Follow Through

I'm cleaning up my e-mail in box.

Clear evidence of my lack of follow through. Lots of old stuff in there.

What's this about?

• False ideas that I'll get around to reading something later.
• False ideas that I'll need to refer to something later.
• Short sightedness
• Putting off for a supposed better time what I should just deal with now
• Lack of organization for things that I really do want to follow up on
• Living for the ideal rather than living fully in the real

If I could clear up these issues, you don't know how much difference this would make in not just my e-mail in-box, but my life!

So, here's to continued progress...

Why Not to Become Ordianed

I was reading about the conflicts within the Episcopal Church yesterday: individual churches leaving or considering it, the deposing of a bishop, people talking about scism...

I should consider being ordained as a clergy member in this church!?! I should step myself right into all this debate and controversy?

It's not that I don't care about the issues at hand. It's not that I couldn't vigorously enter the debate. Its that I would find myself compelled to do it too much and too well. I would wrestle terribly long and hard with all the issues. Then I would write long, detailed, nuanced papers that few would ever read. I would be sucked in and consumed.

I'm Sick of It

I'm getting back to this blog because I'm tired of dealing with words. In fact I'm tired at the moment of dealing with meaning.

I've been spending even more time than usual weighing issues, words and meanings. I'm sick of it.

It's ingrained in me. I'll never be entirely free of it. Not that I really want to be anywhere close to that. But really, I don't need all those words. And I don't need all those wrestlings and wrangelings.

What would it look like if I just loved God and loved people (say like kids for starters) and forgot about anything beyond the most immediate here and now aspect of that?

What would it look like if I did the KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid) thing that I've found so offensive of a concept when it has been applied to devalue good things that have led to my complex approaches and to in effect call me stupid?

Maybe I have been stupid sometimes.

What would it look like if I didn't even take my 5 min of editing these posts?

Like this.
There you have it.

You Know Things Are Out of Hand When...

you've gotten back enough breathing room that you're actually thinking of make a to-do list...

but you don't know where your calendar and planning book are.

One God

The question of one God....

I think the question of one God vs multiple Gods sometimes becomes an unhelpful semantic barrier.

I do believe in one God. I know some people believe there are multiple Gods. Those people might not be satisfied by the perspective I'm about to give. In fact, I'm a bit concerned that it may not be respectful of me. I'd like the opportunity to discuss the issue with people who believe in multiple Gods. I'd like the opportunity to learn from them. But to the best of my knowledge, I don't know anyone with that belief.

In my perspective, belief in one God does not preclude recognition of what may be understood by others as multiple Gods, or even competing Gods. God is big enough that we use multiple metaphors for God. In my thinking, multiple Gods (past or present) may be considered a partial representation of God. Each of them are, if you will, one of many relevant metaphors for God. Metaphors (whether used for one God, multiple Gods, or anything else) in some way represent the thing for which they are being used as a metaphor, but can not completely represent or contain it, nor can they represent it with completeness or full accuracy.

In some ways those of us steeped in monotheism might benefit from thinking in terms of multiple Gods, or at least by taking diverse metaphors for God more seriously.

Too often I think we have an image of God that is neatly packaged, defined and contained. We miss too much of God that way. We tame God too much that way. We try to keep God fitting into our theology, our religion, our society, our comfort zones. But of course God isn't so easily limited. It's our theology and ourselves that we're limiting. We're keeping parts of God at a distance when we could be drawing near. Sometimes those are the parts of God we or others may need to keep our spiritual lives engaged and growing.

Night Owl

I've long had a bit of a night owl tendency, and an appreciation of the benefits of being awake in the wee hours.

Since I spent a year & 9 months awhile ago working an overnight shift, and being influenced now by factors of relevance I will not enumerate, my schedule has not been the same.

You may notice that I'm posting at 4 something am.

While I could debate the pro's and con's of purposely altering the rhythm of my life to keep earlier hours...Ill refrain from boring you (and myself) by writing out that debate.

I do want to say: one advantage of the approach of winter is that I can be awake at such hours with decreased concern that the morning birds have begun to sing and the sky has begun to show signs of light.

We Believe In One God

This is the first phrase of the Nicene Creed.

I suspect that the writers of the creed assumed belief in God and meant to make the point that they believe in ONE God. But before I tackle that part of the issue, it seems relevant to consider the question of belief in God. It can not be assumed that people believe in God or not, or what they mean by that.

However, while the question of belief in God may often be relevant, sometimes I think it gets in the way.

I've had people indicate that they don't believe in God, only to go on to express what sounds to me like belief in what I understand to be God. I think my understanding of who or what God is may differ from theirs.

On the other hand I've had a person talk about things they don't believe (things they apparently think church represents that I strongly disagree with), then go on to say they believe in God. That's fine. But I'm not sure what they mean when they say they believe in God. Their understanding of the meaning of church seems so far removed from mine that I'm hesitant to make assumptions.

Furthermore I have a co-worker who, because of statements they've made, I perceive to be atheist. Yet when I've referred to them as such, they've objected. I don't think they object primarily (if at all) because they wish to claim some belief in God. They indicate they object because they see the label as a way to unduly define and categorize.

I think they may be onto something. Statements of belief in God or non-belief in God call for more explanation. We might find we have more in common with those across the divide of our labels than we think. Sometimes we might find we have less in common than we would expect with those who use the same terms as we do. Either way, the labels and terminology shouldn't be allowed to stand in the way of supporting each other's pursuits in developing and nurturing our spiritual lives and connections. I wonder how often they do.