Lent day 18

day #18

go Peyton Manning!!!

my favorite #18...

moving on...

went to the farm today and cut firewood...

hopefully my last truckload of the year...

i love cool weather, but enough is enough...

i hurried back to the city for an afternoon funeral...

have you ever noticed how much human beings want to "belong"???

more on that later...

still reflecting on "conversion"...

seems that conversion must have at least three components [as a beginning point]...

[1] it has a "head" piece -- it involves belief, trust -- thinking and reflecting...

it does matter what you trust in...

believing that god is -- god is there [and here and everywhere] -- existence...

believing that god is relational -- god loves...

believing that god is personal -- god loves me -- god desires relationship with me...

[2] it has a "heart" piece -- it involves intimacy, engagement and passion -- connecting with god and others...

not enough just to believe [even if one believes correctly] -- there must be the experience of love...

transformation happens when love happens -- love of god, of others and of self...

[3] it has a "hand" piece -- it involves what we believe and what we experience relationally being lived out in service to others...

conversion has a very practical side -- matthew 25 -- doing the stuff that jesus would do to the least, the last and the lost...

god is not so awed by our head and heart UNLESS the hands are active in serving -- the proof is in the praxis!!!

have you ever been to an elks funeral?

i never had, until today...

i don't want to say much -- some angry elk man may grab their antlers off their altar and come after me...

no, i am not kidding...

BIG antlers on the altar...

let me just say that it was different...

VERY different...

all that being said...

i walked into a real community...

NO KIDDING!

these people loved each other...

they honored their fallen elk man...

they celebrated his life...

comforted his family...

and each other...

they ate together [or grazed???] after the service...

i was hungry so i became an elk for a meal and grazed with them...

they had a whole protocol...

an elk charter...

please don't take this as a negative...

they seemed like a bunch of boys who had their very own treehouse...

they wanted to BELONG...

that is not weird or bizarre and unusual...

elks are like all the rest of us in the sense that they too want to BELONG...

communitas is a priority for us as human persons...

and it is central to our conversion...

i am no longer assured that this means that we all have to be part of a local church for this conversion thing to happen...

BUT, we must be living and loving within a true biblical communitas...

not only do we desire each other...

WE NEED EACH OTHER!!!

are you plugged into a place where you really belong?

communitas is essential to our ongoing conversion...

but i am sure that antlers are optional...

let's walk this journey TOGETHER...

pax...

guy

by the way, elks know how to graze -- the food was awesome...

the memorial service was phenomenal as well...