Rod White's Blog, page 53

I Doubt That a Secularized Cell Would Help.

Jewish people, at different levels of intensity, are in the middle of the High Holy Days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur. So reporters are scouring the countryside looking for interesting articles to post about interesting Jews. Such people are not hard to find. The Inquirer discovered a group in South Jersey who are consciously working out what I think a lot of Christians are unconsciously working out. So they caught my attention too.

During the High Holy Days, Jews are religious. They can c...

Christian Media Discovers Hipsters

A friend of mine sent out a test on "How Millenial" are you?" in March. People pegged in various age categories were supposed to score like this:

"4″ for Silent Generation
"11″ for Baby Boomer
"33″ for Gen X-er
"73″ for Millenial

I got a 52, which is near my age, even though so-called millenials are teens and twentysomethings. Tags are better when they are a game.

He sent out the "Are you a Hipster Christian?" test in July that has been going around on Facebook lately. I got a 92 out of 120...

For the Groaners

This little meditation is for the groaners: people whose hearts are aching, whose bodies don't work, whose mental and emotional habits don't match up with their heart's desire. God is groaning with you.

We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as children, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what one already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet...

"Best Practices" Aren't, Necessarily

I suppose today's thoughts could go in the category "things Americans never tire of doing." The newest business preoccupation to creep into the mainstream (like into your poor child's school) is "best practices." Lately I've been hearing a lot about "best practices" because my wife, the professor, and my son, the teacher, have been invaded by the fear of not performing according to these practices by their colleagues.

The whole discussion reminds me of the 1950 movie (and the book I read...

Good, Disturbing Dreams

My friend told me about a troubling dream the other day. He was disturbed by it. He was interpreting it according to his ordinary awareness—the same awareness he has about what he feels about his dinner choices or his latest review from the boss. So he was not completely excited when I became enthused about what he had dreamt. He initially thought I was taking his bad feelings lightly.

I thought his dream was a wonderful expression of his spiritual awareness, which I have had the privilege of ...

If You Just Build It, God Might Not Even Come

At the recent BIC General conference, one of the speakers shared a memory. The church used to build a building where they wanted to have a congregation, then install a pastor and challenge him to fill it. It is a common mentality. Even before the Coordinators commissioned Jonny Rashid to lead Hive 2010, members of the formation team were already looking for prospective buildings. Maybe it is in the American psyche to think, "if you build it, they will come" – that is often true for USonians, ...

Under the Umbrella or Not

Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.  They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.   But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. (1 John 2:18-20) As you have heard from the beginning, his...

Summer Flicks Reactions

The literature of the age is film, and a believer needs to study. It is a pleasurable study, especially when the actors or the material are as well-tuned as recent offerings have been. I give you three films today, because the tsunami of the thoughts they are channeling will likely lap at your threshold whether you watch them or not.

In Salt (undoubtedly so-named so there can be Salt II, as in the arms treaty) the force-of-nature who is Angelina Jolie carries a chase movie through sheer force ...

Good Questions about Jesus

One of my friends put up the picture at the left on Facebook, so here I am forwarding it and expanding its pernicious reach. Go figure. If it brings you down, I apologize. No matter how painful the dialogue, it is better to have it than to hide, I think.

I couldn't resist responding to my friend, so I almost got in to one of those email exchanges in which young men, usually, can argue a point for a few weeks and feel hurt when they don't feel heard but act righteously self-reliant when...

Seriously. Watch Your Tongue

Last night we had what we call "Rabbi Time." It is an attempt to learn in a fashion that Jesus seemed to use. It is dialogical. It is full of questions. It allowed good minds to develop and useful tools for mission to result. We centered around the word "identity" – how the world uses it, the politics of it, the fracturing of it and our version of its formation — if we even want to use the word. I'm not ready to write about all we were thinking. It was a lot.

What is on my mind this morning...