Another one from the vault

Christmas Proclamation 2003

 

For Josh and Jodi…    and Samuel

 

            “Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them.  Their fingers, from excessive toil, are too clumsy and tremble too much for that.  Actually, the laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day; he cannot afford to sustain the manliest relations to men;  his labor would be depreciated in the market.  He has no time to be anything but a machine.  How can he remember well his ignorance—which his growth requires—who has so often to use his knowledge?…  The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling.  Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly.” 

   Henry David Thoreau

 

 

It all started with Christmas lists.  So many times I’ve been through this particular season.  In fact this will be my twenty-fifth time, and don’t get me wrong, I mean who can forget how adorable the snoopy snow cone machine letter to Santa really was.  That was a hit!  It worked well, too.  And I was one happy kid.  So please don’t misunderstand my intentions.  I mean to proclaim a change in course of my own life, and perhaps to encourage or provoke thought among others along the way.  I think, I know, Jesus knew what would happen when he encouraged us to look at the plank in our own eye before moving on to talk about the speck in our neighbor’s.  He knew there would never be time to move on to anyone else.  Our whole lives, it seems, if spent properly, will consist of removing our own preconceived notions and prejudices not only that have been formed regarding other people, but perhaps even more importantly and more pressing, the misconceptions we have formed about our self.  But I digress…

            It started with Christmas lists and naturally to Santa himself.  I was asked to go to Barnes and Noble and jot down those books that I’d like.  No doubt all over this thriving economy countless kids have probably already mailed their lists to the North Pole.  That being true, little by little, or possibly in bigger chunks than I realize, Christmas has indeed turned into the aluminum tree, commercial festival that C. Brown was so disgusted by.  Oh, there are comforting slogans that we’ve developed; you know, ‘Jesus is the reason for the season.’  It rhymes and everything.  That phrase fits nicely on the well lit church signs that have been commissioned to spread the canned gospel of the 21^st century.  But before I delve too far into satire and sarcasm, I shall get on with my point.  This is not intended to be a critique on Santa or canned gospel for that matter.  I’ll leave that for other people or perhaps another time.  No, what I’m digging for is a reversal of course, or at least some change in direction that will not necessarily take us back to any golden age of Christmas, or of life.  My son is not in the past.  My relationship that has flourished with my brother and my sister, and my ever evolving family is not found in some glorious good ol’ day.  I’m not quite sure what the future will hold either.  My good buddy Thoreau talks about toeing the line between the past and the future.  The Lord speaks to us about our cares in a similar tone.  Why do we worry about clothes and food and shelter and even our being.  We profess this great trust in him, we speak of his virtues, of his salvation, of his lordship, and then we spend all of our waking hours attempting to secure our futures and our children’s, children’s future…  Apologies again for ranting. 

            Time.  Isn’t it truly what we owe to each other?  Jesus summed it up:  Love the Father with all you’ve got and secondly like that love your neighbor as yourself.  Perhaps it’s a far reach from thinking about lists of gift ideas, but it seems as if as a human people we’re growing separate.  There are so many things to distract us from our duty to share our lives with others.  Television offers nonstop shadows which we hide behind.  The internet allows us to talk for hours without ever having to reveal who we really are. We mask our lack of effort or our fear of exposing our frailties to others.  And so I proclaim my intention to begin to chip away at the barriers that I have erected over twenty-six years to protect myself from having to share my self with other selves.  And though I do look forward to the Rose Bowl and Duke v. Carolina, and the Super Bowl—I’m not condemning entertainment or solitude for that matter—my neighbor is whom I intend to devote my time.  From traveling northeast to experience the overwhelming joy of sharing my son’s first years with his grandmother, the gravity of difficult circumstances that will surely affect our lives as we grow older, the quiet strolls on the golf course with my fifty-four year old best friend and inspiration,  the three grandsons in the whale pool in the front yard, and the indescribable smile and laughter of a beautiful new mother and wife,  my proclamation is to know my neighbor.  To know what his struggles are, what joys she has, what dreams…. And to strive to become one in mind and spirit and love as we move ever closer to the realm of our Lord in Heaven. 

 

D. Thomas

 

Acts 2

The 242 in @SonofLiberty242  is a reference to Acts 2:42. It’s good.

I. Acts 2: 1-4

1. What?
   1. 50 days after Passover
   2. Giving of the Law on Sinai?
   3. Defines us all—not just Pentecostals
   4. creative power of God came to earth not to offer spirituality to make earth irrelevant, but to transform the earth starting with our bodies, minds, hearts and lives
   5. Same wind of Creation?

2. So What?
   1. Throughout Acts the Spirit is the definitive marker of Christianity
   2. One of our “classic” stories

a. sometimes brings hope

b.

• sometimes finds us wanting

3. “All in the room…”

II. Acts 2:5-11

1. What?
   1. Different places (all Jews)
   2. Different languages –not the same as tongues (1 Cor)

1. So What?
   1. Some see the miracle at Pentecost as this unity out of diversity

1. III.       Acts 2:12-13
   1. What?
      1. Responses
      2. Amazed and perplexed and mockery

1. So What?
   1. Do our churches/lives exemplify anything that would make people stop in amazement?

1. IV.       Acts 2:14-35
   1. What?
      1. Peter stood up!
      2. Connection to their story—Joel
      3. Proclamation that Jesus is the fulfillment (Psalms)
   2. So What?
      1. Restored Peter
      2. Joel – age to come has arrived

a. “last days” not as imminent apocalypse, but as urgency of witness

b.

• Spirit once possessed by exotic few now by all

c. Crowd knew the scriptures well, but they missed it!

V. Acts 2:36-41

1. What?
   1. Cut to the heart
   2. Repentance and baptism

1. So What?
   1. Even those on the inside need salvation
   2. Kyrios not just an honorary title, but represents action and status
   3. Was always the plan to let the Messiah represent Israel and burn out evil
   4. Repentance is a radical change of mind—not just intellect though

1. VI.       Acts 2:42-47
   1. What?
      1. Formative
      2. Idealistic?
      3. Koinonia
      4. Jubilee – verb in Acts indicates not a one time thing

1. So What?
   1. Contemporary religious life is plagued by momentary enthusiasm, periodic outbursts and superficiality
   2. many converts fade due to lack of attention to the process which involves committed fellowship with other believers attending to teaching praying etc
   3. teaching ones who “know” also part of the gospel
   4. eating together is a mark of unity, but gospel is not a social club

Concluding thoughts:

1. Spirit empowered witness to risen Jesus is means by which God’s purposes are realized
2. Spirit sometimes comes in fire and noise and sometimes in soft and secret
3. New creation began in an upper room not in the Temple
4. No room for jealousy—everybody delights with gifts to others as to themselves
5. Luke’s salvation is social, physical and spiritual

Acts 1

I’m going to use this blog to post the outlines/discussions/reflections that we are having in our small group as we study the book of Acts.  Apologies to Witherington, Willimon, Wright and Robert Wall who wrote on Acts in the New Interpreter’s Bible.  I’ll be more careful to cite them once I get to chapter 4–I didn’t intend to post this material on the blog when we first began.  Please feel free to post comments and questions whether you are a part of the small group or not.  The notes in red are added to the original outline to help spell out some of the discussion points during the small group session. 

A Journey through ACTS:  2/10/13

 I.  Overview   1: 1-2

A.  The Acts of the ___perhaps the better title would be of the Holy Spirit

B.  In my former book  — important to remember that Acts is part 2. It only makes sense in the context of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  

C.  Messiah cannot be disembodied from the Messianic community

II.  Waiting  1:3-5

A.  Our capacity to wait is based on God’s faithfulness to Jesus

B.  Also based on God’s faithfulness to history

1.  We are invited to be actors in this play

2.  What is your story?  How do we know each other’s testament?so important for us to be vulnerable and transparent with each other

III.  When Lord?  1:6-8

A.  Jesus as a King in waiting (i.e. David)

B.  Remember the disciples seeking the top positions in his “cabinet”

C.  Jesus doesn’t speculate about the not yet, but insists on the now

1.  Successors devoted to the sublime truth

2.  dynamis — power; where we get the word dynamite

3.  Isaiah 32:15

4.  their teacher and friend now rules;  not gnosis but demands witness

IV.  One like a Son of Man  1: 9-11

A.  Daniel 7

B.  Jesus is announced as Lord and King—not as an increasingly distant memory but

as a living and powerful reality

C.  He can be known and loved and followed

D.  Arch of Titus — wasn’t just Jesus’ soul that ascended but his new body that had gone through death and out the other side. 

E.  Heaven and Earth

F.  The cloud as a sign of God’s presence

1.  Exodus 16:10

2.  Exodus 19:9

3.  Exodus 24:15-18

V.  Joined together in prayer 1: 12-14

A.  1^st response was prayer

B.  Action demanded of the church is not busyness and human effort

C.  Must be grounded in constant prayer and worship

(How can we apply this to our lives?)

D.  Not an act of solitude—they were “joined together”

VI.  Grounded in the Word 1: 12-26

A.  Covenant Faithfulness of God

B.  Good ol Judas

C.  Joseph aka Barsabbas aka Justus and Matthias

D.  We may have different size roles, but there can be no passengers in the Kingdom

VII.  Conclusion

A.  What marks Spirit filled prophets today?

B.  The best support any of us can give to these stories is by the lives we lead

C.  Tasks and Contemplation

D.  We must latch on

1.  Resurrection:  more than an ordinary body not less; transformed body the

beginning of new creation

2.  Holy Spirit:  He continues to act in the real world

Poetry theme continued:

Sarah wrote this for our advent reflections this past Christmas season.  The spacing really adds to it, but I cannot figure out how to convince wordpress to let me space it that way.  enjoy.  

 

Love

 

Your shallow grave was marked

            With pride that had slung a rope around your fragile neck

With hopelessness that had laid you on your back

And heaped heavy stones on your chest

With selfishness that had forced a mirror before you always

To reflect your shifting and uncertain gaze

                                    Wrathful object – gratified,

And so you were Dead.

Your craving for sugar and sex and fat and fame and things and more consumed you

Your desire for personal rights and being understood and looking important broke you

Your thoughts filled with doubt and fear and self-loathing crushed you

            Killed you.

            And the world that killed you held you a tacky and expensive funeral.

 

But

(glorious!) But…

Your Rescuer suited in flesh stooped at your grave and removed dirt by the hands full

            And lifted your limp body from the sepulcher

Your Physician administered the cure, and even after rigor mortis had set in,

            Your flesh quivered with life and your bones began to dance

Your Propitiation battled time and defeated your Fall by climbing into your electric chair

            And flipping the switch to pulse with your sin as you tingled with Spirit

            So you lived.

                                                            Alive!?

Nevermind how. 

Nevermind the incomprehensible Grace,

the unfathomable Redemption.

                                    But why?              WHY? (screamed)             why? (whispered)

 

Why resurrection and royal adoption and position in heavenly realms

with an additional expression of kindness?

Was not the dead, rotten flesh off-putting? 

Did not the sin stink and nauseate and the self-choosing evoke righteous anger? 

And even with the realization of a need, a deep need for rescue,

did not the absolute weakness and lack lend to a slow shake of the head with sad surrender to the unfortunate loss?

 

No. NO!  For Love’s sake, no.

Love sparked a plan for resuscitation of life and relationship and all of creation.

Love urged Himself into a manger and shifted natural laws

to allow for an abrupt change in the deterioration – revival!

Love altered the course toward destruction and led the way to the cross.

Love became flesh

Love died

Love rose

 

And it is because of Love, only because of Love, we live.

Musings from my bride.

I Love You at 35

Your kind eyes have grown kinder

over the past several years.

The corners are crinkled, more often than not,

from a smile.

Still sharply blue and keenly acute to thoughts that,

for others, often flit through without sound examination,

your eyes are beginning to reveal a chosen grace

a simpler love.

Your eyes, though gentler, still catch every head tilt

and make me breathe harder when they are focused

on me.

Your touch has always been smooth

And confident.

With every year that passes there is greater

understanding and intensity

that fosters an intimacy creeping out of the

Mystery of Union.

Your need to silently reflect still comes,

but often now your reflection swims away from bottomless worry

and back-floats in a pool of sincere appreciation and deep love.

Your hugs,

into which I have always fit perfectly,

now last a perfect amount if time

and are perfectly tight in a reassuring way.

Your fatherly wisdom, rooted in the reminder of consistent love,

No Matter What,

has continued and teaches the lesson that every child needs to learn-

That they are loved,

So they have practice and can every day move

toward a fuller acceptance of the love the Father has for them.

Your love, which has always been fiercely loyal

and Truthfully focused,

has risen like yeast in bread

and others are now able to feast

on your constant and vulnerable thanksgiving

for what The Lord has created and redeemed

here in Boiling Springs.

Face it My Friend, 35 looks good on you.

And the only thing I’m left to wonder

is how in the world you will be 36 in only a year’s time

and I will love you harder.

Those people

I’ve realized over the past few weekends that I create categories of people very easily. Even when I’m feeling or thinking in a compassionate manner, I’m too quick to talk of “them” or “those people”. What if we got rid of they? I mean what if we didn’t use the words “they” or “them” or “those people” anymore? It would be challenging for sure. But the persons who attend the Christmas parade in Boiling Springs, or the people who frequent an establisment like the Grove Park Inn are not other. It’s us. We’re all a part of this same crazy creation called humanity.

Surely economy, society, values and views, color, language are differences among us–(how far could I draw out this list?) As U2 puts we “are one but we’re not the same”. No we’re not the same. In fact, some of our differences can make us very angry. Some of our differences encourage me to feel better about myself being better than “them”. Of course, some of our differences may make me fee worse.

Regardless, the song continues “we’re one, but we’re not the same; we’ve got to carry each other.”

Lord, please give me eyes to see people as people. Help me to avoid judgment and categorization. For though I can rationalize the need to create categories for my thinking, it only seems to facilitate a feeling of separation from “them”. Give me your Spirit so that when I encounter someone different from me in Ingles or at Dollar General or at a fancy restaurant or at the Snack Shop that I can be kind and gracious towards them. Not because “they” need me, but because we are all a part of your precious creation.

dt

One from the Vault: 6/20/2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found this looking through a journal Sarah and I kept on our cross country tour in the Summer of ’03:

      Well, here we are on the Oregon Coast–Port Orford to be specific.  Sitting ou on the beach watching the water splash off of the rocks that seem to define the West Coast.  Only a few short days out here on the left side, with a Monday night Harris’ visit on the menu, then we’ll be East bound.

      I’ve been thinking a lot about Education lately.  Trying to figure out philosophies and purposes for my profession.  Somehow that has led me to another thought train:  Emotion.

   The deep kind of emotion.  Like the love a husband has for his wife.  Or the joy that comes from having a role in the creation of life.  But I guess my focus and my questions lie on the other end of the spectrum.  How does a father feel when his child has severe disabilities?  What is it like when a sibling dies–especially earlier than expected?  your wife?  your mother?  your child?  And yet even if one or a few of these things brought me to despair, I still wouldn’t know suffering completely.  The mothers in teh so-called Holy Land deal with ultimate loss every day….  Pain and Suffering;  destruction and despair…. These are experienced by all in some form (certainly some much more than others.)

Why did HE suffer?  for the same reasons we do?  Is it Sin that brings us this torment?  Is it our Nature?  Is it nature itself?  Are we closer to Him when we suffer?  If so should I relish that anguish?  The comfort is supposed to come in that the suffering is only temporary.  That despite all the Darkness His light shines on.  So then, is pain and suffering really comfort and joy?  (If so what is comfort and ease?)

Whatever the reasons, to know these emotions, both Torment and Triumph is to know humanity.  Perhaps education begins here.  I will never understand or agree with some cultures.  I have my philosophy on government and economics.  I believe in structure and values.  (Though I struggle to stay within the mold laid out.)  But unless and until I can look beyond my politics and my ideas and value people as Life then I cannot educate, because I cannot be educated. 

I’ve pretty much gone full circle now, and really haven’t gotten anywhere.  But I’m still by the sea in Oregon.  And it is still Beautiful.  Ahh now there’s a concept to get the wheels turning.  Junior, your daddy is nuts.

                                                                                                                                                         –D

If 33 is all that i BE.

If 33 is all that I be

 

Or how I found life on the left side of a couch in the basement

 

 

To the brotherhood

No Jew nor Greek nor slave nor free.  The phrase in my head is to say that “I will never be able to express my thanksgiving or my joy at the relationships that we have developed in the service of the King over the past few years.”   However, after first entertaining that thought I know it not to be true.  I know that even now you have some sense of the thanksgiving and joy that I feel.  And more than that once our groans for creation and gloriously transformed into praising our God and King thanks to the Lamb who is Jesus, then we will share in eternal thanksgiving and joy for each other and for all of our brothers and sisters and all of creation.  Praise be to the God and Father who will restore and recreate what he saw as good from ther very beginning.  Praise be to Him who has allowed us to meet and grow together and learn the depths of his glorious riches.  Thank you guys for allowing me to wallow in my own self pity, to share the depths of my fears and failures and to cry and shout in triumph at overcoming obstacles of many kinds.  I have by no means reached the goal.  But we do press on together.  And even if I were absent in the body I know that you will carry on with this magnificent service of the Kingdom and the Lord Jesus that he has blessed us with.  I have long had the fear of leaving my wife and kids behind.  There will no doubt be great sadness and suffering for them which is hard for me to bear.  But I rest easier knowing that our community is strong and dedicated.

 

 

To the sisterhood

Women.  Not the same as men.  I am so thankful that over these past few years and especially, it seems, over the past few months that you guys have begun to form bonds with each other that are everlasting.  I am so thankful to those of you who love my wife so dearly.  I am so thankful to be able to grow as husbands and fathers and as men in the company of women who are working hard to reject the false paradigm that the world has offered and are seeking instead to find worth and glory in the One who is.  I am so thankful that our flock of children at BRCC have such wonderful mothers who raise them to think first of Jesus Christ and then to think of others before themselves.

 

 

To my family

I have expressed it a few times, but I wanted to say it again that I have been so blessed to have a supportive family.  Mom and Dad, you guys stuck with me even when I was making stupid decisions.  Multiple times.  You have always provided me with the foundation to learn and to seek the Truth.  Your unwavering dedication to us has been evident and pervasive in my life.  Josh,  you are a strong tower my friend.  Your intellect is rivaled by few in my experience and your compassion for those who often find themselves on the outside has provided me with a fresh challenge and example as I work out my salvation.  I am so glad that you and Ellen have lived in love for so many years and that Phelps, Foster and Zella have grown to be lively and entertaining and thoughtful.  Jodi, we’ve been through the fire together.  It brings me so much joy to think of how the Lord brought such a fine man and such a beautiful daughter into your life.  I look forward to seeing LJ grow and become a cute little toddler girl and then a vibrant and hilarious young woman—just like her mother.

 

 

To my colleagues

These past several years have been truly wonderful.  How could I have asked for more than to be able to wake up each morning and teach young people.  I rarely, if ever, feel like I am going to work.  I have a vocation, and more than that I get to work with people that I genuinely like and care about.  From spitting out my food when Hastings sits down to complaining about the status quo to History grant trips to talking about the finer and deeper things of life, I truly could not imagine a better group of social studies teachers to work with.

 

To my students past and present

I remember that first group.  I remember not knowing a whole lot about the practice of teaching and I remember playing Risk in AP Gov.  I remember the conversation almost like it was yesterday with Monica about GWU.  I remember the day McGrew gave me his cadet pin—still have it flying on the Don’t Tread on Me flag in my classroom.  I remember relationships that I developed with Holly and Brit and Phil and Stem and Bryan and…. I’m so thankful that those relationships have persevered even to this day.  Bubble up.  Im thankful for all of the faces that have walked into and out of my classroom.  For the tough ones and the not so tough.  I hope that somehow you were able to detect in my enthusiasm for learning and for life a higher purpose.  I hope that you will continue to seek life and love and not simply settle for the goods that the world offers.  I know that you will.

 

To Isaac

Your face lights up a room and it lights up my heart.  Almost two. Wow.  I hope that you learn from and love your sister and brother all of your life.  I hope that you learn to follow the Lamb from early on in your life.

To Sydney

To my sweet, beautiful princess.  I am so thankful that the Lord sent the doctor in early to save you my love.  You are able to make me laugh with your crazy eyes and your hearty laugh.  I love the way you lave your brothers and how much you like to serve.  I’m glad that you have a best friend in Liza.  I pray that you will seek the Father to rescue you just as Sam did.  I will always love you! No matter what!  What?  J

To Samuel

My buddy.  I always tell you that I love you no matter what. I want you to know that over and over and also to know that no matter what happens in this age that we will be together forever and ever in the age to come.  My heart was filled with joy when I heard you say that you asked God to rescue you.  I am so thankful for how much I learned from you this summer when you had to wear your pirate patch.  I cannot possibly express in words how I feel when you get so passionate about playing games or watching movies.  Or how you lay your head on my leg. Or how you are the first one willing to help someone else out when you think they need it.  Or how you have learned at such a young age what it means to love others more than yourself.  Keep following the Lord my boy.  Keep living the way that you are living now.  We will worship Jesus together and live and love each other forever in the new world.

 

 

To my bride.

In a sense I know I don’t even have to fill this space, because I know you know how I feel.  As Shaun says in Good Will Hunting I will never regret even one second that I get to spend with you.  To think of how we’ve grown in these ten years is staggering.  You are patient and kind. You keep no record of wrongs.  You rejoice in the truth.  You are beautiful and I am beyond grateful that the Lord saw fit to bring us together at GWU and to make the home that we have together.  I hope that we continue to grow in depth and love.

LETTERS HOME… 1

Pa,

The things i remember… playing frisbee golf around the college, “B-17 bomber“, playing jeopardy and trivial pursuit–and ya’ll letting me play even though i was still a pup–, that baseball game where you had to pick out the players with the colored sheets–that was one of my favorite games–, the nfl game where you had to use the vcr to see what play you got was pretty good too.  I remember that time you had your leg in a cast for weeks after you tried to stretch out a gapper into 3 bags.  Little league baseball and basketball.  we were good.  I remember how your blue car could be heard a few minutes before it would actually get home. haha.  Magic 96.1 and the Kingsmen and the Oak Ridge Boys while driving down to Gaffney. backyard wiffle ball and running routes with you and josh out near mr. washburn’s house.

I just wanted to say thank you for all the things that I’ve learned from you over the past few decades.  Thanks for showing me that it’s ok to be smart.  and to strive to be smart.  Thanks for showing me that you can’t take yourself too seriously.  Thanks for being a servant.

My good buddy Tom thinks that some of the things we do during this life will somehow be used by the Father to help construct the renewed, redeemed heaven and earth.  If that’s the case then I can think of a few things that would make solid foundations.  You’ll never know how much it meant and means to me that you would decline a promotion to be chief, because you’d rather still work the 3rd shift so that you could come to my baseball practices.  Not so that you could rant and rave or fill my head with delusions like so many fathers, but just so that you could be there.  It’s also always impressed me how positive of a reaction you get from the GW students.  black, white, male, female, athletes, nerds, it never matters.  There’s ol’ Larry they might say.  And that “ol’ Larry” carries with it a ton of meaning.  A ton of respect.

You have rarely missed work or complained about work.  Through the good times and the not as good, you have always loved mama and us.  You don’t covet money and you don’t mind spending it on other people.  And now… you get to influence my kids, too.  I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way.  Almost squandered my name, my opportunities, my upbringing.  But your love and devotion has never wavered.  I am a child of the King, and I owe a great deal of what I have learned about what that really means from your example and your study.  That’s one aspect of the great command to “remember who you are.”  Another identity that I am so grateful to have is that of your boy.

I love you Pa,

Dan’l

Twenty Ten.

Resurrecting the AP Psychology blog has piqued my interest in putting down some thoughts on the S.O.L. blog once again.  With our study of Crazy Love this coming Spring, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of meat to chew on.

For now, I just urge you to check out these two books. the first one and the follow up.  They are more than entertaining.  These works provide insight into what it is to live on the outstretches of humanity in the midst of a civil war for the culture of their land.  There is much to be learned from the perspective gained by reading Dr. Greg.…

peace. pray for haiti.

dt