Seeing an Eternal Creator

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.

We look into the past and marvel at the lighting of our sun, the ordering of our solar system, the orbiting of our planet.  We look expectantly to the future, to the hope of peace and goodness upon the earth.  We confess our tendency to see ourselves as the center of the universe.  This Advent season, may we see our Eternal Creator.

Seeing the True Light

What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

In this often dark and shadowy world, we long for glimpses of light.  How easily we are satisfied with mere reflections, and hide our own darkness from exposure.  We confess our obsession with the cult of celebrity—of making idols of people and ideas, of following the strongest or surest or sweetest voice.  This Advent season, may we emerge from the safety of our shadows to experience True Light.

Seeing the Rejected Rescuer

10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

It is difficult to admit that we are needy.  We do not like to think of ourselves as weak.  We can maintain our families, our careers, our finances, our relationships, our souls alone—or we can at least die trying to pretend that’s true.  We confess that we are slow to accept help, the risk seems too great.  This Advent season, may we have the humility to see—and not reject—a Rescuer.

Seeing the Incarnate Mystery

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

For 2000 years, theologians, church officials, and ordinary people have tried to understand and explain Jesus of Nazareth.  Have tried to make him human, yet divine.  Have tried to make him divine, yet human.  We confess our inability to make a profound mystery into a tidy theology.  This Advent season, may we give ourselves permission to marvel at the Incarnate Mystery.

Peace to All,

Lynnea

Zuckerman is an American sociologist whose book studies the spiritual (or aspiritual) outlook of Nordic Europeans—specifically Danes and Swedes—and how the decline in their religious concerns is reflected in the state of their society. Zuckerman conducted his research mostly in Denmark primarily through lengthy first-person interviews. He relates portions of these conversations throughout the book, with little emphasis on statistics and data (though that is interspersed), making the study highly readable and quite compelling. One of Zuckerman’s primary undertakings in this study is to refute the oft-touted theory that if a nation “turns its back on God,” then moral chaos and disastrous consequences will certainly ensue. According to Zuckerman, nearly the opposite is true: he finds Denmark and Sweden to be pleasant, safe, and prosperous societies despite (or perhaps because of) their lack of religiosity. Coming from my own American Capitalist Jesus-saturated culture, I read the discourses with great intrigue. One remarkable passage struck me almost as science-fiction. A thirty-nine year old atheist named Christian related the following account about a surprise confession he received from a friend:

…suddenly one night we had a few drinks and then he said to me, “I have a confession to make.”…and then he told me that he believed in God. And I was quite surprised. I never thought in my whole life that…well, he was getting pretty loaded, you know, and then he had this urge to tell me….[It’s] unusual. I never expected anybody to tell me something like that. That was—I almost fell down off the chair. I said—[pantomines an expression of shock]—and I didn’t know how to react, and then he said to me, “I hope you don’t feel I’m a bad person.” So he said that to me and I said, “Oh, of course, you can believe whatever you want as long as you respect me,“ I said to him. But it was something he had kept for a long time, and finally he got the mood, you know, and it was after a few bottles of red wine, you know. It was a confession…”Now we are so good friends, I can tell you this because this is my inner secret,” you know. -p.54

You know? No, I didn’t. Society Without God will cause me to reevaluate some of the common arguments I’ve heard so often about God and politics. How do you feel about the influence religion has on society in your country?

I love the community opening their doors, greeting each other, candy doesn’t hurt.  It is fun!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween

Do you believe in a Creator, but then creation is let it run it’s course?

Is God a voice of reason from within?

Does God have a mapped out plan that we are following?

Is the future already known?

Is there a reality of “God’s Will”?

Do you believe in a Divine Being?

If you have read this blog before, you probably know I am a person who wonders about these things.  As a child I wondered what would happen if I followed God’s will, but my future spouse didn’t.  We would never meet.  I know that sounds dramatic, but I was trying to make sense of this divine plan in my childlike mind.

As I matured I no longer saw God holding the huge blueprints of our lives.  I wonder what did you think as a child?  How has your image of God changed?

I have more core beliefs than I have imagined recently.  Sometimes it takes a big change to shake you up and see what has always been there.  I have a grasp on what I feel is important for me and my family in church.  I have faith in myself and the leadership of my church to continue pushing my family in the right direction.

The process of going through changes can be trying on a church.  The fear of the unknown, the uncertainty of what the new pastor will be like.  I don’t know how to completely process this all.  Most of all, few people love change.

Has Religion Run Its Course?

It turns out the northeast suburbs of that city weren’t really looking for authentic, enthusiastic people from the Midwest to deliver their spirituality.  (If they were, then perhaps we were profoundly bad at marketing.)  For two years we did a lot of setting up and tearing down and talking (mostly to each other) about living this certain kind of life.  After a while, we quit.

I’ve been attending church my whole life, but in recent years I’ve not really participated in meaningful roles.  Today, I’m contemplating whether or not to help launch a new church.  I don’t know if I have the spark.  I don’t know if I care enough one way or the other.  Church is demanding and tiring.  I want to do it because there are so many churches just wasting people’s time and I want to see more that don’t.  But church work, well, I’m not that enthusiastic Jesus-loving 23 year-old anymore.  Am I still enough Christian to lead a church?  Do I believe in church? Do I think the local church is the hope of the world? Or at least some source of hope?  I think these are the first questions that need to be answered.

What does this mean to you?  What do you think Voltaire meant?

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.  Voltaire