The Theology of Smooshy

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There is always room.

Brunswick Stew

Hello all. Today is a Brunswick Stew day at Warren's Grove. Every time a stew comes around I immediately start thinking about how to apply a stew to a message in the pulpit. I am open to ideas, but I haven't thought of any yet. But, I did run across a great quote about food preparation that I thought all of you would like to hear. This is from the book Leaders Make the Future by Bob Johansen. He says: "Food has always been an interesting medium for expressing the maker instinct. Kitchens are designed for makers, with as much elegance and creativity as the cook would like. In the always-busy world of the future, the desire to prepare meals will be tempered by time. Although people want to be involved in making food for themselves and their families, they won't have hours to invest in cooking." He goes on to show how corporations can capitalize on these two divergent urges by making food products that have some preparation (but not too much). Why I show this quote is due to the fact that Brunswick Stew preparation is a community effort. And it is from scratch!!! And we devote hours upon hours into this preparation. This is getting back to the urge to cook a healthy meal from scratch----while at the same time, continue to be very busy with a family life (the entire family comes)----while at the same time, do all of this together as the gathered body of Christ. As the busy, gathered, eating, and sharing body of Christ we give away almost all of the money raised in mission to Person County and the world. What a beautiful way to live out our faith.

Gathering

Jesus says in Luke 13.34: "How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under he wings, and you were not willing!" Jesus says this while he is overlooking Jerusalem. I think he would say the same thing when he looks over the cities strewn across this world. Jesus' desire is to gather under his arms. This shows us what it means to gather together on the "Lord's Day". We gather under the arms of love that reach out to us----drawing us back to the God who is love. I know countless folks who refuse to be the ones who are gathered. Sometimes it is because we do not like some of the folks that are under those arms. What are we saying when we refuse to gather together under Jesus' arms?

Mortality

On Ash Wednesday I had the opportunity to preach about mortality. I was wondering if you all ever carve out a time to think about mortality? That there is a real thing called death that we all confront. In America we like to do things to make ourselves younger and we oftentimes shrink and hide from the notion of death. As I have been a pastor, it seems like the fragility of life is so apparent. Hence, I end up thinking about our mortality a great deal. I was wondering if you all think about that. You can respond below.

Ash Wednesday

I wanted to make sure that all of you know that you are invited to the Ash Wednesday service that we will be having on Wednesday, February 17th at 7pm. This is a powerful service where we get to dedicate ourselves to taking up our cross and following Jesus. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent and is a time for us to remember to set ourselves apart from the world and grow in our love of God. If you have any questions about this please give me a call or email me. See you then.

Moses in Exodus 34.29-35

The Hebrew word in Exodus 34.29 for shone is karan. This word can be interpreted either as glow [shone] or horns. When the Bible was translated into Latin they mistranslated it as horns. That is why on this carving by Michelangelo Moses has horns on his head. I have always thought it was weird when I saw this carving ----- now I know.

Snow in Roxboro

I am tired of snow. It just keeps coming. Thankfully it is not on the roads today ----- but then later this week it is supposed to snow again. I thought I would just tell you all that I am tired of snow. So that you can feel bad for me and tell me that it snows a lot more up north. Snow, snow, snow. But, my kids did get to make a snow man. Snow.

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

1) A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.
2) God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the bible and by most world religions.
3) The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4) God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life expect when he is needed to resolve a problem.
5) Good people go to heaven when they die.

What do you all think of this?
Dr. Christian Smith (Sociologist) did an analysis of hundreds of American teens and made the diagnosis that they actually practice "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism." Do you think this is an accurate general synopsis of the situation religion finds itself in America?