merchants will be willing to bargain for it or could Job make it docile enough to show the creature off to his girls? God spends the first eleven verses of chapter 41 talking about how it it not possible for Job to destroy chaos.
As you read more of the chapter, it seems as though God's tone begins to change when talking about Leviathan. Not as something to be destroyed but as something that God is actually proud of! Like a parent bragging on their child, God begins to take notice of the beauty and power of this creature. How strong it is, how mighty it's frame. No one can overcome it. It's eyes flash forth light and there is an intensity in it's breath. When it raises itself up, even the gods are afraid. On earth it has no equal, a creature without fear!
God does not destroy chaos because God has discovered that there is a beauty in chaos that cannot be overlooked or found anywhere else. So we must learn to live with chaos. The revelation to me however is not that we are to strike a balance between chaos and peace. The revelation to me is can I be like God and be in relationship with chaos that I can begin to brag on it's beauty?
Sure I can live with chaos, we all have to. But can I delight with what chaos can be/do?
A psychic, convict, billionaire fisherman that does not exist
Take three minutes to watch this commercial made by Canon.
“He stood on his soapbox and told us a parable
of a man with eye-glasses so small they’re unwearable.
And the moral of the story is that it all looks terrible,
depending on what you look through, what you look through.”
Within this video you saw one man walk into the studio six different times to meet a different photographer each time. Each photographer was given a backstory of the man. One photographer was told the man was a former convict another was told he was a billionaire and another told he was a psychic. After each photographer heard a backstory of the man, they then took their photos. After developing the film each of the six pictures were hung on a string side by side. The photographers all came into the room and examined the different photographs. It was at this time that the photographers were told that the man was not any of the things they each heard in the backstory.
That is when the video comes to it's point: a photograph is shaped more by the person behind the camera than what is in front of it.
So taking this metaphor out a bit, it is important to be mindful that how you see is influenced by what you think. The world is broken in areas, however this does not mean the world is going to hell in a hand basket. We are more inclined to see what we want to see and we are more blind that we want to believe we are.
What story are you telling about yourself? What stories are you telling about those you work with? Live with? Dislike? Admire? God?
The Armchair Delegate - Central Texas Conference Merging?
My friend and online community pastor at White's Chapel UMC, Kyle Roberson, once gave me the nickname of the "armchair delegate" when talking about my role in the the General Conference 2016. In all respect to Kyle, I am redirecting that title to these series of posts about my experience with the General Conference 2016 of the UMC.
The first thing I wanted to share is what I have come to understand about the future of the Central Texas Conference. Long story short, the General Conference may choose to make the South Central Jurisdiction (SCJ) one Episcopal Area smaller than it currently is. That means the SCJ has to consider the possibility of loosing one bishop. In anticipation of this action, a task force was created called "Mission 21". Their task was to consider and recommend to the SCJ ways to function with one less bishop. You can read their entire report here in case you wanted to see it all.
What is interesting to me is that the Central Texas Conference (CTC) faces the possibility of being redrawn in some form that will forever change the way the CTC looks and functions. While I do not know what the task force will recommend I find it uprisings that so little of the work of this task force has been discussed within the CTC. Even if there is little that the conference can input into the process, it is not beyond the imagination of the Church to join the work of the task force in the form of prayer.
The work of this taskforce is not over, nor has their been any action of the GC to force this action at all. Meaning that there is no merger or re-drawing lines of the SCJ at this time. Will you join me in prayer for this task force and their recommendations to the SCJ, if so called upon to make such a recommendation.