God cannot get close when everything is delightful. He seems to need these darker hours, these empty-hearted hours to mean the most to people. You and I have known that over the coffin. We have known it when we parted and our hearts were sore. We have known it when we lay in bed helpless. Is this a deep truth in the very heart of nature? We sing,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me.
Is the cross the only doorway to the very heart of God?
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Frank C. Laubach, Letters by a Modern Mystic (p. 61). Purposeful Design Publications. Kindle Edition.
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New Blog Addresses the Generation Known As “Leavers”
If you’re in your 20s or 30s, you may relate to Tim Leigh and a new blog that gives voice to generation of Christians who, although they still identify as Christians, have left or are leaving the “church” as we know it. Having left, they still want what the church was supposed give them. They just can’t find it in the current menu of options that go by the word “church.”
If you’re like me, you wish there was another word to identify with other than “Christian” as Christianity has become associated with the stigma of being politically extreme, anti-science (anti-fact), narrow minded, or simply intolerant of those who believe or live differently. If you take offense to that statement, and I myself know that it does not represent Christianity in its truest form, you may need to come to terms with the fact that it is the reputation that we have earned due to the actions of those of us with the loudest mouths and failure of the rest of us to make any noise to the contrary.
I believe in God, but I just can’t go to church anymore. By “anymore”, I mean since senior year of High School. As a Christian, I feel bad about this fact, but it would appear that the stats are in my favor in that I am not nearly the only one that feels this way. For example:
- According to USA Today, 70% of Protestants between the ages of 18 and 30 will leave the church before age of 23
- Christianity Today cites a study that claims the percentage of Americans checking the “no religion” box has almost doubled from 8% in 1990 to 15% in 2008
- Andrew Sullivan made a stir recently with the article Forget the Church, Follow Jesus published in the Daily Beast and featured on the cover of Newsweek
On the “Tony Campolo & Friends” blog, Red Letter Christians, Christian Priatt found 7 main responses to why young Christians have chosen an alternative to contemporary church:
Read the rest
here.
New Blog Addresses the Generation Known As “Leavers”
If you’re in your 20s or 30s, you may relate to Tim Leigh and a new blog that gives voice to generation of Christians who, although they still identify as Christians, have left or are leaving the “church” as we know it. Having left, they still want what the church was supposed give them. They just can’t find it in the current menu of options that go by the word “church.”
If you’re like me, you wish there was another word to identify with other than “Christian” as Christianity has become associated with the stigma of being politically extreme, anti-science (anti-fact), narrow minded, or simply intolerant of those who believe or live differently. If you take offense to that statement, and I myself know that it does not represent Christianity in its truest form, you may need to come to terms with the fact that it is the reputation that we have earned due to the actions of those of us with the loudest mouths and failure of the rest of us to make any noise to the contrary.
I believe in God, but I just can’t go to church anymore. By “anymore”, I mean since senior year of High School. As a Christian, I feel bad about this fact, but it would appear that the stats are in my favor in that I am not nearly the only one that feels this way. For example:
- According to USA Today, 70% of Protestants between the ages of 18 and 30 will leave the church before age of 23
- Christianity Today cites a study that claims the percentage of Americans checking the “no religion” box has almost doubled from 8% in 1990 to 15% in 2008
- Andrew Sullivan made a stir recently with the article Forget the Church, Follow Jesus published in the Daily Beast and featured on the cover of Newsweek
On the “Tony Campolo & Friends” blog, Red Letter Christians, Christian Priatt found 7 main responses to why young Christians have chosen an alternative to contemporary church:
Read the rest
here.
This Is My Father’s World
This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears all nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres. This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; his hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise, the morning light, the lily white, declare their maker’s praise. This is my Father’s world: he shines in all that’s fair; in the rustling grass I hear him pass; he speaks to me everywhere.
This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet. This is my Father’s world: why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! God reigns; let the earth be glad!
Text: Maltbie D. Babcock
Music: Trad. English melody; adapt. by Franklin L. Sheppard
Tune: TERRA BEATA, Meter: SMD
Who are we, that we should NOT know God?
(cf. Isaiah 1 & Romans 1:18-25)
I have tasted a thrill in fellowship with God which has made anything discordant with God disgusting.
“
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Frank Laubach, Letters by a Modern Mystic (p. 23). Purposeful Design Publications. Kindle Edition.
(Oh to find that spot and stay there!)
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We are not saying that radical Islam is not a threat. We are not denying that there are some struggles that we face as a minority….
What we are saying, is that for us [Palestinian Christians], the real issue and the core of our struggles is the Israeli occupation. The occupation is real. It has been our reality for the last 45 years. It is the main reason why Palestinian Christians are leaving. Every Palestinian Christian leader and every major Christian movement, Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants alike, have stressed this. The Kairos Palestine document, which clearly states that the occupation is the core issue for Palestinian Christians, was endorsed by all the heads of the churches. In addition, when one speaks about the exodus of Palestinian Christians from the Holy Land, it must be stressed that almost 50,000-60,000 Christians were forced to leave historical Palestine as a result of the Nakba of 1948.
To insist that radical Islam is the primary struggle for Palestinian Christians undermines the sufferings of Palestinian Christians caused by the occupation, and labels these struggles as imagined and unreal. This is insulting. To blame the Muslims is an attempt to mask the injustices of the occupation.
From my observations, it adds up to this: the new atheists’ difficulty with valid, responsible reasoning is widespread and systemic. Far from being the defenders of reason, they are among the chief offenders against it. It’s time we called them on that.
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
Christ be with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Easter holds the secret to being unstoppable!
Our world seems to languish in perpetual ‘winter’—a teetering world economy, wars and terror cells, violence in our streets, disease and natural disasters, fragmenting families and relationships. Our society has even been called a ‘culture of death’ (Pope John Paul II). Yet, to quote our dear friend Dr. Bilezikian, who will be with us on Palm Sunday, ‘Looming over all the devastation, there is the towering figure of the risen Christ. Having himself come from death to life, he wants to infuse us, our families, our church, and our world with resurrection-powered renewal!’
Easter will make us dance on our own graves!
‘Easter is God’s festal protest against death’ (J. Moltmann). It tells us that Christ’s followers can rise above all challenges, even as someday they’ll rise like Jesus to overcome death. It is God’s battle cry for all who would live life to its fullest purpose and meaning, now and in eternity. If that is you—or the person you’d like to be—and you welcome Jesus’ voice like the warm breath of spring, please gather with us this Easter!
Come celebrate Easter and the transforming life Jesus unleashed when he blew open the gates of Hades from the inside out and toppled the stone meant to lock him in his tomb. Together we can experience his resurrection-powered renewal in community, as individuals and families changed by him!
See you in church!
Heartless Zionism
Twenty-three-year-old American activist Rachel Corrie was killed on this day in 2003. While countless Palestinian people have been killed the way Rachel was, her death marks a key moment symbolizing international concern. She was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza as she knelt in front of the home of a Palestinian friend and tried to stop the demolition of their house.
Source: commonprayer.net 3-16-12
Israeli Group Opposes Demolition of Palestinian Homes—And More!
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) is a non-violent, direct-action organization established in 1997 to resist Israeli demolition of Palestinian houses in the Occupied Territories — 24,000 as of this writing and counting. As we gained knowledge of the brutalities of the Occupation, we expanded our resistance activities to other areas – land expropriation, settlement expansion, by-pass road construction, policies of “closure” and “separation,” the wholesale uprooting of fruit and olive trees, the Separation Barrier/Wall, the siege of Gaza and more.
Today, while we continue our active opposition to the Occupation “on the ground,” and in particular Israel’s demolishing of Palestinian homes, we engage in a vigorous campaign of international advocacy to end the Occupation altogether and to achieve a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. ICAHD does not advocate for any particular solution to the conflict, believing that is solely the Palestinians prerogative, but we do support any solution — two-state, one-state or regional — which offers a just and inclusive peace. ICAHD supports the Palestinian civil society call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) on Israel until the Occupation ends.
ICAHD works closely with both the Israeli peace camp and our Palestinian partners, as well as with dozens of civil society organizations world-wide. Our work in the Occupied Territories, especially the rebuilding of demolished homes (ICAHD has rebuilt more than 165 homes as acts of political resistance) is closely coordinated with local Palestinian groups.
Learn More
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
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Joseph Campbell via Greg Boyd on fb
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