pinakidion.*

Monday, I went to a friends house and changed the brake pads on my car. You have to understand that I may have remembered almost everything from High School, but I didn’t take Shop. Put another way, I have very little ability with the care and maintenance of an automobile. Yet, I actually changed one of them myself, instead of contracting the work out like Tom Sawyer. (My brother still claims that the only time I mowed the lawn before college, I subcontracted it out to a friend for part of my allowance.) It’s not like someone (MrTool) hadn’t shown me before. I just had to do it. I am grateful for the immense patience given to me.

It turns out that I managed to put one of the brake pads on backwards. This made the show larger than normal causing me to grind the rim itself. I also ground the rotor as well, because the wrong side was performing the braking action. With the help of a co-worker’s tools, I was able to correct this in the parking lot. (I have a socket set, but it’s somewhere in my garage…)

There are other things which, despite the best folks showing me, I just cannot grasp them: I cannot tie a necktie. Really, I cannot tie one. I’ve had tons of people show me. Just like curing hiccups, though, most are convinced that their unique combination of methodology and personality will be the great shaft of light into my darkened understanding. I repeat, I am unable to tie a necktie and this is not something that needs to be fixed. Kurt, MrTool, this is the wide open opportunity to compare notes. I still have at least one tie from each of you that you tied for me that remains tied and hanging in the closet. (I also have one from my brother-in-law.)

I have learned to accept it, begrudgingly. I hope you can accept it, too. I cannot tie a necktie. I have aggravated salespeople. I’m talking upscale salespeople who believe that the customer can do no wrong. Trust me, an hour plus tying a necktie the wrong way will send even the most loving, patient soul screaming into the parking lot. (He actually said, ‘excuse me’, and I never saw him again.) I have aggravated myself standing in front of a mirror thinking that this is such a simple thing, how can I be this terrible at this? Seriously, I have aggravated myself to the point of rage trying to tie one.

The first one of you that gives me a necktie for Christmas…

Humility is important in both cases. In the first case, it’s good to ask for help and accept help. In the second case, it’s good to know your limitations. I am just grateful for my friends that put up with me.

More later.

Next week promises to be busy. Sunday is Hebrews 3 for the whole church and Wednesday is Matt 27 for the small group. Last night, when our small group leader said that he would be out of town, he asked for volunteers to lead the small group. The other two guys in the room pointed at me. I hesitated and then pointed at one of them and I didn’t see what mrtool was doing.

Gadzooks, I’ve been drafted.

Our minister likes Greek, so there are a couple points that can be made with Greek for Sunday. I’ll tell you what my Greek teacher told me in school after dealing with me for four semesters: You are a tremendous scribe, each letter is almost perfect. I asked about my various translation work. He reiterated the praise for my penmanship. I think I am better at it now because of my independent study of linguistics and language, but I do not consider myself an expert in any way shape or form.

I enjoy small groups these days. We are studying the events of the Passion Week and four simple questions keep us going as we progress through the events. (These are now the right questions).

1. What catches your eye as you read this passage?
2. What do you think of Jesus from this reading?
3. How could this story continue today?
4. What does this story require of us?

In looking at the trial of Jesus, one thing sticks out: Responsibility. Jesus is the only one that really takes any responsibility in both trials. Jesus says under oath that he is the Messiah. That convicts him of blasphemy. The Sanhedrin says they can’t take money back from Judas because of the law, but fail to follow the law in regards to the trial at all. Pilate washes his hands of the whole thing. The scene is painted as if the whole city had lost their mind.

As my wife pointed out, it’s scary how the hysteria of the moment can grip everyone. Pilate, completely out of character, tries to appease the crowd. (Skeptics still point to this as a criticism of the gospel account.) Peter, who was slashing at servants the night before is freaking out at being identified with Jesus. (I would, too.) The Sanhedrin is in such a hurry to find Jesus guilty, protocol gets thrown out the window. The crowd wants a murderous zealot back. Again, who’s the only sane one in the chaos?

We also talked about some conjectures and it was neat to think about. Personally, I thought about why Judas was stealing money in the first place. If he was buying food, it would have been pretty noticeable. (Say there Judas, where did the five donkeys loaded down with dates, olives, wine, cheese, and lamb come from?) The same with expensive things. (Say there Jesus, should we really be carrying around all these gems and jewelry? I thought the great pearl was more of an illustration.) The only thing I know that requires a lot of money with nothing to show for it is gambling. A perfume worth a year’s wages could pay off a lot of gambling debt. But that is wild speculation, there’s no real support for it.

Anyway, I’m off to prepare for the week ahead. I keep thinking of the Greek word for exhort from Hebrews 3:13

παρακαλέω par-ak-al-eh’-o; to call near, that is, invite, invoke call for, (be of good) comfort, desire, entreat, pray.

The heart of the matter is that I enjoy facilitating a discussion. I look forward to what folks have to say on Sunday. I best understand the Bible in the context of a discussion with someone else. I have strong opinions, but hearing a different perspective is usually pretty enjoyable. (I think you guys know of possible exceptions.) I hope folks have a lot to share. At the very least, I’m hoping for someone to share something unexpected.

I have a bunch of old, conservative commentaries. Most of them are in agreement about the 19 verses of Hebrews 3.

1. Jesus is Greater than Moses.
   Moses is a servant, Jesus is the builder (and owner) of the house - this makes Jesus greater than Moses.
2. Warnings about remaining faithful and not giving up.
   Encourage each other, guard against sin because it is deceitful.

There’s certainly a lot there to consider, especially the importance of moving forward as opposed to moving backward. I don’t mean this in a “focus on the solutions, not the problems” type of way. The original recipients of the letter were looking at abandoning the Christian faith and returning to their roots in Judaism. Moving forward to them was a matter of perseverance, not overlooking real issues. That’s why encouragement is so important. How much easier is it to hold on to your faith when surrounded by a community of people that believe God has provided and will continue to provide in every difficulty?

Compare this kind of encouragement to “you can do it” or “God is in control, he knows what he’s doing” or “repent so that God can bless you”. There’s a world of difference. “You can do it” shifts the focus to you away from God. God promises many things to us, amongst them, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us words to say, strength, comfort, helps us to pray, communicates to God on our behalf, and more. “God is in control” makes God an autopilot. In my religious background, this phrase was used to imply that God had a good reason for allowing the difficulty and that you would understand why when the difficulty passed. Usually understanding why God allowed something to happen helped us to become better Christians somehow. This is not what happened to Job - God made a point to demonstrate that his reasons are not as simple as we make them out to be. Sometimes his reasons are unknown to us. I would be hesitant to say that Job was a better follower of God after his ordeal. “Repent so that God can bless you” again makes God’s providence conditional on what you do. It’s as if God will not work on your behalf because a sin committed recently. Really? When did the promise of the Spirit change? When did God change his mind and forgive a person’s sins up until he or she saved, but makes all future forgiveness conditional from that point on? (This is a non sequitir. God’s forgiveness has nothing to do with ‘when’ a person is saved.)

But back to the point.

Conservative commentaries say largely the same thing and what they say is valuable and largely trustworthy. But I also have a really strange Bible Handbook that is “out there”. Every once in a while, this handbook provides a good insight that fits the text of the passage, but comes from a completely different direction. I do not know what it says about Hebrews 3, but this handbook is the closest sensation I have to hearing something that is unexpected.

See some of you Sunday. Otherwise, I hope to share more next week.

I guess I paid attention.

Take the quiz for yourself here.

My best friend from high school scored well. I’m surprised considering how much D&D we played in high school.

The entire text of a post is contained in the RSS. I already know that the entire text of the comments are in their respective RSS as well.

Just though you’d want to know.

My wife had a non-traditional baby shower for Dancing Bear this past Saturday. Dancing Bear, if I hadn’t mentioned it previously, is our name for the baby-to-be until he or she is born. It is easier that saying they (my mother thought we were having twins when I said that) or saying he/she. We do not know the gender or anything else about him or her, except that he or she loves to move. He or she loves to move constantly, at all hours of the day or night. My wife just fell asleep on the couch and I can still see Dancing Bear moving. (See, it’s easier than all that he or she stuff.)

What is non-traditional? First, everyone sat down to a meal. My wife had made a quiche and SAM (her version of comfort food) served as a dip. Everyone was asked to bring a story to celebrate motherhood or our son as an older brother or Dancing Bear as our new arrival. The stories were shared as each of the guests painted my wife’s belly. Despite my wife’s desire to not receive gifts, the painting was followed by the giving of gifts.

They never made it to the Raqs Sharqi.

I should tell you that my wife subscribes to the theory that this dance evolved from moves designed to aid in birthing. Both of us believe that it began as an ethnic dance, thus the Arabic name I used instead of the English name that has all kind of negative connotations.

In any case, the women that attended felt that painting the belly should be a new tradition established here. I hope it takes hold. My wife felt extremely beautiful and she gushed all day.

The Lord provides for times like these. I had thought at the time that this was done to help my wife feel close to a select few women friends.

It turns out that my grandmother-in-law, who had been sick for a while, passed away Saturday night. We had heard last week that she might have four to six months. We had made plans to travel to see her. I had never met her in person and she had never met our son. As it turned out, the first call we received was that she had stopped the chemotherapy and had her pain medication increased. The prognosis changed from 4 -6 months to days. I took the call, so I had the unenviable task of relaying this to her.

My wife has never had a family member die. She asked many questions familiar to me. In the end, though, she asked me if it seemed like her grandmother had accepted her mortality. About then, we got the second call which said that she had passed shortly after we received the first call. Fortunately, my mother-in-law and most of the family made it there before it happened.

I considered our son for a long time after that.

I made a promise to myself a long time ago that I would never ever think to myself that I want to hold my son a little tighter. I have always taken this to mean that it is tempting to take the children for granted, so when reminded of the inevitability of death, take the time to spend a poignant moment with them. I did not understand why it would be necessary. I still do not. Maybe it is my intense nature.

He certainly didn’t think it was necessary. Whatever ‘precious moment’ we may have been able to experience evaporated in the seventieth chorus of “Itsy-Bitsy Spider”. After that, he wanted to tell me all the adventures of our cat, Shahkah. Considering his vocabulary, the story goes, “Shahkah eats. Shahkah {is over} there. YAY! Shahkah. Shahkah {is} upstairs.”

I did, however, consider the new life of our son and the passing life of our relative. Our son transitions from baby to child and later from child to adult. The other has transitions to the grave to await the resurrection on the last day, and later to judgment. I am reminded of lines of a hymn written by Jeanne Wilson

Time is filled with swift transition,
Naught of earth unmoved can stand,
Build your hopes on things eternal,
Hold to God’s unchanging hand.

Trust in Him who will not leave you,
Whatsoever years may bring,
If by earthly friends forsaken
Still more closely to Him cling.

Covet not this world’s vain riches
That so rapidly decay,
Seek to gain the heav’nly treasures,
They will never pass away.

When your journey is completed,
If to God you have been true,
Fair and bright the home in glory
Your enraptured soul will view.

Jennie Wilson - “Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand”

My son sleeps peacefully as I go in and kiss his forehead. Maybe I am not so intense after all.

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

Welcome to the website. I use this site as a handy journal to record my thoughts and feelings. The difference, of course, is that I do not write privately. Some of my posts are angry and some are sad, but some are happy. I do not apologize for what I write, but I will discuss anything. If I am wrong, I will do what is necessary to make it right, if possible.

There’s been a few changes over the past three years to the site. The biggest change recently, besides the upgrade, has been the addition of several subdomains. This site serves to discuss Christianity, the ICoC subculture, my life, some philospohy, and the occasional miscellany ranging from politics (very very rare) to games to computer culture to Chick-Fil-A(TM). As far as Chrisitianity goes, I come from a Methodist background from childhood. In college, I studied several religions without participating in them. I considered myself Christian with no real denominational ties. I joined the International Churches of Christ in 1991. In the spring of 2006, I asked to be considered a non-member of the church I attend. I am still active in this church and its events because I want to be in this community of people and raise my children here.

As far as theology or philosphy is concerned, I can be pretty ambivalent. However, I do believe in a few things very strongly:

• I believe in the righteous cause of those that cannot defend themselves.
• I believe in challenging authority that hurts people under the guise of religion.
• I believe that honesty is its own reward and one of the highest ideals.
• I believe in the inherent good of individual people.

From left to right on the top of the page, the auxillary sites are:
Dira - The world of Dira is a role-playing fantasy setting loosely based on the Roman Empire. Development here is being moved to another site, so this may disappear in the future or change locations.

D/I - The dev/itreegulars site is for news that matters to Geeks. Feel free to comment or post, it’s under construction but has fun things.

Sycarion - Sycarion Diversions is home to anything games. This can be card games or board games, but especially focuses on role-playing games. A major project ongoing there is Lenga, a generic fantasy setting for the Action!-System rules.

My Family - Old website my wife and I set up for our wedding. It will change sometime in 2006 into a site for both of us.

Computer Biz - My associate(mrtool) and I have done some computer work and used this name. Our original concept was to manufacture a self-repairing workstation for use in rental properties that offer internet service. We still build computers when we can. The fate of this site is uncertain at this time.

Study Hall - This site was created for a friend and I to study the Bible together. Emails became more useful. However, I intend to publish a few expositions of various books of the Bible there.

Prairiecomber - The Prairie Comber will hold my writing efforts including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. For now, a lot of the material is very old (and it shows!). As I get more serious about writing, it will contain more stories and poems.

For My Son - This site hold information about parenting hard of hearing children. As we are sorting through the wealth of information we have, I hope to post it here.

Feel free to comment on this or any of the other auxillary sites. And again, welcome to my diary.

I wanted to ask all of you for prayers, but have not been able to. I have felt really burdened and sad. I thought about trying to focus on real unity, but my only thoughts seemed to be about real division. I thought about frustration with projects, family, church, and myself. After a while, all I had was the sense of frustration and a focus on “what not to do”.

I talked to our minister this evening and it really helped. Without going into detail, I left feeling hopeful. I also left thinking about the difference between “what not to do” and “what can be done”. It’s not like there’s a good pithy quote that was the turning point for me. I’m sure I could create one with enough time. What really struck me, though, was that both perspectives are valid. (Remember the post on the middle path?) I’ve not been holding on to both extremes in my life, I’ve been more and more dedicated to “what not to do”. I found myself with the original demon and 7 of his friends in my heart.

I took these things out on everyone around me. My employer has not gotten my best work. I quit writing altogether. I complained about a lot of things offline. I withdrew into a shell. I said things to my wife I wish I could take back. The list continues ad nauseum.

I’ve decided to focus more on what can be done. The trick is to hold to this and not let go of the other.

I had wanted to write more, but it’s late. I hope to finish this later today.

I know, I know. Working on it.

UPDATE: March 19 - It seems to vacillate on and off. Not sure why. Even one of my websites with STATIC pages goes down.

Where you been, Pink?

Maybe the more important question is, “Where are you, Wax Tablet?”

Either way, I (we?) have been working on a few things coming due this month and next. I haven’t been good about updating them on the various sites. Since the only system I work on is down indefinitely, here’s some detail and a lot of it. So here’s the deal:

The computer project for work is almost done. I have an old Pent II MMX 200mhz computer as a test box. I wanted to show that if this box can run pretty fast, imagine what it will do on a refurbished Pent III?

This crazy project has kept me awake at night trying like the test pilot guy in Apollo 13. Something like, “I have to get this thing booted and running office software on less resources than that TI-30 calculator over there.” It’s overstating it a bit, but it is how I feel, complete with sleepless night and backaches.

***TECHNICAL WARNING: GLAZE OVER IF YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT KERNEL MODULES AND ASSORTED THINGS***
The latest crazy effort involves backporting inotify into the 2.4 linux kernel. Yes, the 2.4 kernel. The really old computers will have a 2.4 kernel patched with inotify (for swapping thumbdrives, instant screen refreshes, etc.) the newer ones will have a 2.6 kernel. The 2.4 kernel is just so much faster on the older boxes and I’m only missing this one little thing.

I’m on day two of compiling this custom kernel. An old box can only crunch this stuff so fast…

I even thought of putting Metisse on this thing, but that’s a bit much. In the meantime, I’ve tried various Openbox setups, Enlightenment to look like a Mac, IceWM setups, Fluxbox, etc. Name it and I’ve tried it. (Including an exotic Metacity + LXPanel. The guys at Austrumi can do it, so can I.)

***OKAY YOU CAN COME BACK NOW. IT WASN’T THAT BAD***

All the major stuff has already been addressed. Office software, pretty backgrounds, custom utilities made by this guy, stability, low resource usage. The result can look pretty and I think it does.

I hope to present this stuff to the powers that be within two weeks. The presentation in very rough draft form is this:

The need: Families need their children to learn computer skills to keep up with present curriculum and to compete in the modern job market.

The opportunity: We store hundreds of functioning computers because the cost of disposing of them is prohibitive. We can use these computers, plus the thousands of soon-to-be decommissioned computers to meet this need.

The nuts and bolts: This can be done through the use of readily available software. The set-up required to do this well includes a straight-forward installation process, space for training, and well-defined procedures.

Life-Cycle of a Computer to Be Refurbished:

When the computer arrives, it will be paired with a serial number and information sheet.

It will then be connected with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse and booted with DBAN. (Darik’s boot and nuke.) Note: DO NOT CONNECT TO THE NETWORK UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO DO SO. If the computer successfully boots, DBAN will wipe the hard drive in preparation for the next steps. If it does not boot, it will move into a triage area to see if it can be repaired. Computers that cannot be repaired will be disassembled for spare parts. The hard drive will be wiped by alternate means before storage.

Once the hard drive is cleaned, the computer will be booted with a live CD. Note: DO NOT CONNECT TO THE NETWORK AT THIS POINT. The purpose of the live CD is to determine the system configuration. (I’m sure there’s a better way to do this besides guessing at what gets you into BIOS.) Information about the processor, processor speed, memory and hard drive size will be recorded on the information sheet.

Also check for the presence of a network card, a sound card, graphics card, and/or USB port. Note these on the information sheet as well.

Compare the information recorded with the minimum requirements on the information sheet. Note components that fall below minimum requirements. If the computer is missing required equipment as noted on the information sheet or falls below minimum standards, check inventory for the needed components and install as available. If the computer cannot be raised to minimum standards, place it into the StandBy area and give the information sheet to processing. Make sure that the computer in standby has a serial number on it before moving the information sheet that goes with it.

If the computer meets minimum standards, bring it to the install center and connect it to the network. When the computer is turned on, the server should begin the software install. (Detailed instruction will go here when they are finalized.) If the computer is not recognized by the server, contact the coordinator who will determine if there is a hardware or software issue. You will be instructed if an alternate install will be used.

Once installation is completed, boot up the computer and perform the final installation tasks as listed on the information sheet. Note: these tasks could be automated. This is done to ensure that the server properly installed the software. Any issues discovered at this point should be handled by a coordinator.

When the finalization tasks are completed, submit the information sheet for processing and place the entire unit in the Finished area.

There’s more stuff to it, but it’s a very rough draft. I need a better way to determine the specs, if possible, without BIOS.

Lenga

I’ve also been writing about Lenga quite a bit, but it’s more of the nuts-n-bolts of the world than anything creative. I’ve gotten to the point of working out the economy and how much things cost. This is being done for the game more than the story. It may seem a bit extreme, but I want Lenga to be internally consistent. It doesn’t have to be realistic, just consistent. How does the presence of magic affect the economy? Magic generally speeds up production, but the associated costs are higher or lower depending on the magic used. Magic swords are incredibly expensive. Magically produced foodstuffs can actually drive costs down. (Sure the farmer spent a lot of money on the magic in the fields, but his yield is 10 times higher with the same amount of seed.) Unscrupulous merchants can try to trick people into buying worthless junk. Etc.

Besides that, corn did not exist in medieval England, but the Ganarii have it as a staple in their diet in order to conform with their food purity laws. (There’s only two: no magic and no eating the skin and other organs of an animal.) Since they cannot know if magic was used in any step of the process for most grains, they grow their own. The Ilosians have a brewed drink like chocolate, which also did not exist. I want to know all this stuff so that I can write accurately about where these different species are coming from in their world view.

The other thing to go along with that are the languages used by the people of this world. So far, the Latin-like language is completed. As the Bedrian Empire once ruled the world, Bedrian names of objects abound. Armor is asipa (plural asipae), (though the Gruyet have an armor called boozhni). A sword is an abilus, a greatsword is a raunabilus. Something that is beautiful is varga and a butterfly is a coxplaris. Thus you could have a coxplaris vargox, a beautiful butterfly. A child is called a sortanus. The list goes on.

The language of magic is also underway, but progresses more slowly. Okmius gorperab tezechu ahen means (under the order of elemental fire) I throw (gorper+ab) fire (tezech+u) over there (ahen). I have the words, but making sentences is difficult. The language has no adjectives.

Ah well. Ambition, thy name is pinakidion.

Hebrews
I’m also teaching Hebrews this quarter. I have two classes, one of them on April Fool’s Day. The other is in May. For April 1, I am charged with Hebrews 4. In May, I get Hebrews 11. Gregg is generous in giving me the good chapters. With a Dr of ministry in the audience, the standards are higher and I enjoy it.

The Most Important
Yes, there’s the custom computer for my wife, but the most important is the coming of Dancing Bear, our second child. We don’t know if Dancing Bear will be a boy or a girl, thus the name. No information on the names we may use, my wife doesn’t want anyone to know.

Most evenings for us are going through the various Bradley exercises and relaxation techniques. I talk to Dancing Bear, as does our son. Dancing Bear is very responsive to any sound, especially my voice and music. April 11th is the big day. We are very excited.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the experience of taking my wife to the hospital. She went in for an appointment and they checked her in last time. This time, I’ll be timing contractions and all of that.

All the News Fit to Print

That’s about it. Hope you are well. I may not post much at all in April. See you soon.

John Engler has written a great article about Barna’s definition of a revolutionary. It is a good read and something that resonates with me.

Remember my dream? You know, the one with the people in my house?

More later.

My dad asked me today, “What happened with you and your church?”

A good conversation followed.

The newest list of churches signing the UP comes out. Interesting stories behind the new signers in the US. And for the
record, this article uses language talking about signing.

Alberqueue, New Mexico - Visit from Bruce Williams as detailed here. Alberqueue signs.

Chippewa Valley in Eau Claire - All the churches sponsoring them signed, the minister planting it wanted to sign, it all makes sense. Not a big deal to the church there, not done for money reasons. Knowing the minister there, it was done because he wanted to. He wanted to sign it when he was here.

Greater Hartford Church of Christ - Now two of the three churches in Conneticut have signed. Remember when there was only one and not three churches? The Southern Conneticut Church of Christ has not signed. Turns out that Groton/London was a name change. Always been three churches, though one was a sector of Boston. I got the story for them wrong.

Northern Virginia Church of Christ - South Region: The North doesn’t want to sign. You’d think the UP proponents would not allow one region to sign and another not to sign. The UP itself magnifies the differences of opinion for future church direction. The minister resigned. Don’t be suprised if the leader of the South Region takes over. Sad, really.

Reno, Nevada - Visit from Gordon Ferguson talking about the split with Kip and the Portland Discipling Movement. Reno signs.

Syracuse, New York - Group breaks from Kip’s church there and signs the UP.

I do not know about the others overseas. I can say that at least there is an admission that some churches simply choose not to sign. The percentage has also changed to be lower.

Oh well. Yet Another UP post down the tubes. Why do I talk about unity and deride the UP? The UP is exactly backwards of how to acheive any real unity.

As I mentioned earlier, the church I attend went to another Restoration Movement church last Sunday evening. Most of us were there, meaning about 60 out of 100 members. We were welcomed and treated cordially. I got there a little late, but I saw that we were given the center section.

This is a big event for an ICoC congregation, of all things, to decide to worship with someone else. It’s one of those things that says, “God is here, too.” What may be a larger event is a predominantly-white church worshipping with a predominantly-black church in this city. As the birthplace of Malcolm X, it’s surprising that race relations are not much better now than they were in his lifetime. Sure there’s a veneer of progress in race relations, but it is not much more than that. I have seen passive-aggressive growing up in the South, here it is just plain aggressive.

But that is a side point for another post.

When I arrived, service had started and the bulletin stated that the message was entitled “Almost a Christian”. For the next 45 minutes, I heard “The Church” study from FP circa 1980. The difference, of course, was that it was directed at us. It didn’t take long to figure out that I was an “Almost Christian” like Festus because of instrumental music and that the church I attend is not led by Jesus.

I laughed, actually, and laughed out loud. I figured that I had done this very thing for over a decade and that I deserved to have it preached back at me. It struck me as funny because it struck me that self-righteousness can be hidden as conviction very easily. You know, you just have to laugh at yourself when the truth is revealed to you.

Afterwards, we were treated to a meal in the fellowship hall downstairs. Many of us stayed for over an hour talking to various folks. One person remarked that we should focus on what we have in common (a person from their church, not the one I attend). It seemed that talking and sharing came easily as we ate good homemade food. I spoke with the assistant minister that delivered the message for some time.

For those that do not know what I look like, you have to understand that I have long hair. It is past shoulder length. In a conservative RM church, long hair is seen as a violation of 1 Corinthians. In some ways, I was not the best person to engage in a conversation because I was already putting the asst. minister in an awkward position.

Still, he was very friendly and we talked for some time about various things. He was really engaged with a friend of mine that grew up in the conservative white churches of Christ. They talked about shoes, work, church history, and several other things. It would be safe to say that a real connection was made that will last beyond this one time event.

There’s a few things that I learned from the event that I hope will prove useful to others:

Both churches were true to themselves.

The NOCoC (the church we visited) took their one best shot to speak to the sins of us ‘Crossroaders’. I’m not sure that I would have expected anything less. I’m also glad that they did. In any fruitful talks, both sides have to be completely honest, and they were. We were considered guests, not brothers. The reasons for this were doctrinal. We have a fundamental disagreement in hermenutics and thus several disagreements on doctrine as a result. That has now been put on the table for all future events.

The OCoC (the church I attend), came as themselves. They didn’t come as ambassadors of some new great wave of peace. They didn’t come as judges of the NOCoC. They came as people that love God, they came as parents of small children, they came as folks interested in seeing how other experience God. As such, we were able to talk to other people that were also just being themselves. For all the signifigance of the service, you would not have thought it to be there. It seemed like just another Sunday night service in many ways. That is also a very good thing.

Unity is Not Easy

Expecting to be welcomed with open arms is naive. It would have been great, mind you. But both sides have much to learn to come together as brothers. The first step has been taken and more will follow.

Unity is not about winners and losers, so I don’t think of last Sunday as a victory for either church or for some nebulous concept of RM unity. It’s not a great triumphal victory for God and mankind. I get tempted to hype things in this way, but to see it for what it really is helps the cause of unity much more than patting backs. This was necessary and it needed to be done as soon as was possible. Now, there is much more to do.

I look at it this way: There are crowds at the start and finish of a marathon. There are few at the mileposts in-between. The real victories emerge at the mileposts away from the crowds. The real victories for God will come in the places between last Sunday and fellowship with our brothers in Christ.

Next stop? Probably a service with the Southwest CoC or the Kingsway Christian Church in a few months. Next stop with the NOCoC? I dunno. I’ll let you know what they preach on Sunday night when we’re not expected.

Blogged with Flock

We have a blizzard warning in effect. Two major interstates are closed. The police are telling people not to drive and that they are only responding to major accidents.

I am at work because all of us are designated staff. In the superintendent’s defense, the 8 o’clock appointment for my boss was here. Then again, she works at this building as well, so she had to be here like me.

Argh! Argh! Argh!

Okay, I’m better now. On to next episode…

UPDATE:
http://pinakidion.us/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/extend.thumbnail.jpg