the scriptorium

Saturday, October 05, 2002

Some random thoughts.......
I was catching up on my round of blog reading, and I got to Jason Evans' site and reread his September 30th entry re: "gangster driven church". In the comments, Jason talked about how the churches are violent entities a lot of times, per his definition of violence as "any tool for power and motivation". It reminded me of how people in the institutional church I previously attended often quoted Matthew 11:12, the part where it says "the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force." They always seemed to use that verse in the sense of, "Bless God, I have rights as a child of God, and I'm gonna take back what the Devil has stolen, etc.", all those things the Faith Movement has listed on their refrigerators as motivational tools. The NKJV Spirit Filled Life Study Bible notes that "the violent...who take it by force are people of keen enthusiasm and commitment who are willing to respond to and propagate with radical abandonment the message and dynamic of God's reign." But when I looked up that verse today, I used my New Living Translation, the Bible that is generally at hand by my computer. Its translation of this verse is, "the Kingdom of Heaven is forcefully advancing, and violent people attack it." This seems to be more of a commentary on persecution and doesn't at all fit the "motivational speech" usage of the KJV and NKJV translations. A quick look at the context of the verse doesn't to me seem to support one translation over another. Any insights, anybody?

Tim Frederick and I had our "gig" this morning at the Foddershock Festival at Hutchison UMC in Bourbon County. It was a very brisk morning and I was glad I had worn pants or I'm not sure I'd have been able to sing around the chattering of my teeth. All went very well, and we had a lot of fun. We didn't get to record like we wanted to, but Tim wants to use his equipment and record a "personal use only" disc of the songs we did. We'll see..... I look forward to more collaborations with Tim; I so enjoy being around him and Tina and especially their 15(?) year-old son, Chris. He's just about my favorite teen, maybe because he relates to me as a peer instead of as some lame adult person.

I checked out a copy of "Anam Cara", by John O'Donahue, from the public library. I mentioned this book in the comments section of my September 29th entry in The Vine. I'm beginning to understand some why the lecturer was a little reluctant to recommend the book. It tends a little to the New Age end of the Celtic Christianity spectrum, and I'm not sure everyone who reads it takes the time to, as they say, "eat the hay and spit out the chaff." I'm only about halfway through the first chapter, and there are things the author says which are profound to contemplate, such as, "Light is incredibly generous, but also gentle. When you attend to the way the dawn comes, you learn how light can coax the dark. The first fingers of light appear on the horizon, and ever so deftly and gradually, they pull the mantle of darkness away from the world." This statement has great implications for me in light of the "ordinary attempts" style of evangelsim we've been learning about lately. But then later in the same chapter he says, "We need a light that has retained its kinship with the darkness. For we are sons and daughters of the darkness and of the light." Now, maybe he's trying to say that we need to be always conscious of whence we came, but it comes across more as a "compromising" of our faith or an embracing of things I'm not sure we ought to be embracing. I plan to finish the book, so I'll pass on other tidbits as they surface.

We are having a "guys night in/ladies night out" tonight, and it's almost time to get over to the Creeches', so I'd better sign off for now. Liz and I and some other ladies are going to see "Ya-Ya Sisterhood"--serious chick-flick night. I have no idea what the guys have up their sleeve, other than keeping the "Creechers" in line. God, I love those kids!

posted by #Debi at 4:51 PM | permalink | 0 comments