Categotry Archives: Meanderings (look it up)

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The Inoculation of Religion

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up), Rantings

Recent discussions on this here blog have got my mind turning…as if it didn’t have enough to do. 🙂 Not really so much agreeing or disagreeing with comments made, or anything like that…just thinking.

Specifically, I’ve been thinking about what would make us not know when it’s real.

For a long time I’ve thought of religion as working the same way that a vaccine does, only instead of making us healthier, it has the opposite effect.

This is a preview of The Inoculation of Religion. Read the full post (875 words, 1 image, estimated 3:30 mins reading time)

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We Know When It’s Real–or Do We?

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up)

In response to my previous post, Gary D. said this (among other things):

“Realness and authenticity are valuable things in ones spiritual life with Christ. You are so correct when you say that there are people inside the bubble who are deceived, who think that because they are in the protective bubble that all is right and ok.”

And Erin followed with this statement:

“My prayer was (in response to a series of somethings that had happened in the church) ‘If this is who you really are, I want nothing more to do with you.'”

This is a preview of We Know When It’s Real–or Do We?. Read the full post (730 words, 2 images, estimated 2:55 mins reading time)

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Life Outside the Bubble (part 3–Perils, Pitfalls, and Following)

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Categories: food for thought, Meanderings (look it up)

Part 1
Part 2

I think when I see people inside the Christian culture-bubble respond to those who are outside it, the number one emotion I see is not resentment, or even judgment (though those are certainly factors). Rather, the number one emotion, I think, is fear.

This is a preview of Life Outside the Bubble (part 3–Perils, Pitfalls, and Following). Read the full post (1001 words, 1 image, estimated 4:00 mins reading time)

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Self-Interest, Kingdom of God, and The Great Dilemma

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up), Rantings

So I’ve been pondering lately about the dilemma I faced while still operating as part of the institutional systems of church, the dilemma that so many well-meaning church leaders face today.

The dilemma is this: we like to see ourselves, and our local church, as part of the larger Body of Christ, recognizing that we are only a part of THE church. And yet, because of the nature of sustaining an institution, most of the decisions the leader(s) must make have to do with the growing of “our” church rather than building “the” church.

This is a preview of Self-Interest, Kingdom of God, and The Great Dilemma. Read the full post (961 words, 1 image, estimated 3:51 mins reading time)

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A Few Moments of Quiet

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up)

So it’s Sunday morning, and while you are probably asleep, I am up even earlier than usual. I was prepared to drive through the snowstorm to the gathering where I lead worship. Got a call–it’s cancelled.

Just snowy enough to cancel my commitments; not quite snowy enough to stop me from walking down to my favorite blogging spot. 🙂 Can’t beat that with a stick. So here I am, blogging away for your indifferent disinterest reading pleasure.

This is a preview of A Few Moments of Quiet. Read the full post (656 words, 1 image, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

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On How We Ought Not to Just Talk About the Bad Stuff, and Start Doing Something Different

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Categories: church, Meanderings (look it up)

Conversations from both here and over at Communitas Collective have got my mind running, so thought I’d better jot these thoughts down before I forget. 🙂

My blogger friend Kansas Bob, and newer blogger friend Al, together sort of made the point that it is not really enough for those of us disenfranchised folk to just point out the stuff that’s wrong with institutional forms of church…that we need to live out the positive effects of change in our lives. I truly agree with this, and I think it’s important to process that idea, to embrace the truth of it more than just verbally assent to it.

This is a preview of On How We Ought Not to Just Talk About the Bad Stuff, and Start Doing Something Different. Read the full post (869 words, 1 image, estimated 3:29 mins reading time)

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Pondering a Deconstructed Spirituality

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Categories: changing mindsets, Meanderings (look it up)

Not too long ago, I posted a question: “What is ‘spiritual’?” Thanks for your answers.

I continue to ponder this line of thinking a bit. When I wrote about how I’m doing, I talked mainly about specifics relating to our transition to Denver from Tulsa, and getting our feet under us. But I’ve also been thinking about where I’m at from a spiritual perspective, and where my spiritual journey away from “church-as usual” has taken me thus far.

This is a preview of Pondering a Deconstructed Spirituality. Read the full post (1231 words, 2 images, estimated 4:55 mins reading time)

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On Heaven and Hell, and Possibly Asking the Wrong Questions

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up), theological questions

On Sunday I listened to my friend Eugene talk to a gathering of believers about the question: “What happens when we die?” He talked about how he believes in a heaven and a hell, but admitted that there really isn’t very much detailed in Scripture about either. Nor does God seem to be big on giving us a lot of details in the Bible about what death looks like or feels like. It’s kind of like, you have to be there–to experience it–to know what it is. (Of course, once we cross that threshold, most of us don’t come back.)

Interestingly, when Jesus was about to die, He was pretty vague with His disciples about what to expect on the other side, as well. They wanted specifics, details, and He basically said, “Trust Me.” Here’s a snippet of the conversation in John 14:

This is a preview of On Heaven and Hell, and Possibly Asking the Wrong Questions. Read the full post (1154 words, 2 images, estimated 4:37 mins reading time)

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Wandering but Not Lost (excerpt)

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up)

Here is an excerpt from my latest post on the Communitas Collective blog:

I know there are a lot of us “out here” who for one reason or another have wandered away from church as usual. For me, there are times when I feel very peaceful about that. There are other times when I feel a twinge of guilt or fear, where my more “religious” side starts telling me I’ve lost my way. I don’t know if it’s the same for you. But it is especially strong when I’m in a place where nothing seems to make sense, where nothing seems familiar.

This is a preview of Wandering but Not Lost (excerpt). Read the full post (201 words, 1 image, estimated 48 secs reading time)
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