pinakidion.*

Tonight at midweek we had a lesson based on this book by Larry Crabb. Larry is one of the pantheon of authors in the mold of “Sacred Romance” and “Wild at Heart” by John Eldredge. Sacred Romance, pretty doggone cool. Wild at Heart, well, um, did I mention Sacred Romance?

I want to read this book based on the lesson given this evening, mainly because so many responded to how it helped them. I’ll be honest, I don’t understand the main concept as presented - meaning the concepts of upper room and lower room. I do understand the concept of making the church community the safest place on earth.

As I understand it, the lower room is the unspritual life and the upper room is the spiritual life. Living in the upper room is described as

1. Finding ourselves wanting to bless people more than use them.
2. Discovering an unshakable joy that survives the most crushing disappointments.
3. Noticing a patient and kind gentleness nudging aside our irritation with people.
4. Experiencing ourselves as solid and whole in the presence of those who used to intimidate us.

The lower room is described as welling up four negative (my word, not his) passions:

• Passion for Self
• Passion to Control
• Passion to define life and death on our terms (I didn’t understand this one.)
• Passion to Perform

The speaker remarked that this analogy helped him to understand his spiritual relationship to God. He understood the book to talk about moving from the lower room to the upper room. I missed the heart of the message at this point, due to a coughing fit. When I came back, though, folks were sharing their thoughts.

Personally, I could never define myself as being in the upper room. Call it a weakness, a spiritual malady, a personality quirk, or what have you. I have experienced all of the things described, just not all at once. Beyond that, was Jesus in his lower room when he cleared the temple in John 2? or called the Pharisees names? or when he called Herod a fox? How can the markers of spirituality be feelings and experiences?

I want to read the book because my brief introduction leads me to believe that passion is to be minimized. (There is no passion in the upper room, only the lower room.) It also leads me to believe that what is important is what I feel, not what I do. (I would contend that both are misleading.) I have a hard time believing that either of these is true.

Having said all of that, what did resonate was a small part of the descriptions of each room. In the upper room, God arranged the furniture. In the lower room, the self arranges the furniture. The upper room, to me, could be seen as Colossians 3, focusing on things above. Under the same analogy, the lower room could be seen as focusing on the things of this earth, like Peter when he walked on the water briefly. Moreover, God controls the spiritual life while the self controls the life of the flesh.

I can understand that temptation is all about lowering our gaze. I can understand that the evils of life can beat someone down enough that they will not look up literally or figuratively. I can understand deciding that it is easier to live a life for self rather than live for God and trying to find happiness in the persihable things of this earth. The entire analogy resonates with Proverbs 15:24:

The path of life leads upward for the wise
to keep him from going down to the grave.

Proverbs 15:24

The message tonight went on to explain the need for others in our life to help us. I believe Larry describes spiritual friends and spiritual directors at this point. I do not know what the speaker tonight said about this in more detail. (the aforementioned coughing fit.) However, I do understand how good a timely word can be (Prov 15:23). Despite all the garbage of spiritual mentoring I endured, I still understand that I am not always the best person to discern what is going on in my life. Outside help means a lot of things, especially in an individual’s life - my life. Outside help means talking to trusted people inside and outside my church heritage and asking them what they see. It can even mean asking a friend of a friend. I have received an apt word from folks of different faiths and cultures, as well as just plain bad ideas. (All the junk cannot be blamed on my parents or the ICoC subculture, though it would be rather conveinient to do so.)

In any case, I dream of a sacred community that I see in the New and Old Testament. A community where we are all royal preists. A place where we are all brothers and sisters. A family to belong and a people with a distinct culture. I haven’t come close to experiencing this, but I imagine what it would be like. A place to feel safe, as the title suggests.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dream of some utopian church experience - that awaits in Heaven. However, it is still important to build or find what is best in Christian relationships wherever God has placed me.

So far, it seems to be okay. But like I said earlier, I’m not always the best judge of what is going on around me.

Not much with me lately, I spent last Saturday writing and most of this week nursing a cold. Last night, I made some lentil soup that is simply fantastic. I am an unabashed canivore, but this was great. The whole house smelled good for hours.

Yes, our son is still quite adorable.

Things are getting better, though I have trouble sleeping. The C-PAP machine I use for my sleep apnea is great when you are not congested. When you are congested, well, the pressure gets intense, the lungs feel weird, lotsa coughing, in other words, a sinus headache with pnuemonia. Ugh.

By the way, did I happen to mention that our son is adorable?

Anyway, I wrote quite a bit, but most of it is spread across six or seven themes. Sometimes I publish unfinished stuff as ‘Semithoughts’, but I want to finish these, thus no posting. One is a study of the history of the Worldwide Church of God. The other involves the use of logic in order to be clear-minded. I’ve enjoyed studying the Gospel of John again, especially as this was prompted by the need for different material for the children’s ministry. There’s also a lot of stuff for Sycarion, but that will appear on that site.

As far as the children’s ministry the present unit was Revelation. Not a book for eight year olds, but the first two lessons were pretty accessible. Unfortunately, the kids got really bored and one parent got concerned. All her child learned was that Revelation was scary. So I went to skip ahead, but the lessons were for a NT review - okay except for the fact that the kids I have just matriculated into the third and fourth grade class. Nothing to review, really, except Revelation. So I skipped ahead to the last unit and that was unusable as well. The unit is entitled God’s Modern Movement.

I didn’t flip out, I promise. I talked to two deacons about how to handle it and we had some good ideas. It could be the history of the church I attend, it could be the history of the Restoration Movement, or it could be about unity. I wanted to do a RM unit, but I thought about crafts about Alexander Campbell and it felt just as weird as having a pre-class activity about the Gempel’s living room. My wife had a great idea for unity - the craft involved using three sticks to illustrate that a cord of three strands is not easily broken. Paint one stick bright pink and talk about what it means to think you’re better than someone else because you’re different.

I love my wife.

In any case, it just seemed easier to go through John. The concerned parent I mentioned earlier thought that was a great idea. She was concerned that the curriculum gets away from the stories of Jesus sometimes. (We agreed that adults do this a lot, too.) Whaddya know, happy kids and parents.

I decided not to write on YADA - yet another discipleship article - after a while it just becomes to tiresome. The ICC mindset still only allows for three solutions to problem: baptize more people, disciple people more effectively, extoll the virtues of leadership.

Rick Warren has said that most of the great changes in the Bible took place over 40 days. For us in the ICC subculture, it seems that we cycle every 40 days. Every 40 days, a theme seems to repeat itself. I wonder if any of us could go without studying discipleship, leadership, or evangelism for more than a month without feeling guilty about it. That’s why it’s no suprise to me that it appears as a sermon or article topic all over at least once a month.

Anyway, outside of some things coming together, the only other thing I can think of mentioning, besides the excessive adorability of our son, is that Monopoly has decided to stop using paper money. They have opted for a Visa(R) debit card, instead. Yes, it says Visa(R), not something that rhymes with Visa. Don’t worry, though, purists can simply print their own money if they want.

I’ll link to it when it appears, but my wife wrote a great poem about our son. It’s great.

The question was, “How long will Kip last under the direction of the Baltimore Dougs?”

The latest proclomation reverses all the work they did.

About 40 days ago, there was debate over the difference between forgiveness and trust. I can and have forgiven Kip for what he has done to the fellowship and to me personally. Can I trust him? Not without some major changes. At this point, my trust will be restored only after he receives professional help and a resignation from the ministry. Not a spot leading a region somewhere, nada employment as a minister. Not a BTL, a GSL, region leader, not a BTL asst, nothing.

In many ways, he has no effect on my life except to feel some sadness and what he is doing. I do not believe that he is really dividing the ICC anymore - those that want to follow him have already moved to Portland.

Just a thought or two.

The discussion forums are working. No reason for them except that I thought it was different. All I had to do is change my permalink structure to get it to work.

Orginally, it was going to be a place to talk about stuff I didn’t want to post about (politics) or subject I wanted to drop (the UP). However, I seem to be posting about these things anyway.

So here we go. I wanted to get away from this, but the effects of setting up a Shibboleth continue to appear. I fully realize that this was most likely not the intent, but the effect is the same.

Wednesday, October 11th has been set aside for Regional Meetings.
Regional Meetings are being coordinated for those Churches that have ratified the Unity Proposal. As long as there is space available, which is limited, we will be happy to coordinate a venue for you.

Those that didn’t sign are on their own, I guess.

It reminds me of various IT conferences where one of the sponsors wouldn’t allow a specific speaker/topic. Usually, the folks organize their own meeting at a coffeehouse.

For the church I attend, this technically means that some of the churches we currently work with won’t be at a meeting on Oct 11, but will be at our own meeting(or conference call) in September. I know what will really happen is that one of the signing churches will book the space and all 12 will attend - no one is going to stand at the door and check nametags.

Still, who will Calgary meet with? Everyone else in Canada didn’t sign. Maybe they can go to the moot across the street. I imagine that the New England folks will allow Boston to attend and the Florida churches will still invite Orlando to attend.

All of this still is separate from the other split that may happen - will Portland, Syracuse, Savannah, Santiago and others send a delegate? Probably not.

For a preview of how this will end, I invite everyone to read the history of Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God. There truly is nothing new under the sun.

My wife and I’s website has been updated - a conversion from Mambo 4.5 to Wordpress 2.0.3 is complete. It has trouble with graphics for some reason, thus no pic of where we got married.

A few pictures of our son are available at this link.

I’ve discovered that I have become insincere. It’s not like I intended to be this way, but it’s the result of a drift over time. Specifically, I’ve tried to use the phrase, “I have a Mulsim friend” as some kind of currency. In other words, as a way to elevate myself I have pointed at an honorable thing I am doing as a way to look more forward-thinking than I really am.

This myth is officially considered busted.

The truth is, this person is a co-worker and outside of some dialogue a few months about God, Jesus, and the treatment of Muslims in this country, we haven’t spoken much recently. More importantly, though, I haven’t been over to their home and met the family. I’ve not been a part of their life at all. This person has asked for my advice in regards to professional matters, but I have asked them nothing. Is this person really a friend I have? I don’t think so. This is a co-worker and not much more than that.

I grew up in the South and heard a similar phrase pretty frequently.In this case, it was “I have a Black friend”. It was used in the same way, a way to gain some currency in the community. It was a badge saying, “See, I’m not racist, I have friends that are different from me.” But all of us knew whether it was genuine or not.

One good thing I can say about the ICoC subculture is that attempts were made demonstrate real brotherhood across racial and ethnic lines. It later became a propaganda tool as well, but in places the KNN cameras and Geographic Sector Leaders feared to tread, real brotherhood was forged. (And I’m not talking about the gerrymandering to artifically create diverse Singles and College households. This is the real thing where two people from two different worlds share their lives together. There are so many great stories in these places.)

Who is my neighbor? Luke 10:29-37 could have easily been told today like this:

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus took up the question and said: “A man was walking to his car and got mugged. The mugger took his wallet, car keys, and even his shoes. Then the mugger beat him up, and fled, leaving him on the sidewalk. An evangelist, on his way to seminar, happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a local minister, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But an illegal alien, came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and tended to him as best he could. Then he put him in his own car and brought him to a hospital. Before leaving, he put four hundred dollars in the man’s pocket.

“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.

Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

The old answer for me would have been to try and make five new friends that are not like me. It’s pretty childish to do that, mainly because this method did nothing but make me feel better. What I can do, however, is look for ways to help others. This is the working a soup kitchen type of thing, though that’s a great way to serve others. I mean the kinds of things that happen as you go through life. You can buy a couple gallons of gas for the person behind you, offer a kind word to someone grieving, the possibilities are endless. It’s not that these smaller gestures are great in and of themselves. It’s that the practice of the small things prepares us for doing the ‘big’ things.

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Mat 25:23

How to expand Ivory(R) Soap.

It is just what it says.

Under its present course, I believe the ICoC will look very similar to the following:

Discipleship Policy
Worldwide Leadership Model
Of course there’s the policy council and the ministerial council.
Evangelistic Goals
Leadership Training
International Leaders Conference
‘Kingdom’ News Updates

I’m not saying that it is all bad. It is just quite similar to who we used to be and where we are heading.

I was talking with someone in church today and an interesting idea came up. This person wanted to think about what the ICoC is supposed to have learned from the events from HKL to now. His idea started with a basic question - If everything that has happened to us was discipline from God, what have we learned?

So what have we learned?

I’ve learned a few things, personally. At the risk of sounding cynical at time and melodramatic at others, I have learned the following things:

• Not everyone is going to Hell. It’s true that not everyone is going to Heaven and the road is still narrow, but the boundaries are set by God, not me or anyone else.
• Middle management is always the first to be fired.
• A man reaps what he sows.
• Those that seek God will find him.
• God will lift up the man (or woman) who humbles himself in His presence.
• There are more spiritual gifts than leadership and musicianship.
• The Bible is not the Sword of Damocles, His preists are not His enforcers.
• What is whispered in secret will be shouted from the rooftops.
• We only defend the things we truly value. Those that rely on power and privilege continue to defend their power and privilege.
• I wasted a lot of time on trivial things.
• I was knitted in my mother’s womb, not cast from a mould.
• It is better to suffer the wrath of others than to suffer the wrath of yourself.
• Love that is freely given is freely returned. Love that is conditionally given, is conditionally returned.
• Outrage is neither hatred nor rebellion.
• Being nicer does not necessarily equate to being more spiritual.
• God is happy that He created me.
• There is a time to tear down. Sometimes the only way to rebuild is to completely start over.
• It is okay to share about God to others.
• We wanted to multiply, but only acheived duplication.
• Forgiveness is freely given - respect is earned over time.
• Do not say that the old days were better than this, such talk is unwise.
• Control comes in various forms - presenting limited choices is one of them.
• Don’t always wait for some to do the right thing - don’t always push others to do the right thing.

There’s more, but that’s the basic gist. What have you learned?

The first ever commentary from African Protestant Theologians has been finished. Just like reading old commentaries can help a person to distinguish Bible from culture, reading a commentary from a conglomeration of over 250 different cultures can help as well.

It’s the difference between learning the book, Things Fall Apart from an Igbo person that was raised in the villages versus learning about it from a Anglo-Saxon American male. The former describes the Igbo culture, the latter compares a story to a Greek tragedy. Closer to home, it’s the difference between how the North describes the Civil War and how the South describes the War of Northern Aggression - it’s all a matter of perspective.

I have too many books, but I would like to get this one if I could. How wonderful to see Jesus through the eyes of someone entirely different from me.

As I mentioned earlier, the board asked that I write my objections to the UP for them to consider. Our new minister apparently advised a different church to do the same thing due to the division that it was causing. My stance that I do not want to be considered a member over this has caused hurt feelings all around, especially as I am respected here. This will be my last post on the UP, as far as I know.

I wrote:

As far as why I wish we hadn’t signed the UP, there’s a few basic reasons. Practically, it puts us in a difficult place when trying to do things regionally. Problems arise when we try to implement the regional representation parts of it. For example, there are 12 churches in the Heartland region. We formed it informally in 2003-2004 to help each other out. No leader, no administration, just the ministers of 12 churches on a conference call trying to coordinate events and meet needs. Seven churches have signed, but five have not. We cannot send a regional representative, but if we do, the other five have no say in who that person is. If they are given a say, then the UP is meaningless and we should get out from under it. It’s small, but it’s the kinds of things that split up the Restoration Movement in the first place. Even if the remaining five sign, other issues arise in other places, especially since Boston, San Francisco, and churches in Atlanta have not signed. In fact, just over half the churches in the US have signed, less than that in Canada and South America.

My big concern is that the UP presents a litmus test for historic doctrine and practices. By the very nature of a litmus test, this divides churches into ’signing churches’ and ‘non-signing churches’. Much has been said about the necessity of signing the UP – the question and answer document states that this is necessary in order to find which churches hold to our historic doctrines and practices. Similar sentiments were echoed by Gordon Ferguson in his DisciplesToday article when he spoke of the need to find out which members for whom the elders were responsible. In both cases, members are being asked to sign a document to demonstrate their loyalty. Aspects of this are similar to the story of the Gileadites in Judges 12: 5-6. The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim. In order to prevent the survivors from escaping, the Gileadites came up with a way to determine who was a true Gileadite and who was not. When a survivor of Ephraim tried to cross, a Gileadite would ask the survivor to say ‘Shibboleth’. If the survivor did not pronounce the word correctly, they seized and killed him or her. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time (Judges 12:5-6). Although death is not the penalty in this case, the effect is the same: the UP attempts to determine “who is one of us” - effectively splitting us into two groups.

Thirdly, the UP requires 100% agreement in order to sign. The wording of the agreement itself is vague, but the Question and Answer document makes it clear. Question 12 asks whether or not a church should sign if they agree with most of the plan. The answer given was, “No”. Having this requirement does not allow for freedom in disputable matters as stated in Romans 14. Instead,certain practices are mandated by the agreement. For example, the UP states that an evangelist should be responsible to other evangelists in his region. I disagree, I believe that an evangelist should answer to the elders first, then to the members of the church. Encouragement and help from others, yes, but answer to them, oh no. As things are now, I can disagree with someone in another church and still strive to be brothers. Under the UP, I am now unable to believe as I do because the practice with which I disagree is now bound to me through the signing of the church.

I understand that we could sign it in order to show unity and just not implement certain sections of the UP, but Jesus said to let your yes be yes and your no be no. If I sign something, I am saying that I will fulfill my obligation. I didn’t sign my marriage license only to pick and choose which parts I will live up to and which parts I will disregard! This is not binding or sacred like a marriage agreement - we can back out at any time. It is, however, dishonest to sign on the one hand and reserve judgement on the other. The framers of the UP did not give us that option. I understand that some may do this in an effort to seek a middle ground, but the agreement requires 100% agreement and leaves no room for middle ground.

There are other minor issues, but that is it in a nutshell. However you wish to convey or not convey this email I leave to you. The whole enterprise has made me quite sad, but has not diminshed my love for anyone in the church, especially those that chose to sign the UP. I want to be in community with the people of this church. In this matter, I would prefer that my conscience would go away in matters like this.

Me - July 4th, 2006

I hope this is the end of it - the UP and my posting about it.

I’ve enjoyed reading Alan’s investigation into Restoration Movement history. Campbell, often quoted by more conservative RM scholars, appears to have been more liberal than I previously thought. I wasn’t raised in the RM and I really didn’t become a part of it until a couple years ago. (Yes, the ICC was a branch of a branch within the RM, but so were the Branch Davidians. I was a part of the RM as much as they were.) My brother became a part of it a few years ago, being baptized in a CoC in Jarvisburg. We have always been brothers and are brothers in more ways than one. I wouldn’t say that he is a theologian, but he has had a deep belief in unity that I have only recently embraced.

Campbell appears to me as more of a liberal and that has made me think about how he and God have been interpreted.

This is the part where Kant comes in.

As Alan has chronicled, the RM went from seeking unity in essentials in seeking uniformity in everything. Along the way, a paradigm shift occurred. It’s as if the motto changed from ‘finding our way’ to ‘finding the only way’. To this end, I think Kant sheds some light on the folly of this.

Kant divided the universe into phenomena and noumena. Noumena exist outside what we can perceive, but they do exist. Phenomena are those things we can perceive. I tend to think of God as a noumenon that sought to be perceived. Not happy with what we can perceive about God, a lot of effort is spent trying to understand that which we cannot know.

Jesus claimed to be divine and allowed others to make such a claim. (John 1, et al) In Luke, he is named “God with us”, or ironically enough, Immanuel. He lived an breathed amongst us and suffered himself to die. Although existing outside perception from the beginning, he came to us and allowed himself to be known.

The record left us about his life is scant. Despite over thirty years of life and three years of ministry, there are but a few pages left by eyewitnesses. As far as we know, he never traveled more than some miles away from Nazareth except for the time spent in Eqypt as a child. He said very little that we know of - by comparison, we know more about what Abraham Lincoln actually said than Jesus. This would be without Lincoln’s own records. We know more about what Socrates said through his student Plato than what we know about what Jesus said. The record is quite reliable, just small in quantity. Add to that the ultimate economy, Jesus boiled down his ministry into two sentences. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt 22:16)

Yet, to this Spartan record, we have all sought to expand it. Some of this was out of neccesity, especially with the early church. Jesus left it to Peter and the others to work out some of the details. (Matt 18:18) In Acts 15, they had a council to work out the question of Paul’s ministry and the Gentiles he converted. (Acts 10 already dealt with the Gentile question in regards to those Peter converted.) Paul ended up dealing with all kinds of issues that Jesus never addressed. Fortunately, Peter considered Paul’s words Scripture.

Going beyond what is written was and still is sometimes neccesary. Jesus did not address every issue. Paul only addressed some for his day. As it is Scripture, what both men addressed in their times helps guide us today. Faith comes into play when we choose to believe that all of these writings, plus the written law, psalms, and the prophets are Scripture. This is a topic for another day.

It appears that since the first century, so much effort has been spent to understand that which we cannot know. The Gnostics searched for secret knowledge from the various apostles, even Judas. The Da Vinci Code speaks of a quest for secret knowledge in our time. As Christians throughout history, we have tried to place God within our own philosophies. As such, Paul spent a lot of time arguing more of Plato’s theories than other things. The founding fathers tried to place God within a universe of absolute laws of cause and effect relegating God as a superpower trapped within his own machine. Today, God is placed in all kinds of contexts to justify politics (Religious Right) and justify ourselves (God made me do it). We have put God in a box and called it Systematic Theology. The RM, specifically in conservative circles, has made God the Great Blogger with an opinion on every aspect of our lives. The difference, of course, being that his opinions are instant laws to mankind.

All of this spawns from that which we cannot know. People within the RM argue over one cup or many cups, adding kitchens to church buildings, instrumental music, The Sabbath, and other things. Most of these are extruding Scriptures from one context into a theorhetical one. Most of these arguments denigrate into “that’s how we’ve always done it” instead of a finer point of Scripture. To this end, it is so much arguing over words. We cannot know God’s on these matters and their pursuit is killing us. We do not spend nearly as much time on those things that we can know.

God demonstrates paradox after paradox, yet we think that God cannot contradict himself. God is somehow subservient to logic and like a black hole, even he cannot escape. In speaking of God to others, I’ve heard, “he has to do XYZ because it only makes sense!” Really? What part of ‘my ways are above your ways’ makes him a slave to our understanding? Again, what is important is what we can know. Logical inferences are about as binding to God as Australian law to American citizens.

What we can know is that there is no law against love. Creating a theology of what is love and how can I express love has very little to be cause for error. Contemplating the basics is never too far off track - love your neighbor. Teaching people about Jesus can be done on a postcard. Starting someone on their own quest to understand God can take a few minutes. God is a complex being, no doubt. In many ways, he is unknowable. However, in the ways he is knowable, the ideas are simple. (Not easy, simple.) A college education is not required, just look at the stories Jesus told. There’s not artifice in them, just a clear and simple teaching.

Some have thought that a new Restoration may start in this country. It would be nice, I think. In a way, I hope it doesn’t as the result will probably be the same as the first one. We are not content to search what God has given us, we have to know what he hasn’t given us.

Just a thought, as contradictory as it is.

Yes, Homestar Runner is back. Gone since May 22, they have finally returned.

Life is officially good.

All the stuff from around the subdomains.

Sycarion Diversions
June was a busy month for Sycarion.

• Final rules for Dice Poker posted.
• A few Checkers/Draughts variants posted.
• A discussion of Attribute Scores in the Action! System
• Notes on Lenga including the basic concept, alphabet, and language.

Advocate
Things are slowly getting started on the Advocate. The two stories thus far involve the Ling-6 Test and introducing your hard of hearing child to all the phonemes in the English language.

Coming soon, a set of flashcards we use to teach our son all the phonemes in English.

Prairiecomber
The fiction and poetry site began this month. This makes the third unique site name that points to me somehow.

• Most of 1998’s Durham and Other Thoughts edited and published.
• Serial called Power to the People started.

The other sites will have work done as time allows. JohnandLaryssa.com will be revamped. Clerry.com will change as well. Dira will become part of Sycarion and D/I will have more posts from me. The StudyHall will soon have notes from 1 John, Galatians, Ephesians, and the Gospel of John by the end of the month. Also, I hope to have a study of various Gnostic Gospels as well beginning with the Gospel of Thomas.

Sycarion will hopefully have the complete rules to Lenga, a supplement to the Action! System published by the end of August. The Prairiecomber will have the complete Durham and Other Thoughts chapbook as well as Fistful of Diamonds and other stories. Stay tuned to find out what happens to Roger and Cherise in Power to the People.

A speech pathologist recently pointed out to my wife and I that a hard of hearing child needs exposure to all the individual sounds of the English language in order to speak well. Since our child specifically has a hope of complete normal hearing one day, we are working hard to enable him to speak. It turns out that hearing people pick up all the different sounds (or phonemes) naturally.

She gave us an example by producing a couple of the various clicks used in the Xhosa language. We found that we had great difficulty reproducing the clicks because we had not grown up with those sounds. In the same way, hard of hearing children have problems with words that contain sounds they have not been taught. For example, take the word measure. It has five sounds in it, m, eh, zh, u, r. (The u is really quick.) The zh sound isn’t used much in English, but hearing people can usually say measure with no problems. If a hard of hearing child, however, is not exposed to zh, his pronounciation will be quite different. He or she may not even be able to say this word. Try it yourself.

The Pathologist produced her own flashcards to use with the children in her practice. Each card had a picture and stressed one individual sound or phoneme in the English language. She regularly goes through all 40 with her children with great success. Even children that receive hearing aids later in life show improvement.

I’ll get the link to her flashcards. When they’re finished, I’ll put mine on this site. When I searched for English phonemes, I found that no one agrees on how many are in the English language. Some say 38, some say almost 50. I decided that I would use as many as I could distinguish in my own speech. Don’t get bogged down in how many there are in your own searches. Just use the first few pages of your dictionary. Each sounds is given with an example word. A as in father. E as in bed, and so on. Even without pictures, it is worthwhile to use the list of example words in your dictionary so that your child can be exposed to all the sounds in the language.

Good luck!

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9

I see the bumper stickers saying that Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven. Because of the hypocrisy of the American Christian life, I used to be cynical. I would think that the occupant was using forgiveness as an excuse. It wasn’t that forgiveness was so much as a license to sin as it was a free pass to live an unexamined life.

At one time, I believed Plato’s axiom quite literally, namely that an unexamined life is not worth living. I benefitted from examining my own life, so I believed it was natural that it would benefit others. I fit in perfectly well with a church culture that stressed constant examination and purging. I, like others, assumed that we were becoming more spiritual through this exercise. We also thought that we were becoming more effective in bringing others to Christ. We strove for perfection so that others would be impressed by the work of God in our lives.

Who’s the hypocrite, now? It turns out that I wanted others to be impressed by the work of ME in MY life. I just so happened to have an inside track to God, and yeah, he loves you, too. Don’t you see what he’s done for me? He can do this and more for you. No, really, he can. Just become a member of my church and you can be a part of our wonderful training program guaranteed to give you a full life and a relationship to God. You’ll have awesome kids, you will have awesome friends, and more importantly, you will have an awesome purpose for your life. Don’t you want life to the full?

Being a Christian is fulfilling and provides great benefits. I have great friends, one of which is helping me to identify my family’s cash flow problems. I married a Christian woman. I have friends that are not like me in any way. I’m not saying that being a Christian is a joyless life of constant self-punishment and monkish study. What I am saying is that the value of the Christian life doesn’t come from the blessings God gives us. The value of the Christian life comes from our forgiveness.

I spoke with a neighbor the other day and he was sharing a sense of longing for spiritual things. He felt like that he hadn’t heard a good message in months. He felt like the minister was aloof and preaching to people that weren’t like him. When I asked him what he wanted, he replied that he wanted someone to share vulnerably from their own lives.

At first, I thought that he wanted a form of preaching I personally thought was unedifying. Sure someone can share from their own life, but what about sound exegesis? First set the sound exegesis, then find the personal application. It’s Bible 101 and the minister my neighbor was describing sounded like he was doing just that. But as I continued to listen, I began to understand what he was feeling and the background of what he meant.

He sees himself as a sinful man in need of forgiveness. He wanted to hear preaching based on that same paradigm. It seemed that the minister he was describing spoke of his great marriage and his great friends, but not the need for forgiveness. (I don’t know the minister’s true feelings about it, this was my neighbor’s experience.) His need was to be reminded that he is forgiven and that all Christians need forgiveness. My neighbor believes that God’s power is made perfect in weakness and wants to see that power realized in the lives of others.

So I look at my life and ponder - am I happy because of my blessings or because I’m forgiven? My circumstances are unpleasant in some regards. My wife’s health is taking a downturn and I feel weary much of the time. However, the truth is that I am still forgiven. I am still an heir of Christ. It doesn’t feel comforting right now, but the hope of Heaven does help. God is love and by his presence provides hope - at this point is seems that this hope is his power in weakness.