I just re-read the little snippet Daniel wrote after Lent, about the stuff people had fasted from and how the fast had impacted them. Great stuff. Did you know that around 2 million people gave up Facebook for Lent? Crazy.
Anyway, it got me thinking about how to continue the pattern of 1 Corinthians 6:12 -- not everything is beneficial, and I will not be mastered (I think "overpowered" would be a good paraphrase of the Greek) by anything -- even though Lent is LONG over.
I put a couple of things on FB about how to keep from drowning when you're drinking from the firehose (hide people from your feed, check FB rather than keeping it up in your browser all the time), but I'm thinking about how to expand that to my other online time. Using a feed reader has helped a bunch, so I'm not going to eight zillion separate blogs and sites every day.
Do y'all have any other ideas that could help me streamline online time?
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Oh My Gosh I Think I Figured It Out.
Kinda.
On Sojourn's discussion/message board, The City (think Facebook + old-school chat room + newspaper classified ads + online church directory), a few discussions of late have just caught fire -- one about John Piper inviting Rick Warren to speak at a conference, one about Dallas Willard and whether or not he's orthodox, and one about The Shack that only died finally because the "listen, it's fiction and it speaks to people's pain" crowd bowed out of the conversation.
And ohmygoodness, I think I've nailed down what those three discussions have in common AND why stuff like that tends to be tinder just waiting to be set off.
What they have in common is what I'm going to call the "Driscoll" factor -- high profile, prophetic, controversial. The reason Mark Driscoll chaps people's hides is that he's got a prophetic ministry, calling to folks from the front lines, being a bold voice in just a few areas. The reason I love and appreciate him is that the Church needs men like that who are willing to take a whole lot of flak because they're passionate about seeing the gospel applied in places that we want to ignore. We desperately need Driscoll and guys like him to shake us up about our self-righteousness, our confusion about sexuality, our immaturity.
When it comes to the discussions I mentioned above, the Driscoll Factor means that they draw people on both sides who are passionate, even outspoken and fiery, about that particular issue. So, with The Shack, for example. On one side you have people who say, "Look, not everyone resonates with the Puritans or a systematic theology text. This book can speak to people in their pain, and that's a good thing." What's at stake, to them, is the faith of their wounded brothers and sisters. It's an issue of love. On the other side are the folks who say, "We have to protect the body of Christ from error. Letting heresy slip under the radar because it's in a work of fiction is not okay." What's at stake to these folks is the Gospel, and it's an issue of Truth.
God bless my brothers and sisters at Sojourn, because a conversation like that could so easily have spiraled into name-calling and judgment-pronouncing, but the tone stayed civil and gracious.
And it occurs to me that we desperately need both those voices in the church. We need people to stand up for the hurting, to encourage us not to snuff out the smoldering wick, to remind us of grace, to display mercy and demand mercy from us, as people who have received so much mercy from our loving Father. Without them, we'd be a bunch of loveless, cranky pharisees nit-picking each other's theology until we all spontaneously combusted. We need folks who will thoughtfully defend the Rick Warrens and Dallas Willards and C.S. Lewises of the church for the sake of adorning the Gospel with love.
And we need people to stand up for the truth, to encourage us not to settle for mediocre theology or a watered-down gospel, to remind us of reality, to display integrity and demand integrity from us, as people who have received the very counsel of God in his word. Without them, we'd be a bunch of hippy-dippy weirdos, wallowing in our feel-good love fests while the blinding glory of the gospel slipped through our fingers. We need people who will boldy stand up for the gospel and not back down from exposing error no matter what.
The reason these kinds of discussions get so fiery is because you've got people from both ends of the continuum calling to each other, often without realizing that they're all contributing to the life and health of the church just by having the conversation in a gracious, godly way.
We need each other!
On Sojourn's discussion/message board, The City (think Facebook + old-school chat room + newspaper classified ads + online church directory), a few discussions of late have just caught fire -- one about John Piper inviting Rick Warren to speak at a conference, one about Dallas Willard and whether or not he's orthodox, and one about The Shack that only died finally because the "listen, it's fiction and it speaks to people's pain" crowd bowed out of the conversation.
And ohmygoodness, I think I've nailed down what those three discussions have in common AND why stuff like that tends to be tinder just waiting to be set off.
What they have in common is what I'm going to call the "Driscoll" factor -- high profile, prophetic, controversial. The reason Mark Driscoll chaps people's hides is that he's got a prophetic ministry, calling to folks from the front lines, being a bold voice in just a few areas. The reason I love and appreciate him is that the Church needs men like that who are willing to take a whole lot of flak because they're passionate about seeing the gospel applied in places that we want to ignore. We desperately need Driscoll and guys like him to shake us up about our self-righteousness, our confusion about sexuality, our immaturity.
When it comes to the discussions I mentioned above, the Driscoll Factor means that they draw people on both sides who are passionate, even outspoken and fiery, about that particular issue. So, with The Shack, for example. On one side you have people who say, "Look, not everyone resonates with the Puritans or a systematic theology text. This book can speak to people in their pain, and that's a good thing." What's at stake, to them, is the faith of their wounded brothers and sisters. It's an issue of love. On the other side are the folks who say, "We have to protect the body of Christ from error. Letting heresy slip under the radar because it's in a work of fiction is not okay." What's at stake to these folks is the Gospel, and it's an issue of Truth.
God bless my brothers and sisters at Sojourn, because a conversation like that could so easily have spiraled into name-calling and judgment-pronouncing, but the tone stayed civil and gracious.
And it occurs to me that we desperately need both those voices in the church. We need people to stand up for the hurting, to encourage us not to snuff out the smoldering wick, to remind us of grace, to display mercy and demand mercy from us, as people who have received so much mercy from our loving Father. Without them, we'd be a bunch of loveless, cranky pharisees nit-picking each other's theology until we all spontaneously combusted. We need folks who will thoughtfully defend the Rick Warrens and Dallas Willards and C.S. Lewises of the church for the sake of adorning the Gospel with love.
And we need people to stand up for the truth, to encourage us not to settle for mediocre theology or a watered-down gospel, to remind us of reality, to display integrity and demand integrity from us, as people who have received the very counsel of God in his word. Without them, we'd be a bunch of hippy-dippy weirdos, wallowing in our feel-good love fests while the blinding glory of the gospel slipped through our fingers. We need people who will boldy stand up for the gospel and not back down from exposing error no matter what.
The reason these kinds of discussions get so fiery is because you've got people from both ends of the continuum calling to each other, often without realizing that they're all contributing to the life and health of the church just by having the conversation in a gracious, godly way.
We need each other!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Criticism
Some days I wish I lived in the pre-internet age. Or was Amish. Or something. Days like today, when I see a beautiful quote from a respected, wise, older brother in Christ, and then I see someone else, someone who claims the name of Christ, making snap judgments and hateful accusations about that man's character and doctrine.
Friends, we have to learn -- I have to learn -- to temper our words when we're on the internet. We must. The commands of God not to entertain accusations against an elder without corroboration do not cease to apply online. I'm convinced that a great many Christians are experiencing personal stagnation in their growth in Christlikeness because they constantly allow bitterness, anger, self-righteousness, lovelessness, and pride to gain a hold on them in the comments sections of Christian blogs. How often do we see characteristics and actions that belong to the realm of death in people who call themselves by the name of Christ? Gossip. Slander. Malice.
How foolish! How our enemy must laugh with twisted delight when we use God's language for the Devil's purposes.
Friends, we have to learn -- I have to learn -- to temper our words when we're on the internet. We must. The commands of God not to entertain accusations against an elder without corroboration do not cease to apply online. I'm convinced that a great many Christians are experiencing personal stagnation in their growth in Christlikeness because they constantly allow bitterness, anger, self-righteousness, lovelessness, and pride to gain a hold on them in the comments sections of Christian blogs. How often do we see characteristics and actions that belong to the realm of death in people who call themselves by the name of Christ? Gossip. Slander. Malice.
How foolish! How our enemy must laugh with twisted delight when we use God's language for the Devil's purposes.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
What I Learned When I Gave Up Facebook For Lent
(Not much organization here, peeps -- just a collection of musings.)
I think, worry, and obsess way too much about what other people think of me. In the first several days of my Facebook-free Lent I had far too many moments of, "Oh, man, I wish I could use that as my status update. Bummer." Which of course is all about pride -- wanting people to think I'm smart and clever and funny.
My first impulse in too many situations is to cling to other people rather than looking to Jesus. I mentioned early on in this little experiment that I was learning to pray first rather than write on someone's wall or even pick up the phone.
That surprised me a little -- that the stuff I was learning by giving up Facebook weren't just impacting my online relationships. I talked with my best friend Kelsey a few days ago about the fact that it's unloving for me to depend on her more than I depend on my loving Father. Picking up the phone to call her (or my mom, or a friend, or whoever) ten seconds after I experience a moment of sadness or anxiety or fear -- that's giving too much weight to my deceptive, fickle emotions, and not giving enough credit to my Father, who has told me to cast all my cares on him.
Now that's not to say that I don't value and cherish the friendships the Lord has given me. I do. I believe that the folks in my community group and my precious family and my dear friends both near and far are gifts from the Lord. They can be Jesus to me when I'm hurting or anxious or confused. But I find myself far too quick to dump my "issues" on other people instead of dealing with them before the Lord.
I'll talk a bit later on about how my online time looks different now after this little adventure. Lord willing, it'll be a permanent change for the better.
I think, worry, and obsess way too much about what other people think of me. In the first several days of my Facebook-free Lent I had far too many moments of, "Oh, man, I wish I could use that as my status update. Bummer." Which of course is all about pride -- wanting people to think I'm smart and clever and funny.
My first impulse in too many situations is to cling to other people rather than looking to Jesus. I mentioned early on in this little experiment that I was learning to pray first rather than write on someone's wall or even pick up the phone.
That surprised me a little -- that the stuff I was learning by giving up Facebook weren't just impacting my online relationships. I talked with my best friend Kelsey a few days ago about the fact that it's unloving for me to depend on her more than I depend on my loving Father. Picking up the phone to call her (or my mom, or a friend, or whoever) ten seconds after I experience a moment of sadness or anxiety or fear -- that's giving too much weight to my deceptive, fickle emotions, and not giving enough credit to my Father, who has told me to cast all my cares on him.
Now that's not to say that I don't value and cherish the friendships the Lord has given me. I do. I believe that the folks in my community group and my precious family and my dear friends both near and far are gifts from the Lord. They can be Jesus to me when I'm hurting or anxious or confused. But I find myself far too quick to dump my "issues" on other people instead of dealing with them before the Lord.
I'll talk a bit later on about how my online time looks different now after this little adventure. Lord willing, it'll be a permanent change for the better.
In Case You Don't Know This,
April is National Poetry Month.
I majored in English in college, which means I spent a good chunk of my late teens and early twenties reading, analyzing, and writing poetry -- everything from thousand-year-old Japanese haiku to postmodern poetry written by unreliable authorial personas.
I can't even remember in which class we studied John Donne, but I remember being absolutely amazed and moved to tears by everything of his that I read, and that's true to this day. Every one of his poems that I discover or re-discover stuns me. I forget sometimes just how much I love him.
The best thing about Donne is that someday I'll get to meet him. I wonder if he'll be as cheeky as I imagine him to be?
Anyway, Donne's Holy Sonnets are probably some of the best bits of Christian poetry ever to be written down outside the Scriptures. Go read them, slowly and out loud. And then read this, also slowly and out loud, the fifth poem in Donne's La Corona cycle:
CRUCIFYING.By miracles exceeding power of man,He faith in some, envy in some begat,For, what weak spirits admire, ambitious hate :
In both affections many to Him ran.
But O ! the worst are most, they will and can,
Alas ! and do, unto th' Immaculate,
Whose creature Fate is, now prescribe a fate,
Measuring self-life's infinity to span,
Nay to an inch. Lo ! where condemned He
Bears His own cross, with pain, yet by and by
When it bears him, He must bear more and die.
Now Thou art lifted up, draw me to Thee,
And at Thy death giving such liberal dole,
Moist with one drop of Thy blood my dry soul.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Huh.
Sorry about that whole "accidental blog sabbatical" thing. I didn't mean to ditch y'all, and I don't even have a good excuse this time (computer meltdown, insane busyness, lack of internet, etc. -- nope, none of that). I just didn't have anything to say. That's a symptom/side benefit of giving up Facebook for Lent, which I'll tell y'all about tomorrow.
I have a couple posts in the hopper, and then I'm going to try to get back in a routine.
Also, it's currently like 85 degrees in my condo, so if any of this doesn't make sense, blame it on the fact that I'm being slowly steamed to death.
I have a couple posts in the hopper, and then I'm going to try to get back in a routine.
Also, it's currently like 85 degrees in my condo, so if any of this doesn't make sense, blame it on the fact that I'm being slowly steamed to death.
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