Embracing Accusation

This song is incredibly powerful. I first heard it in December, and it's not lost any of its power since then. It's from Shane and Shane's album "Pages." Shane and Shane have always had a history of putting out incredibly Biblical songs, and I highly respect them.

Einstein: quote regarding imagination

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world”

- Albert Einstein

Vincent Van Gogh

Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high.

Then life seems almost enchanted after all.

Vincent Van Gogh

Where is my security?

“It’s a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us occasionally. It gives us some sense of what is rock under our feet, and what is sand.”

-- Madeleine L’Engle in The Summer of the Great-Grandmother

God A and God B - Brian D. McLaren

From Brian D. McLaren's book A Generous Orthodoxy. I tried to shorten it, but it lost its power, so here is the section in its entirety, followed by my comments. Italics are his emphasis, bolds are mine.

"The experience of God in Jesus was so powerful that it forever transformed what followers of Jesus meant when they said the word God. What was God like? What was God about? When they thought about what they had learned, seen, and experienced in a few centuries of reflecting on God as revealed and experienced through Jesus (in the context of some major controversies with varied forms of Greek philosophy), the church began to describe God as Father-Son-Spirit in Tri-unity or the Trinity. For them, God could no longer be conceived of merely as "God A," a single, solitary, dominant Power, Mind, or Will, but as "God B," a unified, eternal mysterious, relational community/family/society/entity of saving Love.

"Think of the kind of universe you would expect if God A created it: a universe of dominance, control, limitation, submission, uniformity, coercion. [footnote: Most forms of Islam and certain forms of Christianity reflect belief in this kind of God--"God A"--and this kind of universe.] Think of the kind of universe you would expect if God B created it: a universe of interdependence, relationship, possibility, responsibility, becoming, novelty, mutuality, freedom. I'm not sure which comes first--the kind of universe you see or the kind of God you believe in, but as a Christian who believes in Jesus as the Son of God, I find myself in universe B, getting to know God B.

This is why, for starters, I am a Christian: the image of God conveyed by Jesus as the Son of God, and the image of the universe that resonates with this image of God best fit my deepest experience, best resonate with my deepest intuition, best inspire my deepest hope, and best challenge me to live with what my friend, the late Mike Yaconelli, called "dangerous wonder," which is the starting point for a generous orthodoxy."

~Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy, Chapter 2: Jesus and God B, pages 76-77.

The God that Jesus revealed, God B, doesn't inspire subservience and control, but rather faith, hope, and love. And the Japanese people could do with a little bit of all three. As we seek to reveal God in the country of Japan, what can we do to reveal God B, when we naturally tend to think of God A? How can we capture the hope and imagination of this people and center them on the One who can make them flourish?

EDIT: I posted this on Facebook also, and my friend brought up a really good question that is worth reposting here. She said, "But... isn't God both (all) at once?" The answer? Of course! And it is just as dangerous to hold exclusively to "B" as it leads to a view of a God of chaos (defined here as the absence of order, rather than the disruption of it), which is a tenant of Shinto, Daoism, and some forms of Animism. So let me requote one sentence with a different emphasis: "God could no longer be conceived of MERELY as 'God A'..." Since we are writing to Westerners though, I think the side of God most often ignored is the "B" side.

Christmas -- Saint Gregory of Nyssa

"O inexpressible mystery and unheard paradox: the Invisible is seen, the Intangible is touched , the eternal Word becomes accessible to our speech, the Timeless steps into time, the Son of God becomes the Son of Man!"
Saint Gregory of Nyssa

"A Sharp Transformation" Quote by Peter Drucker

“Every few hundred years in Western society there occurs a sharp transformation. Within a few short decades, society rearranges itself… We are currently living through such a transformation.” Peter Drucker

Eastern societies also experience sharp transformations and Japanese society appears to be "rearranging itself" in a major way. This is one reason for a greater openness to the gospel in Japan today than there has been in several generations. It is an exciting time to be part of the church in Japan.

The changes occurring in Japanese society present both huge challenges and opportunities --- we all face the critical question: "how are we going to respond?"

On Fostering Community

"(I) believe that there is no better place to foster community and nourish those you love than around a table piled with delicious food." Bonnie Moore、FoodFit's Executive Chef

"brokenness" by Henri J.M. Nouwen

"The most-celebrated musical composition, the most-noted painting and sculpture, and the most-read books are often direct expressions of the human awareness of brokenness." From "Life of the Beloved"

Quote by Leo Tolstoy

"Art is not a pleasure, a solace, or an amusement; art is a great matter. Art is an organ of human life, transmitting man’s reasonable perception into feeling."