fuzzylogicX

Honestly I have given up on having my own ideas

2004-10-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

It's true. I realized the other day I spend more time reading other folks thoughts and trying to synthesize them into my own perspective than I do coming up with my own. Maybe that isn't so bad. Call it meta-thought. The process of trying to take an overview of the obscene quantity of blog-thoughts posted out there and spin them into a coherent whole is nearly too huge to consider. But I keep coming back to this little blog and posting gems that stand out to me. Cyberpunk authors call those little gems that seem to reveal a significant thought "nodes" and since I like geekspeak I think that's what Ima gonna call 'em. So I have a node for you today from Next-Wave. com. I won't post the whole darn thing, just follow the link to read the rest. It seemed to speak to me in a way about where the church is going.

"(Editor's Note: The following article was written on 1 October 2043 by Eutychus Bailey, author and former North American pastor. Because of amazingly quick internet access and the exponential growth of micro-processing speeds, we are now able to publish this column forty years before it was actually written. This gives us the chance to get an unknowingly futurist perspective on where things are heading from this pragmatist writer observing his own times.)

Today was the last day of a conference I went to for northern mid-west area called NextChurch Conference It was a great time.I learned a ton in my old age at this thing and I want to give you a personal first-hand report of the conference.Here are my top 10 observations about it: "

Click here for the rest

This is a test

2004-10-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

All of life fits somewhere in this category. This is just a test.

What does the "BS" in CBS stand for.... really?

2004-10-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

Taken from The Coffeehouse at the end of days.

"What am I missing?

If CBS (a broadcast organization) wants to broadcast a show on Bush in the National Guard, they are entitled to do so.

If another network wants to broadcast a show on Kerry's military service, they are compromising their license?

The best my little brain can grasp is that the CBS show is considered 'objective journalism' about a 'real issue' while a show about Kerry's military service is judged, a priori, sight unseen, to be 'biased' and a 'political advertisement'.

Meditating on fair-mindedness ...."

I can't wait for November 3rd. What a long strange trip it has been children.

The iMonk nails my thougths on this one

2004-10-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

The internetMonk has a great article laying it on the line about the nature of human brokenness. I love his passion and honesty, read what he has to write, but only do it if you are willing to be honest with yourself:

"The voice on the other end of the phone told a story that has become so familiar to me, I could have almost finished it from the third sentence. A respected and admired Christian leader, carrying the secret burden of depression, had finally broken under the crushing load of holding it all together. As prayer networks in our area begin to make calls and send e-mails, the same questions are asked again and again. "How could this happen? How could someone who spoke so confidently of God, someone whose life gave such evidence of Jesus' presence, come to the point of a complete breakdown? How can someone who has the answers for everyone one moment, have no answers for themselves the next?" See the full article here.

An article by Brian Orme that caught my eye.

2004-10-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

Is there anything more sacred about a church building than there is about the tavern down the street? I don't think so; hear me out. I think sacred space is something moving in conjunction with our hearts and our bodies. I believe that someone who has Christ living in them is more sacred than the elegant church cathedrals in Aberdeen, more holy than the holy land, more sanctified than the latent church structures in a hundred cities. What makes something sacred: the very presence of God. Just like Moses, who was asked to take his sandals off because he was stepping into the presence of the Holy God. The beauty of God's plan is that he now dwells within the hearts of people.

There is a notion that is prevalent today that tells us that church buildings are holy ground. Since this is true for so many - we are asked to change the way we dress, and the way we conduct ourselves while we are within the church walls. Many scholars would say that this view comes from the institution of Christendom by Constantine. When Constantine made Christianity the official religion the church developed into an institution; the time of persecution was over and the church enjoyed a time of importance in society and here we are hundreds of years later with holy buildings and professional pastors.
We even allocate our church meetings to the more reverenced rooms. I have a friend that has been a pastor for many years that told me a story from his past. He was asked to conduct the ceremony for a young couple in the church, but the girl had become pregnant before the wedding day. In view of the circumstances my friend told them that he would do the ceremony but he would not conduct it in the sanctuary, it would have to be done in another room. My friend was upset to think that he ever had this perspective. Why would we ever place a building before the repentant person, as if the building would cry out in protest?

Why do people even want to get married in church buildings anyway? For many it’s because they see the church building as a place that will provide a sacred space for their ceremony. There are couples that come from our local community that want to have their wedding in our sanctuary even though they have no connection with our church; tradition tells them that the church will make their wedding holy. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with having a wedding in a church, for many it symbolically represents what they hold dear, but when we look to the actual building to find the sacred we are missing the point. I love the fact that I don't have to rely on a building to immerse myself in something sacred. The sacred space is within me where God dwells, where my spirit lives, where my body breathes.

There is a church in L.A. that meets in a nightclub. During the week everything that goes on in the actual building is worldly, the pastor tells stories about cleaning up vomit before the morning service, there is nothing sacred about that; but on the weekends the people of God invade that space and it becomes sacred. It isn't sacred because of the building but because God’s people come together in that building. I believe that my living room becomes sacred when others from our church community come together in it.

Still, today there are so many cathedrals and opulent places of worship that we conclude are holy, sacred space, as if God still dwelt in a building and not in hearts. The wildness of God never wanted a building; that was man's idea. God's plan was to find the sacred space within the hearts of men and women. The truly sacred can only be something that God designs, something in his image, something beautiful.

I think we all should get an unsettled feeling when we point to buildings as sacred and not to our own lives. God's plan, his wonderful mystery, is revealed in his life within us, those who call him Lord. No longer do we look to the external for the sacred, we look no further than our own hearts. The command to be holy, to be set apart, was never asked of a building, it is only asked of those who would follow Jesus Christ. We are his sacred space.

(Brian Orme is a pastor and writer in Ohio with his wife, Jenna, and three boys. You can contact him at www.brianorme.com)

Cat got his tongue, no wait, he is the cat, and the ice has HIS tongue

2004-10-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

And today, my head got to explode too!

2004-10-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, here is the thing, I have to start investing in duct tape or my skull is going to blow into 100000000000 pieces. Worse yet, I am not even talking about the VP debate.
This afternoon I decided that I aught to check on some leads for locations that I might just want to do a one year interimship in. I know I have to leave here in March, and I know that NC may want me to come and do a mission start in 2006, or at least they did before they did their re-staffing. So..... I need to start finding a way to fill up the next year.
I called Florida/Bahamas Synod to ask about possible interimships and talked to a staffing person who asked me a VERY thorough set of interview questions. Then she said that she would have to run it all past a staff meeting before she could get in contact with me. Soooooo I am thinking, "She'll call me back in a month." But no, she calls me back in an hour and a half, they've had their staff meeting. They want me to come to FL post haste to chat with the Bishop. So, in less than two weeks I will be in Tampa talking to the Bish. And hold on to your skulls folks.... they want me to come and talk about: mission starts, mission re-starts, traditional congregations, etc. Apparently they are interested in looking at me across the board. Now, how did that happen?

Rainy days and Sundays (lately) always bring me down...

2004-10-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

(An actual pic from close to home)

That is the song lyric at least, though lately it has been a fine descriptor of me. I have always had a wee touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder, though I usually don't talk about it. I hate to sound like I am whining, "Oh woe is me, it's cloudy, the world is coming to an end". But I have to level with you, lately it has been coming at me full strength. I don't know why, but I assume it is because I am particularly vulnerable right now with everything up in the air like it is. The Devil loves to kick us when we are down. But what really burns my butt is that Sundays are a downer for me, and my family, anymore. By focusing on everything but the church's mission (ie finances, worship time, music style, etc, etc, etc...) they have stolen all the joy out of worship for us. How sad is that. My four year old complains about the organ music and lousy 17th century hymns. And why shouldn't she, I feel the same way. Sigh, I know we will all weather this fine, but it is killing me to feel so dang helpless and ineffective.

Dan Rather pulls lowest ratings in CBS history

2004-09-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

Hmmm... well this seems to prove what I have always thought, the free market can police itself when it's consumers are presented with sufficient information to make an informed decision.

My Week-at-a-Glance

2004-09-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

Florida, for the record, I am pretty sure you haven't ticked off God

2004-09-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

Florida, This is your new little friend, Jeane. We will be praying for you, lets hope this hurricane misses, and if it doesn't miss, let's hope it at least does not boomerang back like Ivan. In theory every other Hurricane has a guys name, and every other one has a gal's name. You know even thought this one is a gal, I still think Jeane sounds too much like Gene. Let's give us guys a break, even Francis sounded like a guy.

No sweat

2004-09-24T21:51:00.000-07:00

For those of you keeping track, I did in fact ace the interview. Now all I have to do is find a job, transition my current congregation, sell my house, move, and do all of this in five months, no sweat. Yeah right. On the up side while in Columbus I did get to see John Kerry's motorcade, and me without any rotten eggs. For those of you going to Columbus, OH you have to get the dolmades at Taverna Opa. Just a side note.

Best thing they've done since the pyramids

2004-09-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND

Egypt bans Madonna after Israel visit
Cairo's exclusion order seen as routine vilification of Jewish state
Posted: September 24, 2004
2:35 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

"Egypt has issued an order barring pop star Madonna from entering the country because she visited Israel.

Members of Egypt's parliament have demanded Madonna, who has not requested entry into Egypt or announced any plans to visit the country, be barred from entering Egyptian soil. The parliament directed Egyptian embassies abroad to deny any visa requests from Madonna."

God bless the Egyptians.

What is Fuzzy Logic?

2004-09-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

For you non theoretical mathmaticians fuzzy logic is a superset of conventional (Boolean) logic that has been extended to handle the concept of partial truth -- truth values between"completely true" and "completely false". It was introduced by Dr. Lotfi Zadeh of UC/Berkeley in the 1960's as a means to model the uncertaintyof natural language. (Note: Lotfi, not Lofti, is the correct spellingof his name.) Zadeh says that rather than regarding fuzzy theory as a single theory, we should regard the process of ``fuzzification'' as a methodology to generalize ANY specific theory from a crisp (discrete) to a continuous(fuzzy) form. Thus recently researchers have also introduced "fuzzy calculus", "fuzzy differential equations",and so on . Welcome to the 21st Century children.

A thought before bed

2004-09-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

So I leave tomorrow to go and interview. I hate this process, I am always so worried about stepping on someone's agenda. More than anything else I just want to be myself, problem is, I have just barely figured out who that is, and I am not even sure he's such a great fellow. Sooooo I have to stand fast and hold to my convictions without worrying about whether or not that is satisfactory to someone else's agenda. After all, I assume that God called me, and not someone else's version of a role that I should play, to be in this ministry. That is one of the hard things for us humans to deal with. God actually wants to use us, not the next version of us, not the image we falsely front, not the perfect human we will be when pigs have wings. God wants us now. However does he hope to accomplish anything that way. How does God expect to accomplish anything with me? Well, thats the way things actually work, who knows, maybe God knows what he is doing.

Pray for me cyberworld.

page changes

2004-09-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

You know I think I blog partially just to play with a web page. LOL

Is the Clock Over the Top?

2004-09-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

Tell me honestly, what do you think, is the clock over the top? I love gadgets!

Well, that's life.

2004-09-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

I like life. Sure, mine is kinda screwed up at the moment, but this does not change my basic assertion that on the whole, life is good. I could complain about my job, how hard it is to find a new possition, etc. But, I have a nice car (2 of them actually), a nice house, a good wife, and two great daughters, I have great friends and lots of education. Compared to 99.9 % of the rest of the world I am filthy rich. I think we lose track of that wayyyyyyyyy too much. How piddling are our problems really? Oh! I can't afford the new XBox game! yahda yahda yahda.... Half the world can't afford the next meal. Don't get me wrong, I am no bleeding heart liberal. I don't feel any shame for my success or the success of my nation. I am merely pointing out that most of our problems are not really problems, just minor challenges.

Slippery Bugger

2004-09-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

Grapple....grapple.......grapple.............
Ever notice some days you just can't get your hands around life? You could do it yesterday, and you think you could do it the day before that but all of a sudden you can't get a grip on life. I am SO there. God is doing so amazingly strange things in my life right now. How strange? Strange enough that I have no idea what any of it means. It's like God just finished working through his impressionistic period where my life only made sense if you stood back and looked at it and has now decided to paint my life as a surrealist.

Personally, I think he is trying to break me. I am kinda resistant to giving in and letting myself surrender to anything. I would rather dig my heels in, get unrealistically stubborn, and refuse to move. Which would explain alot if God has really set out to humble me. After all, I have always believed that God has some astounding ministry in mind for my life (don't think you're off that hook bucko, God has something astounding in mind for you too.) and now he simply has to wring out of me as much of my desperately pathetic self reliance as he can.

God won't use me (or you) if he has to wade through my agendas, personal demons, psychic trash, etc... first. Instead I think God is trying to clean out my mental attic so he can move his stuff in. Problem is I am a lousy roommate. I have collected all this junk (most of which I don't use or need) and now I am damned if I am gonna let it go. Actually, that isn't too far off. We're all damned if we don't let go. We see our pride, our selfish (but self justified) goals, our history, our defense mechanisms.....all God sees is us with a gun to our heads, and we whine when he tries to pull it away.

/me takes a deep breath and tries to meditate on that image....

So, I will go and get bent, and maybe broken and be better for it.

Pray for me Cyberworld

Bookstore FYI

2004-09-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

The books I rearanged the other day have remained so, in fact I think they have restocked some of the Christian books I set out. LOL

Home safe

2004-09-10T09:02:00.000-07:00

Well we got Jessica in the air and out of Jamaica. On the home front, everyone at home found something about the incident to panic about, myself excluded. My daughter Katie's first soccer game got rained out and I think I have a cold. Well, I would say that is business as usual.

Jamaica and other disasters

2004-09-09T10:57:00.000-07:00

So, my sister is stuck in Jamaica while Ivan bears down on them as a class 5 hurricane. That can't be good. Mind you, I am not terribly worried about Jessica or her beau Andy, they can take care of themselves. But..... The family here at home may be another matter. Mom called me early this morning for the mandatory disaster panic. I always know when members of my family are in real trouble, cause they play it off like it is no big deal. It's only when they over-react that I know things are OK. No wonder I am a crisis junkie, it's the only thing that feels normal. It's not like I have any shortage of actual crisis in my life, I got plenty right now. I actually melted down last night reading articles in a few meaningless Lutheran publications. The articles were on post modern church, and I found myself sitting there reading the experts thinking, "I coulda' wrote that!" Then I realized, I am as close as the ELCA has to an expert, and I have this devastating feeling that I am going to wind up in a congregation full of blue haired little old ladies who freak out if I rearrange the napkins on the altar at communion. Sigh... Pray for me cyberworld.

2004-09-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again, when all the bookstores begin to gear up for the halloween season. I love this time of year, I get to go on witch hunts. Not metaphorically, really. I love to go to the book stores and peruse their tables full of do it yourself Wicca books. As a rule (as I did today) I get a wonderful thrill from re-arranging their stock. Today I moved most of the occult books on their "Hot" table to the computer manual section, though some I supplanted to the history shelves. I replaced the empty space with christian books about the occult. It is so much fun, sigh.... It is this little game I play each year, I see how fast they can try to re-stock before I redistribute their little gems of witchcraft lore. What is that you say? Censorship? Me? Damn skippy it is! got a problem with that?

test

2004-09-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

Test