Thursday, November 30

10 days of vision...

"…there is a difference between "hearing" and "listening". I am not just to hear what God is saying, I am to listen..."

"…When I think of a community where people listen and are obedient to God, I think of a community that is covered in the dust of the greatest Rabbi, Christ."

"…the larger premises of obedience: a listening ear, a soft heart, a malleable spirit, the laying down of personal rights, and a servant mentality."

"…in being obedient to God we're asking Him what He has in mind for us"

Mark Nelson at 8:31 AM 6comments

6 Comments

at 8:12 PM  Anonymous said...

I think the Biblical story of God is Love. It is the thread woven throughout the scriptures. Living out the story is the hard part.

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was (silly Pharisees thinking they could trick Jesus) he replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

I like how The Message puts it: "Love the Lord with all your passion and prayer and intelligence." It says in the next verse that loving God and loving others are the "pegs" that everything in God's law and the prophets hang from.

Good imagery.

To sum my ramblings up: Love God, love others.

 

at 8:16 PM  Anonymous said...

I think I should've said, "to sum up my ramblings..."

Sorry Mrs. Karavitis (Senior English teacher)

I think I'm gonna like reading and responding to this blogger thingy...

 

at 10:11 PM  Anonymous said...

"the biblical story of God is taught"....
i hope and pray that crossings will be a place that always reminds us of God's passionate pursuit of us - as told in His word...from adam, to the tabernacle, to gomer....to His ultimate display of love in Jesus.
"and lived out".....
and that because of our time together as a community of believers, we will desire (because we just can't help it) to share the passionate pursuit of our God with everyone we meet.

 

at 11:13 PM  Nicole said...

I love the Biblical narrative as God's story. A story has themes and common threads, but can look very different throughout all the various plot lines. What's important is that all the stories are related and come together to reveal something about God.

It reminds me of Rob Bell's Nooma about the song, or Larry Norman's song, The Tune.

Also, from that same talk by Campolo, I agree with him that teaching the dreams and visions of God's story is the key to living out the Gospel and living as Christ lived. Forgive me another long quote from Campolo:

What do we want to be? What do you want to become? Once again, the Christian stands forth and holds up Jesus. Let this mine be in you as it also is in Christ Jesus. To become a Christ like person. When I talk to young people, and I hope you do the same, I’m more concerned about their dreams and visions than I am about their past experiences. Because I’ve got news for you, if you had poor toilet training at the age of four. I cannot outdo that. I don’t know how to undo your lousy toilet training. The past is past. It’s not good psychology. But there’s some validity to Paul saying forget those things which are behind you and let’s start pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. What do you want to become? Dreams and visions. I find that people become psychologically healthier when they develop dreams, when they commit themselves to a vision of the future that are worthy of their humanity. Once again, Becker says, “We have failed this generation. Because we have entertained them and we do not realize that youth is made for heroism and not for pleasure.” To what degree do we give to young people things to do with their lives that are so heroic that it makes their lives significant? Heroism, Nietzsche understood that. “We were born for heroism,” he said. “It is the only way we can overcome the absurdity of our existential realities.”

The Bible says, “When the young no longer have dreams, and the old no longer have visions, people perish.” Frankl found that the people who died in Auschwitz are those that could not imagine a future worthy of the suffering they were presently enduring and they just gave up. There has to be a future that says this present suffering is not to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed. Do we give people dreams and visions?

I find people do die without dreams and visions. Especially young people. And most of us are dealing with young people. Kirkegaard says, “This age. This age will die. Not because of sin, this age will die from lack of passion.” We have lost our capacity for passion. There’s nothing wrong with people that a little passion couldn’t excite. “We’re the hollow men, the straw men, the empty men,” said T.S. Eliot. “Blown to and fro by the wind.”

What is it that gives people passion? Dreams! Visions! Something glorious to become and the ultimate thing is you must committed not only to intimacy, but you must be committed to life goals, but lastly, related to life goals is the last thing. Christian psychology should in fact nurture people into a commitment to change the world. If there’s anything wrong with psychology it’s that it makes people too individualistic. Get the gestalt in mind, it’s the whole thing. The individual becomes healthy when he focuses on himself? NO! When he focuses on the world out there.

 

at 11:20 AM  Anonymous said...

In teaching and living out the story of God, I think the desire should be to continue out the story of God in our own lives. It's not simply an imitation, but a realization that we ARE the story of God. When we separate ourselves from the Biblical story then the teaching becomes "just stories" and the living out becomes legalism.
I agree with Carrie, this is a love story, a story of God and His people...and for me (must be the preschool teacher in me) the coolest thing about it all is that it is Not Just A Story.

 

at 2:25 PM  The Watson Family said...

It seems to me that the Biblical story is 'the' story. It is about seeing all of live in terms of God pursuing all of humanity. To teach this story means to live this story and encouraging others to see themselves within the narrative.

 

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