Comments for Rivendell Fellowship http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com Just another WordPress.com weblog Sat, 18 Oct 2008 09:59:05 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 Comment on Jesus’ Baptism by Anonymous http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2007/01/05/jesus-baptism/#comment-44 Anonymous Sat, 18 Oct 2008 09:59:05 +0000 http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2007/01/05/jesus-baptism/#comment-44 hmm thats a good question hmm thats a good question

]]> Comment on Jesus’ Baptism by Fundraiser http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2007/01/05/jesus-baptism/#comment-22 Fundraiser Thu, 18 Jan 2007 21:15:11 +0000 http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2007/01/05/jesus-baptism/#comment-22 A few questions from a blog idiot How do you keep the spammers from eating you alive? i\'ve seen blogs with nothing but spam postings. How do you keep some left wing extremist from posting racist or defamatory rhetoric? and if you cant stop them, what are you legally liabel when they do? can viruses be posted to blogs? A few questions from a blog idiot

How do you keep the spammers from eating you alive? i\’ve seen blogs with nothing but spam postings.

How do you keep some left wing extremist from posting racist or defamatory rhetoric? and if you cant stop them, what are you legally liabel when they do?

can viruses be posted to blogs?

]]> Comment on John the Baptist by Monk-In-Training http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/12/07/john-the-baptist/#comment-18 Monk-In-Training Fri, 08 Dec 2006 17:51:47 +0000 http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/12/07/john-the-baptist/#comment-18 All of Advent is about seeing the grand plan God has had over the ages, this passage links the Hebrew Scriptures and John the Baptist in my mind as a sort of bridge to the time of Christ All of Advent is about seeing the grand plan God has had over the ages, this passage links the Hebrew Scriptures and John the Baptist in my mind as a sort of bridge to the time of Christ

]]> Comment on Newbigin on the Resurrection by mARY http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/21/newbigin-on-the-resurrection/#comment-17 mARY Mon, 27 Nov 2006 04:02:29 +0000 http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/21/newbigin-on-the-resurrection/#comment-17 Kyle Meador missed his curtain call. There's a difference between acting and leading a church. Kyle Meador missed his curtain call. There’s a difference between acting and leading a church.

]]> Comment on Lectio Divina by Michael Norton http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/09/lectio-divina/#comment-12 Michael Norton Wed, 01 Nov 2006 21:33:42 +0000 http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/09/lectio-divina/#comment-12 I have deeply enjoyed and benefitted from the discipline of Lectio Divina. I've been offering a shortened version at the opening of some Church meetings at a small gathering in San Diego. It has been well received and I thought to create a blog as a way to encourage people to practice this reading/meditation daily. The purpose of the blog is really only to suggest passages daily and provide a place for sharing their experiences in a spirit of edification. You're all welcome to join us, and I would really appreciate any suggestions you might make about the functionality of the blog I've created. I want it to be as intuitive as possible. check it out at lectiodivina.blogspot.com -Michael I have deeply enjoyed and benefitted from the discipline of Lectio Divina. I’ve been offering a shortened version at the opening of some Church meetings at a small gathering in San Diego. It has been well received and I thought to create a blog as a way to encourage people to practice this reading/meditation daily.

The purpose of the blog is really only to suggest passages daily and provide a place for sharing their experiences in a spirit of edification. You’re all welcome to join us, and I would really appreciate any suggestions you might make about the functionality of the blog I’ve created. I want it to be as intuitive as possible.

check it out at lectiodivina.blogspot.com

-Michael

]]> Comment on Newbigin on the Resurrection by Jathan http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/21/newbigin-on-the-resurrection/#comment-11 Jathan Sat, 23 Sep 2006 15:56:14 +0000 http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/21/newbigin-on-the-resurrection/#comment-11 I am moving more and more toward the opinion that we should not look back on what we have of the history of the Christian Church (all the way to the beginning with Jesus) and say that there'd be absolutely no hope for us if it didn't happen the way it did. To me, this is saying that we must accept some assertions about the past in order to have any faith, hope, or love right now. I believe that God works in his own mysterious ways, and that he is wise enough to bring faith, hope, and love to those who live today. I am confident that he can devise many means to this end. I am confident that a God of hope and love is here, even if the history we want is not. Saying that history had to be a certain way, or otherwise all hope is gone for us, seems to me to be what people who keep looking into the past would say. It seems rather bleak to me. It seems to limit God severely to say that God can only bring the kingdom to his people in this particular way. It seems to put our certainty of history above the possibility in God's power. Beware! God might snatch our certainty out from under our feet! Then what will you trust? Ah, the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord, not PhD's and their disoveries. Let us not place our hopes too much in the work of those who perhaps think their work is more important and crucial than it is (and who preach such)! I have learned from Christ already. I have felt the Spirit already. I have communed with God already. Will history rip God away from me? Will I not see Christ anymore in the eyes of orphans and widows and the homeless and the sick? Will I not feel love anymore at the sight of death? Will I no longer be able to tell these people what I believe in my heart, that God is always with them? That they will see new life? If the past is lost, can the present be denied? Don't underestimate the power of love. It is good fuel for faith and hope. I am moving more and more toward the opinion that we should not look back on what we have of the history of the Christian Church (all the way to the beginning with Jesus) and say that there’d be absolutely no hope for us if it didn’t happen the way it did. To me, this is saying that we must accept some assertions about the past in order to have any faith, hope, or love right now.

I believe that God works in his own mysterious ways, and that he is wise enough to bring faith, hope, and love to those who live today. I am confident that he can devise many means to this end. I am confident that a God of hope and love is here, even if the history we want is not.

Saying that history had to be a certain way, or otherwise all hope is gone for us, seems to me to be what people who keep looking into the past would say. It seems rather bleak to me. It seems to limit God severely to say that God can only bring the kingdom to his people in this particular way. It seems to put our certainty of history above the possibility in God’s power. Beware! God might snatch our certainty out from under our feet! Then what will you trust? Ah, the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord, not PhD’s and their disoveries. Let us not place our hopes too much in the work of those who perhaps think their work is more important and crucial than it is (and who preach such)!

I have learned from Christ already. I have felt the Spirit already. I have communed with God already. Will history rip God away from me? Will I not see Christ anymore in the eyes of orphans and widows and the homeless and the sick? Will I not feel love anymore at the sight of death? Will I no longer be able to tell these people what I believe in my heart, that God is always with them? That they will see new life?

If the past is lost, can the present be denied? Don’t underestimate the power of love. It is good fuel for faith and hope.

]]> Comment on Newbigin on the Resurrection by Monk-In-Training http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/21/newbigin-on-the-resurrection/#comment-10 Monk-In-Training Fri, 22 Sep 2006 17:02:39 +0000 http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/21/newbigin-on-the-resurrection/#comment-10 I would like to add an excerpt from a post on my blog by Jathan: <i>I was sitting at the side of a creek yesterday, pondering the riddle of Christ and history. At one point, I picked up a twig and broke little pieces off, bit by bit, flinging those pieces into the water. I watched the growing circular ripples that I left with fascination (I like the sight of moving water). Then an idea popped into my head. Something happened 2,000 years ago. Whatever it was, it was massive, and it produced this incredible collection of writings that we call the New Testament. It has left a monumental ripple running through time, spreading outward into new lives and new places. What I see most clearly, as you seemed to mention, is this ripple right now. I see it in my heart and many others who have turned to Christ for hope. I see the love that blooms from it. Now I know this ripple had a source, and that it's moving ever farther away from its beginning (temporally), but when I look backward to see what exactly made the ripple, I don't see anything, just the surface of the water. Whatever made it happen is hidden from me now, and no amount of evidence will ever tell me exactly what was there. It is left to my heart to decide whether something plopped into history from the fingers of God. Or perhaps he dipped his finger into history. It is left to faith to decide whether God himself made a stirring, made this ripple.</i> I would like to add an excerpt from a post on my blog by Jathan:

I was sitting at the side of a creek yesterday, pondering the riddle of Christ and history. At one point, I picked up a twig and broke little pieces off, bit by bit, flinging those pieces into the water. I watched the growing circular ripples that I left with fascination (I like the sight of moving water).

Then an idea popped into my head. Something happened 2,000 years ago. Whatever it was, it was massive, and it produced this incredible collection of writings that we call the New Testament. It has left a monumental ripple running through time, spreading outward into new lives and new places. What I see most clearly, as you seemed to mention, is this ripple right now. I see it in my heart and many others who have turned to Christ for hope. I see the love that blooms from it.

Now I know this ripple had a source, and that it’s moving ever farther away from its beginning (temporally), but when I look backward to see what exactly made the ripple, I don’t see anything, just the surface of the water. Whatever made it happen is hidden from me now, and no amount of evidence will ever tell me exactly what was there.

It is left to my heart to decide whether something plopped into history from the fingers of God. Or perhaps he dipped his finger into history. It is left to faith to decide whether God himself made a stirring, made this ripple.

]]> Comment on Newbigin on the Resurrection by kyle http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/21/newbigin-on-the-resurrection/#comment-9 kyle Fri, 22 Sep 2006 05:45:59 +0000 http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/21/newbigin-on-the-resurrection/#comment-9 I love his heart on this. I'm not sure the logic holds entirely... the death of Jesus certainly stands as a critique of the Powers that Be, the high cost of selfishness and sinfulness upon humanity and towards God's call for selflessness for all of us. It is an incomplete act without the resurrection. And the resurrection does anticipate what God is doing and will do in the soon-to-come future (tip of the hat to N.T. Wright). And it does indeed reveal God's validation of the life and ministry and teaching of Christ. But even Newbigin himself actually hints at all this in the final line of that quote - the cross itself (before and then amplified with the resurrection) is a sign of God's reign breaking into our reality and shaping our lives. I love his heart on this. I’m not sure the logic holds entirely… the death of Jesus certainly stands as a critique of the Powers that Be, the high cost of selfishness and sinfulness upon humanity and towards God’s call for selflessness for all of us. It is an incomplete act without the resurrection. And the resurrection does anticipate what God is doing and will do in the soon-to-come future (tip of the hat to N.T. Wright). And it does indeed reveal God’s validation of the life and ministry and teaching of Christ.

But even Newbigin himself actually hints at all this in the final line of that quote – the cross itself (before and then amplified with the resurrection) is a sign of God’s reign breaking into our reality and shaping our lives.

]]> Comment on Sally is Here by kyle http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/12/sally-is-here/#comment-8 kyle Thu, 14 Sep 2006 01:04:33 +0000 http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/12/sally-is-here/#comment-8 Oh, right... as if anyone actually listens and then even rememebers and personalizes the content of our Sunday morning discussions. Please, the irony of it all is almost too much to bear... ;~) Oh, right… as if anyone actually listens and then even rememebers and personalizes the content of our Sunday morning discussions. Please, the irony of it all is almost too much to bear…

;~)

]]> Comment on Sally is Here by Pilgrim Ramblings http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/12/sally-is-here/#comment-7 Pilgrim Ramblings Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:12:36 +0000 http://rethinkchurch.wordpress.com/2006/09/12/sally-is-here/#comment-7 I wish I was able to go to McNellies, but alas, I had to work. Kyle, if you hadn't preached that message about work I probably would've skipped work to have a beer and chat with Sally. Thanks again Kyle. I wish I was able to go to McNellies, but alas, I had to work. Kyle, if you hadn’t preached that message about work I probably would’ve skipped work to have a beer and chat with Sally. Thanks again Kyle.

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