tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-254685362024-03-06T23:03:26.011-08:00Grace rant...what?A look at faith from a slightly altered position.Philioshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15626798781187690937noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25468536.post-35720877358503660122008-02-12T06:35:00.001-08:002008-02-12T06:35:27.091-08:00Well the blog has moved. A new and improved version can be found at <a href="http://gracerant.wordpress.com/">gracerant.wordpress.com.</a><br /><br />See you there.<br /><br />Peace,<br />Paul G.Philioshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15626798781187690937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25468536.post-1162860535038317152006-11-06T16:47:00.000-08:002006-11-06T16:48:55.050-08:00Why Go to Church?There are many things in life that we do out of obligation. I am legally obligated to pay taxes, so I do. I am legally obligated to follow the speed limits (although my driving habits might not indicate this). For years, I went to church out of obligation. I went to church not because I wanted to seek the presence of God, or even be in fellowship with others of like mind; no, I went to church because that was what was expected of me. I knew most of the answers to the questions that would be asked in Sunday School (this was not too hard, as most of them were one of three things: Jesus, Prayer, or Bible). I felt at home at the church. People knew me and I knew them.<br /> <br />It wasn’t until much later that I realized that church is not about me. It’s about God. It’s about seeking a transforming experience with the divine. It’s about relationship. It’s about worship. It’s about finding life and living it abundantly. It’s not about the building, nor is it about the preacher, nor is it even about good things the church does. It’s about God and our participation in the life of God in this world. Most of all, it’s about love. The words of the apostle make this clear:<br /><br /><em>7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4: 7-12)</em><br /><br /> Why do you go to church? I am not sure I like this question because this question assumes that the church is a place. I am going to McDonald’s has the same effect that I am going to church does – it locates the church as a building. Perhaps a better way to ask the question would be “why are you apart of the church?” Really, why are you apart of the church?<br /> <br />C.S. Lewis is most famous for writing the wonderful children’s allegories in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Yet, those are the only books that he wrote that were intended for children. His other writings are brilliant. Read his words. Soak them up.<br /><br /><em>“The perfect church service, would be one we were almost unaware of.<br />Our attention would have been on God.” –C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm, p.5<br /></em><br />May we live out our lives so that our attention, in the building and out of the building is so focused on God that we love each other like God loves us: not out of obligation, but out of pure, unadulterated, real, inconceivable, love.Philioshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15626798781187690937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25468536.post-1162306224892159172006-10-31T06:48:00.001-08:002006-10-31T06:56:41.146-08:00God. Silence.I am amazed at how fast life moves. That amazement comes, of course, only when I find the time to actually be amazed. More often than not, I am too busy to be amazed. Life moves and I get caught up in the mix of it – deadlines have to be met, meetings have to be attended, calls have to be made, and then I still have to try hard to be the best husband I can be, the best pastor I can be, and the best student that I can be.<br />Rob Bell begins the Noise video by telling us this story:<br /><br /><em>I was reading about this guy named Bernie Krause, who records nature sounds for film and television. He was saying that, in 1968, in order to get one hour of natural sound, like no airplanes no cars, that it would take him about 15 hours of recording time, and he was saying that today, to get that same one hour of undisturbed sound, it takes him 2000 hours of recording time.</em><br /><br />I have been trained to look for faults in statements, so my mind went immediately to things like, “he’s just picking the wrong places to record.” But as I thought about it, I realized that the sheer number of cars and planes are exponentially greater today than in 1968. There is more noise than ever. Power lines seem silent, but even they produce a constant humming sound. Silence is lost.<br /><br />What kind of noise do you have in your life? Many times, I cannot answer that question because there are too many noises to differentiate between them all. Jesus said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). Maybe our prayer should be, in this hectic and crazy world, “God here am I, a servant of yours; tired, weary and burdened. I want rest in you.” But that prayer only gets us half way there. Let us remember that much of this world will fade away, and the things eternal – like our relationships with each other and with God – must be tended to. If it is true that we reap what we sow, then how can we honestly say that our relationship with God is any better if we don’t put the time into it to make it better?<br /><br />Our model is Christ. Luke 5:16 says that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Solitude. Silence. Prayer. These are the examples of Jesus.<br />Perhaps one of the greatest books of the 20th century that deals with spiritual practices is by Richard Foster and entitled Celebration of Discipline. He writes:<br /><br /><em>One reason we can hardly bear to remain silent is that it makes us feel so helpless. We are so accustomed to relying upon words to manage and control others. If we are silent, who will take control? God will take control, but we will never let him take control until we trust him. Silence is intimately related to trust.</em><br /><br />So may we take the times that we are given to just do what we want to do and just be silent. In the words of the Psalmist, <em>may we search our hearts and be silent</em> (Psalm 4:4).<br /><br />Grace and Peace,Paul G.Philioshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15626798781187690937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25468536.post-1157080550913479192006-08-31T19:53:00.000-07:002006-08-31T20:15:50.940-07:00Meeting places<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/1600/iconmosesblk.gif"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/320/iconmosesblk.png" border="0" /></a><br />I attend quite a bit of meetings. Too many, some would say. I even attend meetings for the sole purpose of reporting to other meetings. And so the cycle continues.<br /><br />In the church, we are inundated with meetings, and sometimes those meetings can be frustrating especially when it appears that only the wheels turn and no forward progress is made. But I am reminded in meetings that ultimately the goal of followers of Jesus is to arrange a meeting between those who do not know the divine and the One who is divine. Put another way, as Christians our call is to witness to the gospel in such a way that when we meet with God - the real, lay it all out on the table kind of meeting - we are transformed. The difference is so noticeable in our words and actions that people see (and feel!) God in us.<br /><br />Isn't this what God does: meet us? Isn't this what the incarnation - the coming of God made flesh in Jesus - is all about? Isn't this what the story of Pentecost is about? The exodus? Isn't this the witness of the resurrection? The celebration of communion? The new beginning of baptism? God is meeting us, over and over again. It might be slight and barely perceptible, but it is there. It might be obvious. But God arranges meetings all the time. Now if we could just show up to those meetings more often.Philioshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15626798781187690937noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25468536.post-1156311658925117932006-08-22T22:19:00.000-07:002006-08-22T22:40:58.946-07:00Insomnia<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/1600/sleep.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/320/sleep.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />One of my favorite movies is built on this line: "When you have insomnia, you're never really asleep... and you're never really awake."<br /><br />Scripture reminds us about sleep too: "Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."-Psalm 121:4<br /><br />I think that we go through life in a state of insomnia. We never really are awake. We are never really asleep. Too often, we tread life like we are taught to tread water. It is mundane, laborsome, and defeating. It lacks beauty, art, and peace. Where is the vigor? Where is the abundant life? The grays all run together.<br /><br />I want to really sleep. I want to rest well - the kind of rest that you know after a workout - where every aching muscle in your body relaxes and then collapses only to rejuvenate after the rest. I don't want this just for my physical body. I want this for my soul. This is the call of Jesus - rest for the soul AND rest for the body. Rest from oppression and rest from worry.<br /><br />I too want to really live. I want the abundant life that comes with knowing, honoring, sharing, and living in tune with the God of creation, the God of the incarnation, and the God of the Spirit movement. I want all the joy and love that comes with honoring God and loving neighbor. And I want it for others too.<br /><br />But perhaps for me to really live, I must first really sleep. Sleep, biologically, rebalances our bodies. Rest in the Lord, spiritually rejuvenates our relationship with the God who has called us to be Christ's body - to live, to serve, and to love. I thank the God who gives me sleep, because it is that same God that gives me full life.Philioshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15626798781187690937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25468536.post-1155219868122297682006-08-10T07:24:00.000-07:002006-08-10T07:24:28.133-07:00.: Could you put someone's eye out that way?My friend Steve, a pastor in the Central Texas conference has good things to say on his blog. This is especially true this week. It's about risk, our aversion to it, and God's call to take it. Check it out here:<br /><br /><a href="http://everydaytheology.blogspot.com/2006/08/could-you-put-someones-eye-out-that.html#links">.: Could you put someone's eye out that way?</a><br /><br />May we remember that when we risk for God in this world, all we risk is dust. "Dust to dust, ashes to ashes."Philioshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15626798781187690937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25468536.post-1155135228961720362006-08-09T07:32:00.000-07:002006-08-09T07:53:48.996-07:00Sanctification<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/1600/rublev_trinity_icon.0.png"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/320/rublev_trinity_icon.0.png" border="0" /></a><br />Recent musings have landed my thoughts on the process of sanctification. Sanctification is the process by which we are made holy. John Wesley likened Christian Perfection to holiness, saying that Christian perfection. . .is only another term for holiness." ( Sermon on Christian Perfection).<br /><br />One of the things I hear often in ministry is the phrase "nobody's perfect" or "we all sin" or "I’m only human." On the outset, all these things are true. Taking a large perspective of our landscape, humans, and indeed humanity, are sinful, are not perfect, and are finite. But I wonder if these descriptions mask a larger, spiritual issue: that of perfection. I will show my Methodist under-girding here, but I find those types of excuses (and they are ones that I make on a daily basis!) limiting on the grace God offers us. Indeed, if we are really encapsulated by the grace of God, and through Jesus we can be made whole, then it stands to reason that we too can become "perfect" in this life.<br /><br />The Apostle Paul said that he hadn't attained perfection yet, but that he was striving to that goal. While he hadn't attained it at that moment, perhaps he thought it could be attained in this life. If for some reason we think that it can't be attained in this life, then it will not be attained in this life. God's realized eschatology will never come into fruition simply because we have limited God's grace in our lives. So maybe the point of this post is simply to see if we can't strive for perfection, with the goal being perfection in this life and the next. Maybe it's just a self-fulfilling prophesy. If we think it can be done, imagine how much harder we would work at it.Philioshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15626798781187690937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25468536.post-1154702029506488012006-08-04T07:33:00.000-07:002006-08-04T07:33:49.523-07:00TranslationsI have gotten back into reading the New Testament in Greek. I had stopped doing it for a while because it is an arduous task, and I have to spend time looking up vocabulary. Reading the English translations are much easier.<br /><br />The trend in scripture translation is to make it more accessible. For example, The Message, The New Living Translation, and the New Century Versions all purport to render the scriptures in a more affable format. I use these translations often in sermon preparation, but I have begun wondering if this really is a good way to digest the scriptures. I mean, isn’t God worthy of us really struggling to find the meaning of the words on the page? And shouldn’t we too know that thousands of Greek manuscripts offer divergent phrasing on nearly every passage in the New Testament? Oh, and isn’t it noteworthy that the Greek language’s vocabulary is much more complex and that translators have to make very important theological decisions about which word they think is the correct word from a Greek word that may or may not be the original word?<br /><br />Now, don’t get me wrong, Bible translators are much more dedicated and educated than me. They have spent tireless hours trying to get it right, and for the most part, they do an incredible job. If they didn’t keep doing it, then we would still have the King James Bible, which is perhaps the most poorly translated edition available, as the standard for scholastic Biblical interpretation.<br /><br />But the question still remains: should we have to work at knowing God? And if the scriptures are a divine revelation, then shouldn’t we have to work to know them too? Is it good enough to use one translation? Is it good enough to read the scriptures in paraphrased form? These are detail questions that I struggle with in my pursuit of loving God <br /><br />I have to constantly remind myself that these types of questions are important only if we set our lives to loving God and loving people. That is, in the end, Jesus said, the paraphrase of all the scriptures.Philioshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15626798781187690937noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25468536.post-1148187708423846892006-05-20T21:39:00.000-07:002006-05-20T22:01:48.436-07:00Perspective, Part II<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/1600/Picasso%20-%20vieux_guitariste.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/320/Picasso%20-%20vieux_guitariste.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />It's all about image. No really, it is. The portrayal of ourselves to the world communicates. It translates. We get so wrapped up in wearing the right clothes to the presentation, or making sure that our hair falls in just the right place ,or even that our fingernails have been manicured just to the right amount that we sometimes forget what we really are trying to do. Business deals are won and lost on first impressions, television shows are canceled or picked up based on a single pilot episode. It is about image.<br /><br />But that's alright, because there is something deeply and spiritually profound about image. Image is powerful and seductive. It is honest and compassionate. Image really is everything. The Scriptures put it this way - that humans are created in the image of God. <em>Imago Dei</em> - literally the image of God- is the way that the church has described humanity. Image really is everything because it is who we are - we are an image - a marred one perhaps, but an image none the less.<br /><br />Perhaps we need to wipe off the fog on the mirror and take a closer look at what we are reflecting. After all, if we really are made in the image of God, then we should start acting like it.Philioshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15626798781187690937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25468536.post-1145407789040026422006-04-18T17:16:00.000-07:002006-04-18T17:52:39.653-07:00Perspective, Part 1<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/1600/christ_patocrator.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/320/christ_patocrator.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I had never attended an Orthodox-tradition service before last week. The Eastern Church is not talked about much in the circles I run in, and congregations are few and far between. There was familiarity with some parts of the worship service, yet other parts were wholly foreign. The invocation of deceased saints to intercede on my behalf was particularly alien. Mary was invoked, as was Peter.<br /><br />I would be less than honest if I said I was comfortable with this intercession. They were, after all, dead. No matter how holy and prophetic they were in their time, and no matter how enduring their legacy is through scripture and tradition, they no longer live (in a tangible, I can touch them on earth kind of way). They are dead.<br /><br />But the preacher beseeched us at the beginning of her sermon to blur the line between living and dead. If Christ really did defeat sin and death, then it follows that there must be at least some people <em>still living</em>! Just as we would ask a close friend, and one that we might consider to be close to God, to pray for us in times of joy and crisis, so too does the Eastern Orthodox tradition believe that we should ask those who have gone before us, especially those who have been great examples of the faith, to pray as well.<br /><br />I think that this blurring of the lines has much to teach us. While those of us who are protestants might recoil at the thought of asking someone who is dead to pray for us, I wonder how it might change the way we look at the world if we really start believing that Jesus' life, teaching, death, and resurrection gives us abundant life - now and forever - in this life and the next. Not only do we live, but we live and love to the fullest.<br /><br />Then again, I guess abundant life might be a matter of perspective. Praise God if it is.Philioshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15626798781187690937noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25468536.post-1144253586800302972006-04-05T08:37:00.000-07:002006-04-05T11:15:11.473-07:00A new day<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/1600/10-winter.0.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/400/10-winter.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/1600/paulgravley.jpg"></a><br /><br />The obligatory first post should always include something about me, so I am told. So here are the highlights behind the highlighted:<br /><br /><p>*I am married to the most wonderful woman in the world. We have a dog, Cosmo and a Cat, Ty.<br />*We live in Fort Worth - funkytown usa.<br />*I am an associate pastor/director of student ministries at Arborlawn UMC<br />*I am finishing my degree from Perkins School of Theology at SMU.<br />*I have every social advantage imaginable. I am white, heterosexual, male, protestant, from the United States, and an upper-middle class family. </p><br />Intellectual honesty drives my inclination to tell you these things about me. I write from a very particularized context, and one that is riddled with blind spots. My hope for something like this is that some of my blind spots will be revealed, and perhaps I can begin clearing up the fog on the windows. My other hope for this is that this will become a beacon for conversation regarding the way Christianity (Christendom?) interacts with a hurting world.<br /><br />I am committed to the gospel, and not just any gospel, but the gospel of Jesus Christ - revealed most acutely in the incarnation. I am committed to people, and not just particular persons, but all people. I am committed to the church, as it is called to be the body of Christ in the hurting world. And, I am committed to a life that is better than the one each of us has now - one of peace, wholeness, and one where oppression, of all kinds, exists no more.<br /><br />To further complicate the matter, I am committed to good theology - to theology that really seeks to get at the depths of who God is, what God does, and what our role is. To do anything less than put full effort into that pursuit trivializes the greatest commandment: love God with all your heart, mind, and strength. I believe that Divine revelation exists, and that it exists most acutely in the scriptures, but that God is constantly revealing divinity in the world around us. To put a methodist spin on it, I am committed to the idea that God reveals Godself in tradition, experience, and reason. I too believe that God is not done revealing, and will continue to reveal up to the end (whatever and whenever that might be).<br /><br />So, take this as an invitation. Join the conversation, whatever your background is, or wherever your commitments reside. Let's talk this thing out.<br /><br />Grace and Peace,<br /><br />Paul G.<br /><p align="left"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/1600/paul.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 129px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 91px" height="82" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2439/2661/320/paul.0.jpg" width="153" border="0" /></a></p>Philioshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15626798781187690937noreply@blogger.com4