What are we to make of the emerging food crisis. to be honest i know very little of what is going on and perhaps you are in the same boat. maybe the following link might shed some light on the situation:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24259982#24259982
let me know what you think?
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Exerpt from NT Wright's latest book
over the past few months I have been pondering the impact of our gospel message and how it relates to the reality of a resurrected Christ. my argument has been that we (the church in the west) has been preaching and proclaiming a message that is too small. Having limited the gospel to bumper-stickers, sound-bites and get-to-heaven, gospel tracts, are we surprised when the world finds Christians (by-and-large) irrelevant and/or out of touch? thus, i spent the lenten season and concluding with Easter proposing ways and means that the message of Jesus Christ must be expanded and made known. much of this hinges upon the reality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. without that singular moment in time and space, the words, actions, and sacrifice of Christ are rendered meaningless. in my own life and in the church which i serve i have argued that Christians in the west need to embrace the expanse of the gospel and live in the reality of the resurrected Christ.
of course, i am speaking very general and that it for good reason. you see i am an amateur theologian, merely a pastor (not to say pastors and their position are not adequate or qualified to make theological statements or positions--merely talking about me personally...just wanted to clear that up). i may have interesting observations (at least in my own mind), but God has blessed the world with others that are far more credible and insightful than i. hence i want to provide an excerpt from a recently published book by NT Wright that makes some interesting statements regarding the resurrection and its impact on the life of Christians, as well as its relationships to the world. so, if anyone is reading this (and i am not just talking to myself) feel free to share your thoughts, i would be interested to get some further insight and push-back to this topic and excerpt:
"Easter was then Hope in person surprised the whole world by coming forward from the future into the present. The ultimate future hope remains a surprise, partly b/c we do not know when it will arrive and partly b/c at present we have only images and metaphors for it, leaving us to guess what the reality will be far greater, and more surprising, still. and the intermediate hope--the things that happen int he present time to implement Easter and anticipate the final day--are always surprising b/c, left to ourselves, we lapse into a kind of collusion with entropy, acquiescing in the general belief that things may be getting worse but that there's nothing much we can do about them. And we are wrong. Our task in the present--of which this book, God willing, may form part--is to live as resurrection people in b/w Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second."
(Wright, N.T., Surprised by Hope. HarperCollins: New York, 2008. p29-30.)
of course, i am speaking very general and that it for good reason. you see i am an amateur theologian, merely a pastor (not to say pastors and their position are not adequate or qualified to make theological statements or positions--merely talking about me personally...just wanted to clear that up). i may have interesting observations (at least in my own mind), but God has blessed the world with others that are far more credible and insightful than i. hence i want to provide an excerpt from a recently published book by NT Wright that makes some interesting statements regarding the resurrection and its impact on the life of Christians, as well as its relationships to the world. so, if anyone is reading this (and i am not just talking to myself) feel free to share your thoughts, i would be interested to get some further insight and push-back to this topic and excerpt:
"Easter was then Hope in person surprised the whole world by coming forward from the future into the present. The ultimate future hope remains a surprise, partly b/c we do not know when it will arrive and partly b/c at present we have only images and metaphors for it, leaving us to guess what the reality will be far greater, and more surprising, still. and the intermediate hope--the things that happen int he present time to implement Easter and anticipate the final day--are always surprising b/c, left to ourselves, we lapse into a kind of collusion with entropy, acquiescing in the general belief that things may be getting worse but that there's nothing much we can do about them. And we are wrong. Our task in the present--of which this book, God willing, may form part--is to live as resurrection people in b/w Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second."
(Wright, N.T., Surprised by Hope. HarperCollins: New York, 2008. p29-30.)
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Finally on the blogosphere
it dawned on me the other day that writing and music are therapy. I am one of those people that likes to think and ramble and muse (not eloquently) on matters that probe my deep. yes i tend to make mountains out of mole-hills. i over-analyze, get worked up, and wait too long to make decisions. sorry, but i am not a big fan of mistakes. i like to be sure that i have not left any stone un-turned or angle considered. hence my delinquency in entering the world of blogging. i feel like a johnny-come-lately (much like the time when i jumped on the kentucky wildcat bandwagon, conveniently before they made their mid-90s run at 2 ncaa titles). as for music i am currently enjoying the 16th minute of john coltrane's "my favorite things" (i just recently got introduced to this fine piece of work, via emusic). as much as i enjoy writing thoughts that are percolating as tunage is pumped into the caverns on my ears and mind, i sometimes forget, amidst the functions and sprints of life, how the combination thereof makes me smile (in turn makes those around me smile). the problem is that i am a creature that only really wants to do things when i feel like it, i have given my word something will be done, or i am backed into a corner. i also like to give really long explanations for things i do (just in case you wanted needless information). so why start now, this blog thing that is? sanity, mental outlet, life updates, being connected (albeit artificially), sharing thoughts, ideas, experiences, information, etc...
what can you hope to gain from this, if nothing else a window into the mind, life, thoughts, and experiences of B Sallee. aside from need to release the pressure valve of the mind, i have this fantasy that my words and shared posts might perhaps illumine or assist the path of fellow sojourners.
what's with the name? i am a big fan of "come thou fount of every blessing." in some ways a short biography of my life. the phrase "here I raise my ebenezer," carries with it a pleasant childhood memory (one of the earliest hymns i ever recall hearing) and the story found in samuel is profound. it recounts a trajectory of God's grace and mercy, salvation and transformation. the israelites were prone to wander and leave the God of love. yet, the stone which samuel set up b/w mizpah and jeshanah, was a memorial of God's help. this place in the annals of israels history was neither pleasant or to be remembered (2 defeats and loss of the ark to the philistines). yet, God redeems not only his people, but this place. isn't that like God? and so, i too, throughout my journey with Jesus have been prone to wander and leave the God i love. but b/c of his gracious, merciful activity have been redeemed, set-free, assisted, and helped. thus, it is my constant desire to utter the words, "here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal for thy courts above."
so, friends i hope you enjoy my attempts to diffuse those things that plague me and the world through the medium of letters, words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs and the like.
grace and peace!
what can you hope to gain from this, if nothing else a window into the mind, life, thoughts, and experiences of B Sallee. aside from need to release the pressure valve of the mind, i have this fantasy that my words and shared posts might perhaps illumine or assist the path of fellow sojourners.
what's with the name? i am a big fan of "come thou fount of every blessing." in some ways a short biography of my life. the phrase "here I raise my ebenezer," carries with it a pleasant childhood memory (one of the earliest hymns i ever recall hearing) and the story found in samuel is profound. it recounts a trajectory of God's grace and mercy, salvation and transformation. the israelites were prone to wander and leave the God of love. yet, the stone which samuel set up b/w mizpah and jeshanah, was a memorial of God's help. this place in the annals of israels history was neither pleasant or to be remembered (2 defeats and loss of the ark to the philistines). yet, God redeems not only his people, but this place. isn't that like God? and so, i too, throughout my journey with Jesus have been prone to wander and leave the God i love. but b/c of his gracious, merciful activity have been redeemed, set-free, assisted, and helped. thus, it is my constant desire to utter the words, "here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal for thy courts above."
so, friends i hope you enjoy my attempts to diffuse those things that plague me and the world through the medium of letters, words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs and the like.
grace and peace!
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