i'm sitting in the Kansas City airport. drinking some Starbucks, waiting for a plane to Denver (thank you KCI for having free Wi-Fi!) . a fun graham fact: i was born in Denver. i lived there 3 months before the family up and moved to Germany. i can't remember the last time i've been to Denver... or Colorado for that matter... so it's a bit of a homecoming. no, not really.
i'm still excited!
in Denver, my friend Rachel is picking me up and we're joining up with a carload from Lawrence at the tourist trap/mexican restaurant Casa Bonita. i LOVE mexican food, but cliff divers... magic shows... i'm sure i'll have a strong opinion in a few hours.
after the, err, entertainment, we're heading off to Winter Park to join up with my old roommate & good friend, JD, for a weekend of snowboarding, hearts with consequences, and hopefully some hours in a coffee shop. pretend like i havent researched what coffee shops are in WP... i think i'm more excited for that than i am snowboarding!
10.1.08
9.1.08
7.1.08
Fairy Tale
(one of my family's long-running jokes is that i'm not good at finding things. since i was a wee one, i have story after story of being asked to go find something. time and time again i come back and declare that the object just cannot be found. it is utterly missing. irretrievable.
then, someone else goes looking and alas 30 seconds later it is found.
my mom's response every time: 'look with your eyes.'
a few weeks ago, i shared the sad news that i had lost one of my favorite books Telling the Truth.
it is found.
where did i find it? not on the top shelf of my bookcase, but on the second one. who looks on the second shelf anyways?)
And so, after a month break, here it is... the Gospel as a Fairy Tale:
then, someone else goes looking and alas 30 seconds later it is found.
my mom's response every time: 'look with your eyes.'
a few weeks ago, i shared the sad news that i had lost one of my favorite books Telling the Truth.
it is found.
where did i find it? not on the top shelf of my bookcase, but on the second one. who looks on the second shelf anyways?)
And so, after a month break, here it is... the Gospel as a Fairy Tale:
As for the king of the kingdom himself, whoever would recognize him? He has no form or comeliness. His clothes are what he picked up at a rummage sale. He hasn't shaved for weeks. He smells of mortality. We have romanticized his raggedness so long that we can catch echoes only of the way it must have scandalized his time in the horrified question of the Baptist's disciples, 'Are you he who is to come?' (Matt. 11:13); in Pilate's 'Are you the king of the Jews?' (Matt 27:11) you with pants that don't fit and a split lip; in the black comedy of the sign they nailed over his head where the joke was written out in three languages so nobody would miss the laugh.
But the whole point of the fairy tale of the Gospel is, of course, that he is the king in spite of everything. The frog turns out to be the prince, the ugly duckling the swan, the little gray man who asks for bread the great magician with the power of life and death in his hands, and though the steadfast tin soldier falls into the flames, his love turns out to be fireproof. There is no less danger and darkness in the Gospel than there is in Brothers Grimm, but beyond and above all there is the joy of it, this tale of a light breaking into the world that not even the darkness can overcome.
That is the Gospel, this meeting of darkness and light and the final victory of light. That is the fairy tale of the Gospel with, of course, the one crucial difference from all other fairy tales, which is that the claim made for it is that it is true, that it not only happened once upon a time but has kept on happening ever since and is happening still. To preach the Gospel in its original power and mystery is to claim in whatever way the preacher finds it possible to claim it that once upon a time is this time, now, and here is the dark wood that the light gleams at the heart of like a jewel, and the ones who are to live happily ever after are... all who labor and are heavy laden, the poor naked wretches wheresoever they be.
6.1.08
Leadershipity
I took retreat with Katie and Tyler (the other community pastors for our House Church network) yesterday. From 9:30a til about 8:30p, we shared from our lives and dreamed for the future. We also drank some beer, threw the frisby (I purchased my first from Sunflower Bike Shop. Im officially Lawrence), and listened to the Once soundtrack multiple times through... sorry T.My favorite moment from the day was our discussion of leadershipity.
leadershipity [lee-der-ship-ety] - the leadership that one has in their life.
Ex. 'Yeah, Tyler does a really good job of inviting people into what he's doing and encouraging them forward on their journey; he's got a lot of leadershipity.'
Katie on Leadershipity:
Leadershipity... which sounds a lot like Leadershitty... which sounds a lot like Shitty Leader.
We try not to be shitty leaders, but sadly, it sometimes happens.
4.1.08
addicted. tempted.
my latest addiction is Citizen Cope's the Clarence Greenwood Recordings particularly Bullet and a Target.(Tay got me hooked with his Son's Gonna Rise while in Rome)
thus, my latest temptation is to throw down $20.50 and see him Feb 26 @ Liberty Hall.
anybody interested to join me?
merry new years
imagine my surprise when Christmas morning i discover that my parent's decided to buy me movies off my amazon wish list rather than books.
really?
call me crazy, but i thought NT Wright would beat out Bruce Willis any day... especially on Christmas. what can i say? the ripples ended up watching Die Hard 2: Die Harder Christmas afternoon. YIPPEE KI YAY!
come to find out, my parents did get me books... just as new year presents: 2 of NT's (i'm in a beautiful rut. we share a love of snorkeling). Rollin's How Not to Speak of God.
but the one i'm most excited about...
Rogue... yes!
Exploration... yes!
Hidden... yes!
Economics... ok?
i'm excited. and a complete dork.
favorite Christmas picture.
this is my favorite Christmas picture from this year. its me and my grandmother, Nanny. it's from a photo shoot i took while we were discussing the difficulty of being humble. it seemed fitting.
it's also important to note that i'm wearing the shirt that Nanny told me 'wasn't me.' this is how the conversation went:
oh, so maybe it's loud and not me?
it's also important to note that i'm wearing the shirt that Nanny told me 'wasn't me.' this is how the conversation went:
Nanny: that shirt really isn't you
me: yeah, it's pretty loud
Nanny: no, it's just that the shirt isn't you
me: yep, it's loud
Nanny: no, it's not loud. it's just not you
oh, so maybe it's loud and not me?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
