closed for renovation

amazing how blogging is so confusing. I'm putting my thoughts at this particular web spot on hold. "Closed" sign until further notice.

I formed this question yesterday as Dr. McGrath spoke about theological models:

Did Dr. McGrath just say that religious models are forced to work with what they are given, as opposed to scientific models which can simply choose the model that best fits?

What I mean is, as much as I like the idea of God as Shepherd, it's a very ancient-nomdic sounding analogy. Not-so-much 2005 Rainforest Cafe and Ikea furniture. Aren't there new analogies which can be true to God but accessible to our age? I can't imagine that Jesus would be using shepherd analogies if he was here using wireless internet. Do we still need to use that model as well?

Two comments that were made:

Maybe he means that insofar as we translate scripture accurately, we have to use the words that those authors used to get across their models and analogies. I would imagine he would agree that in discussion with people, or in talks, that any analogy is fair game. He would probably argue that in serious theological study, interaction and engagement with the traditional scriptural models is required.

and

I think we do have to keep using sheep and shepherd and work on explaining the context... it doesn't mean that we can't use other analogies informally but those analogies will not have the same weight because they are not in Scripture.

but I said back:

I don't mean to say that we would be choosing from thin air a new analogy to explain God. For instace, I wouldn't just say, "God is like a candle" and make inferrences from there. Certiainly someone would have to spend time understanding the *meaning* of the sheep analogies... aspects that can be inferred: sheep can get themselves lost, are in need of guidance and care, etc.

Then we ask: what else in our world easily gets lost, and is need of guidance and care?

I can see where it'd be dangerous, but I'm not sure the sheep analogy can give us *more* information, or is more authoritative than any other analogy that describes orthodox Christian thought.

My brain is spinning.

Today we finished our third day of lectures - we've done nine segmented lectures now - and I think I'm in a flat tailspin. Unfortunately, it appears as if Alister McGrath is almost bored with the subject matter. He probably is: this is like intro stuff to him.

The lectures titles we've done so far:

1 - Introduction to Theology and Science
2 - Galileo, Newton, and Darwin
3 - Creation
4 - Natural Theology
5 - Analogies and Models
6 - Philosophy of Science
7 - Philosophy of Religion
8 - Critical Realism
9 - Why Richard Dawkin's Atheism isn't Scientific

whew.

I'm spending my second day at part of the studio audience at MGM studios Orlando for a special course on Science and Theology by Dr. Alister McGrath. Located on soundstage 1, the set was designed in a black box setting by Annie Wylie. More on the theology being discussed soon.

What is it about cooking and eating a meal together that bonds a group of people? That turns acquaintances to friends to family?

The author of Bowling Alone quotes statistics that lament, in summary, the lost of art of “inviting someone over for dinner;” urban individualism spawning web-ordered Chinese eaten in front of digital cable. It’s not just the natural grasp between hot food and community which appears to be lost. Both seemed to fall together.

It’s a sad contrast to an Acts community which “broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.”

It’s not just the Eating that makes a good meal. Yes – maybe my favorite memories of true fellowship in undergrad are sitting with a plate of mediocre pasta and one of my dear friends in the corner of the living room – talking about life. Asking deep questions. But the once-a-month Cooking-and-Cleaning gave me my first semester a tangible way to help, my next: a humbling way to serve, my next: a stepping stone to greater leadership.

What if it's true that preparing and eating meals together is one of the best physical manifestations of the real church?

TIME Magazine ran a cover story this past week on gay teens in America (The Battle Over Gay Teens, 10 October 2005). It was a remarkably perspectived article: interviewing both GLBT advocates, Exodus Internationals’ Scott Davis, and those in-between.

Also this week, Evan Wolfson, the author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People’s Right to Marry, was on campus lecturing. I didn’t see him, but I am reading an autographed copy of his book, which was loaned to me by Karen Bush, campus minister of the rainbow-flag adorned United Church of Christ.

This is currently a fish-in-the-sand issue for conservative and liberal Christians both to find those in a room who are like-minded. For the younger generation of Christ followers, however, it can't be the case. It's not that 20s Christians don't have opinions on things like gay marriage, they just don't hold it at the same level of moral imperative as the older generation.

The church's view on this in fifteen years will be fascinating. I have no idea where it'll go. It certainly isn't simple.

Recently I found myself in a room of spiritual friends and leaders, thinking together of how to define spiritual maturity.

In previous years, we've often used the ambiguous phrasing: who "gets" it. It's purposely undefined, because every time we seem to start writing definitions of maturity, they become cold and robotic, or cumbersome and wordy. Or both.

Trying to define an intuitive concept.

Thinking about who "gets" it as a follower of Christ is not supposed to be a judgemental activity. It's so much more a thoughtful inclusion: a mental and heart loop that says, "who do I want to connect with? Who is as resolved as I am to follow Jesus even on the days we both can't find up?

So we finally came up with some sentences that help create a definition. Today I sat and refined them with my thoughts, and came up with the following:

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Someone who "gets" it:
- describes a living relationship with God that would remain even if their community fell off the map
- in awe
- makes personal life choices under God: wants God’s way
- returns to the scriptures again and again to find God’s way
- believes that life is short and we only have one life to live; feels that Jesus’ Great Commission applies personally
- embraces personal weaknesses – knows that God shows real spiritual power in them
- emotionally understands their “lostness”; “forgiven much loves much”
- oriented towards others
- highly values “we” – community, hospitality, sharing lives and possessions
- derives sense of purpose from the bigger vision of the Kingdom of God
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