Secrecy

Hey folks...
I hope everyone had a great time last night.
Any more thoughts on this passage as your week goes by?

"Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Oh, and as a reminder, our "challenge" for the week is to serve someone around us, but in secret...so no telling friends/neighbors/spouses/fiancees/parents/whoever about it...just do it.

Have a fantastic week, and I'm really looking forward to NOT hearing about how we're touching other people's lives.

So....

Hey everyone!
I hope y'all are having a wonderful week....
No specific topic for on-line conversation this week. Instead, please feel free to share some ideas about what you would like to study during the next series.

Have a blessed week - see y'all on Friday.

Death

Thanks to all for a great discussion last night.
Here's a link to the podcast of Stanley Hauerwas that DG mentioned last night:

Stanley Hauerwas on Theology and Death.

(For those with iTunes, click on the "Add to iTunes" link. Then open iTunes, and clink on "Podcasts" on the right toolbar, and you'll see the file. For those without iTunes, just click on "Here's the mp3 for download" - you can select the location to save the file on your computer, and then you can listen to it in whatever media player you normally use (windows media, real player, winamp, etc).)

It seemed like there was so much more to talk about, so I'd encourage all of you to continue this though provoking conversation through the blog.

And, to stimulate the conversation a little bit more, here is a classic "what-if" exercise that is used to in both medical ethics and legal theory. There are 30 people trapped in a cave that is rapidly filling with water. One of the members of the group - who is quite fat - has become stuck in the opening of the cave - which is quite narrow (and yes, I know it doesn't make sense that he could get in but not get out...so, let's thrown in a mini-rock slide that significantly narrowed the entrance). The fat man, because he is stuck at the opening of the cave, can continue to breathe freely, even if he can't move. The 29 others will drown before any rescue can arrive. One of the 29, however, has a stick of dynamite, which he could use to blast open the cave opening, allowing all to escape, except of course, the fat man, who will be killed in the explosion.
So, the question is, simply, what to do?
Alternatively, from a legal perspective, if the 29 others proceed to save their own lives by using the dynamite, are they guilty of murdering the fat man?

Here are the two passages we read last night:
Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; 3 he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff-- they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.

NRS 1 Corinthians 15:50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Have a great week everyone!

The Presence of God...

Hi Everyone!
I hope y'all are having an awesome Labor Day. It was great seeing all those who could make it out to the Dorns' yesterday.

Here's the passage that we talked about last Friday. And if I recall, the big question of the day was "So What?" How does this passage make a practical impact on the way in which we go about our daily business?


NRS Psalm 139:1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. 3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. 7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night," 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. 17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 I try to count them-- they are more than the sand; I come to the end-- I am still with you. 19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me-- 20 those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil! 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. 24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Look forward to hearing your awesome thoughts!