Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” After saying this, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.

I find it odd that Jesus said he was going to do one thing and then did another. I don’t suppose this was a lie, for the heart of a lie is the intention to deceive, rather changing his mind is likely the explanation. However, it’s still an odd exchange. I wonder what prompted him to change his mind and go.

Leslie and I met at a camp I was working at. A fun fact about Leslie is that she doesn’t antique; she steals things from old people’s houses. This is really what I want to bring to your attention (and that I haven’t seen you in forever, Leslie, and we should remedy that somehow!), and you can read about it here:

http://everythingblog.posterous.com/saturday-shenanigans.

You’ll thank me later.

But here’s the problem, boys. My people read what you write. They listen to what you say. They track your tweets. What may take you a matter of minutes or hours to post–a controversial video clip, a dismissive tweet, or a fear-mongering blog–takes me months of sidetracking discussion, confusion, and chaos. You’re creating dissension and dischord in the body, a trait which is much more akin to the false teachers noted in Scripture than any of the theological musings you so obstreperously condemn.

It’s totally worth the read. Go check it out here: strange negotiations: an open letter to everyone

I was recently reading “Historical Criticism and Social-Scientific Perspectives in New Testament Study” by Stephen C. Barton. It’s from Joel B. Green’s Hearing the New Testament.

While applying historical and social-science criticism, specifically in regards to 1 Corinthians 11, Barton discusses Paul’s instructions to the Corinthian Christians regarding their meals together (found in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22). Barton writes:

The rich householders distinguish themselves from the poor by the timing of their meal — they eat first and without waiting for the others to arrive (11:21, 33); by its quantity and quality (11:21); and by their refusal to share (11:21). In this way the rich may be seen also as attempting to extend their influence in the church. Their eating practices are a demonstration of social status and an attempt to dominate by imposing shame (11:22).

The familiarity of these actions struck me. This kind of behavior is still seen in the church, in varying ways, and that says something to me. We’re still struggling through the same issues.

For several years now I’ve had many friends talk about “the early church.” Granted, I’m surrounded often by churchgoers, people raised in churches, ministers, and people studying for ministry, so this probably comes up more often than it does for the average person. But the basic idea that I regularly hear is dissatisfaction with the modern American church and a desire to return to “the early church.” In the minds of those who have spoken to me about this, “the early church,” or first century church, is this golden age in the time of the Christian faith. They often mention Acts 2:42-47, and they talk about how the modern American church has it wrong (in one way or another).

And I can understand dissatisfaction, because churches try all kinds of things now, and we’re at a time when we’re figuring out what the modern church is going to look like. But the truth is we’ve always been in this situation. Just like every generation of faith, we’ve made a time before us “the golden age” that we long for, which causes us frustration now, and we shouldn’t be doing that.

Sure, there was a group in a time and place after Pentecost where everyone was welcoming each other, eating together, and sharing everything. But then the church continued to grow, and eventually (quite quickly, obviously) it was full to the brim with messy, broken people. Paul’s not writing to the Corinthian Christians a century after Pentecost. He’s writing to them still in the first decades of the church, “the early church.” And I only point this out, not to be disparaging to the early Christians or anyone else, but to say that we need to look at our faith with clear, open eyes.

You can grumble, I suppose, but you don’t get to use the modern American church as an excuse for not being a part of the modern American church. Paul would tell you that community is important and that you have to be a part of it, and you need to do it right, whole-heartedly. And I’ll tell you the same. Find community, dig in, and build up the body.

After trying a number of different apps and scripts, I’m recommending one particular way. Launchpad-Control adds a menu to your System Preferences, which allows you to clean up your launchpad. And it’s free. Check it out here: http://chaosspace.de/launchpad-control/

I find this both sickening and terrifying at the same time. The quote by Ronald Reagan is a nice touch.

It’s a pretty long video, and by the end of it I wasn’t sure what point he was trying to make (other than he’s apparently writing a book on hell). Though, I did like the challenge he puts out there about only being able to worship the God that matches my own feelings about things.

But the thing I really took away from Francis Chan’s video is this: Apparently 2011 is going to be the year we talk about hell non-stop. And I find that a bit disappointing. Of all the things we could focus on as a faith, I feel a little bit like we’re discussing a modern day “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” Don’t get me wrong, salvation and justice are important topics, but talking about them only in terms of experiencing eternal torment or not might be too narrow of a conversation. Let us, perhaps, focus elsewhere, or at least more broadly.

While camping this weekend two of my campsite neighbors got into a discussion about hell’s existence. One is Unitarian and the other has a Baptist background, which could be the two most opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to hell. An hour or so (maybe two hours) later they went their separate ways, and both of them felt pretty certain they had the correct view. I was fairly certain they had wasted a lot of time.

Babysitter (60 seconds) from XXXchurch on Vimeo.

I found this video over at 100 Foot Jesus.

For bonus material, here is an excellent article I found a while back, “Porn and Perception: Is Your Limbic Brain Distorting Your Vision?“