I’ve been watching some of the home footage on the news channels of the tsunami as the estimated death toll keeps rising. I really don’t know how to process it all. I ran across this blog with all sorts of ways to respond, and thinks it’s worth taking a look to see if you have anything to offer from where you are sitting.

the last word, and the word after that, by brian mclaren

This is the third book in the A New Kind of Christian series, and it is now available for pre-sale on Amazon. It will be released in late March.

We have made an official decision for our future. We will be heading up to Seattle in a few months to join our good friends the Kuests in preparation for a church plant. Dean has shared this journey with me over the last few years as much as anyone, so the thought of joining them is a thrilling next step for us.

How many of the gifts passed out around trees today will still be in use next Christmas, or even six months from now? I have this conflict within me between what I hope to receive for Christmas, and what I find I am content without.

My wife and I skipped exchanging presents this year in preparation for a few skimpy months ahead. I really enjoyed the process of just watching our daughter open some gifts and seeing the excitement on her face. Later in the day, I had the opportunity to watch a whole bunch of people who don’t spend that much time together, and some who hardly know each other, try to give each other the perfect gift. In many cases, the retailers that sold the items received the greatest blessing.

We’ve turned Christmas into this time where we need to give just for the sake of giving, with little regard as to what the exchange means. I see retail stores filled with frantic people just trying to find something that might be of value to the person who is on their list.

Don’t read me as cynical, and don’t misunderstand me — I truly love Christmas. I love giving presents, and I love receiving them. Hence the conflict. I want to give deeply meaningful presents to people I appreciate and love. I want to see their faces light up because I know them well enough to get them something that they will treasure. I want this time of year to be a time that my child(ren) know that there will be something special for them.

It’s the rest of it I can do without. I can skip receiving presents that I have no interest in, just because someone thought they needed to get me something. I can skip the pressure of trying to figure out what to get for someone just for the sake of getting them something. I want to give someone a present not because they expect it, but because I can’t picture what my life would be like without them. I want to receive presents not because someone feels obligated, but because I mean something to them. I want to know that when someone walks into my office and hands me a CD, it’s because that is an opportunity for them to say they appreciate me. (Thanks Chris! )

Nothing too profound here…just trying to sort out some of the things that have been rambling through my brain today.

NT Wright has written an article called ‘Cracking the Christmas Code” for a British newspaper. He shares some thoughts regarding the contrast between ‘The DaVinci Code’ and the true Christmas story. The more liberal readers of this blog (ahem, Dean) might not agree with some of what he has to say.

I took an IQ test at Tickle.com, and this was the summary it gave me:

Your Intellectual Type is Visionary Philosopher. This means you are highly intelligent and have a powerful mix of skills and insight that can be applied in a variety of different ways. Like Plato, your exceptional math and verbal skills make you very adept at explaining things to others — and at anticipating and predicting patterns. And that’s just some of what we know about you from your IQ results.

I agree with that assessment of me other than the comparison to Plato…I’m far better looking than he is. However, I have a hunch they say really nice things about everyone to try to convince you to shell out the cash for the more detailed 15-page profile they offer. I didn’t bite.

Beliefnet has an interesting interview with John Dominic Crossan. His theology will likely be too liberal for most readers of this blog, but the historical background described in it will give you some fresh perpsective on the nativity to muse on during this holiday.

I started a new, but little, project this pass week. I created a blog hosting service called QuikBlogs.

The short version of the story is, I bought some space and bandwidth on a server for another project I’m working on, and it will also host this blog soon. The deal included far more bandwidth than I should need, so hopefully this will help me cover some of the costs.

The details are on the site, but here’s the basic rundown. For a minimal expense, you get a web server, pre-loaded with Pivot, which is a great blogging script — just ask Tim Samoff who is using it, and where I first saw it. You can also have up to five email addresses with whatever domain name you choose for your blog. Last I checked, IdioticThoughts.com is still available, which I think would be a great domain name for some of you.

I’m not planning to do any heavy promotion of this, but if you are looking to upgrade your blog, or know someone who wants to start one, this is an option to consider.

Grant Buchholtz was an intern in our student ministry a few years ago. But now, he is the teacher and I am the student in this article he wrote for TheOoze. What a timely article to remind me why we are launching into this unknown future.

Someone, please tell me that this is a joke.

TheoGeek has some good thoughts here. (I stumbled on his blog a few weeks ago and have enjoyed it simply because he’s open to asking questions.) I started to respond in his comments, but it was getting lengthy, so I thought I’d just add the thoughts here. Read his post first for context.

I’ve been rethinking what the Law is, but haven’t yet synthesized it all with what Paul has to say. As most Jews still seem to think, the Law was not meant to show us to be imperfect, but to guide us to what full life looked like. As I understand it, the promise of keeping the law was not heaven, but the benefit of a full life that would come through keeping the law. The concept of the afterlife began to develop more in the intertestamental period when the Jews realized that, though they had tried to keep the law, they were still being ‘unjustly’ overrun by other nations. The resurrection developed out of this period through a need for perceived justice on their part.

Moving on, as the Pharisees and teachers of the law (perhaps an oversimplification here) began to add their commentary, the law became more and more difficult to keep. Unfortunately, they made the law difficult to keep by adding more and more actions that were difficult to follow. If the people would follow these difficult laws, then that would also mean that they follow the Law, which wasn’t actually as strict. It was this corrupting of the law that Jesus came and spoke against.

Jesus, on the other hand, pointed out that the law itself was not only meant to point us to a fuller life, but even raised the stakes on how the law should effect not only our actions, but our hearts. He raised the stakes by saying that not only is it wrong to murder, but it is also wrong to speak harshly in anger. It is not only wrong to commit adultery, but it is also wrong to lust. He recaputred the fact that the intent of the law was to shape our hearts, not create perfect actions. And ultimately, he provided the best assistance we could possibly have by sending His Sprit to guide and convict us. Quite a better system than that of the Jewish leaders, don’t you think?

Now, as for how all this fits in with some of what Paul has to say about the Law — I haven’t sorted through all that yet…

A website called Off-the-Map has several different streaming videos of some presentations Brian McLaren has done. I haven’t had a chance to watch them yet, but should be some good food for thought.

If you haven’t seen this video yet, now is as good of a time as any…

Anxhiliration is the new word I invented in a conversation this morning to describe our life right now. There is continuous exhiliration as we sense that God is leading us to something new, but there are pockets of anxiety as we aren’t quite sure what that will be.

I recently heard that the Bedouin in Israel, who still primarily live among the elements in tents, on average, live beyond 100 years old. Israel did a study and found that the main reason they live so long is because they encounter no stress in their lives. I wonder how many years of life the last few months might have cost me…

Sherri and I were talking tonight about a friend of hers. Sherri is overwhelmed by this friend, because she will do pretty much anything for her. It’s humbling for all of us when we encounter people who have such a desire to help and serve us.

The beautiful thing in this situation is that Sherri’s friend isn’t a Jesus follower. Sherri and I were talking tonight about how ridiculous it is that we are surprised that someone who isn’t a Jesus follower would have a such a heart to serve. Why do followers of Jesus continuously have to be surprised when we see “non-Christians” living in a beautiful way?

The bottom line is this: She has found a friend in Sherri who she can let her guard down with. Sherri has loved her in a way that few people, if any, in her life have. How wonderful is it to see that once the guard is dropped, the image of her creator is revealed?