8 posts tagged “church”

Agi and I have been keeping busy and a few times recently I thought about ditching this blog.  However, I've kept it up for about two years now and so I think I'll try to keep it going mainly as a record to remember what we've been up to.  I am, however, going to try to shorten down my entries.

- Over Thanksgiving, enjoyed meeting Sadie, the new Newfoundland puppy my parents bought;

- Had an exciting time shopping with younger brother Matthew, & Laurel & Agi.  Matthew's favorite color is definitely black currently.

- Saw new Bond movie--was good but not as good as the first "blond Bond" movie.

- Drove up to Portland on Sunday from Sacramento with Mombo & Agi.  Long but scenic.

- Saw Over the Rhine in concert on Monday in Portland with buddies Kalen & Melissa.  Tuesday night we went with sister Melissa and Mark at a funky cool "Living Room Theater" club/movie theater and watched a documentary about the French guy who walked across the WTC towers on a wire; enjoyed a great beer while watching the show, Portland style.

- Last night enjoyed "Arts Night" at our new church and heard several bands, amateur--but quite good--poets, and admired various artists' paintings too.  We love our new church and the friendly, genuine people there.

We're definitely pumped to have found a great church in downtown Portland. Ivy and I realized that going someplace in the city would be the best fit overall.  There's a definite difference between suburban and urban churches.  We could always confirm that we were in a suburban church when the usage of the word "folks" and sports analogies by the pastor would skyrocket.

So things are looking good after going for a couple weeks to http://www.intownchurch.com/  Their services are held in a stunning older church appropriately named "The Old Church"  http://www.oldchurch.org/  It's a beautiful place on many levels.

Harvey Cox is a professor at Harvard's Divinity School and I'm halfway through this book (which I somehow ended up acquiring from my sister Melissa.)  I've enjoyed Cox's academic content and broad knowledge of the world, history, literature and ideas.  The first part laid out a theological perspective on why secularization is a such positive thing for the modern world (e.g. the separation of church and state is essential for living well as a community of people, and Christianity actually rightly promoted this early-on).  He also described the development of the city and how God has been at work in the world promoting political and individual freedom over the centuries (a la Exodus).  I was intrigued by Cox's contention that the Western church has probably overemphasized personal morality (perhaps a vestige of "Greek philosophy" he says?) over structural, societal justice.  But, as I pondered his point that improving the powerlessness and living conditions of the oppressed is what the church needs to focus upon first and foremost,  it seems to me that biblical virtue on a personal level is actually a precondition for justice on a societal level.  It's typically the dishonesty and selfishness of whoever is in power that causes the masses to suffer.  It's the people who cheat on their taxes that keep money from flowing to those who most need it.

I do think, however, that the protestant Western church needs to get its focus off pleasing itself and "petting the sheep" with self-help messages and Starbucks-style cafes installed in mega-facilities.  Are poor people and widows being served by this?

Cox also slammed the efforts of well-intentioned "weekend work sessions" where rich suburban kids would go into poor slums for a couple days and help paint walls, etc.  He suggested instead that the black and white kids get together and knock on white people's doors in suburbia and try to effect political change (the book was written in the 60s).  Overall, it made me wonder how effective and helpful are the week-long "Mexicali" and other short trips where relatively rich Americans do manual labor in Mexican villages and play with the kids.  I did this for three years in high school and was very glad I went.  The best part was having my eyes opened to many Mexicans' living conditions.  But maybe we should have instead taught them English or put on seminars on how to apply for micro-loans from the World Bank?...   Very interesting issues.

I had two weeks off for Christmas and New Year's and the "final weekend of freedom" was a lot of fun.  This past Sat, we went to Alex and Kristen V's place to celebrate their son Luke's 1-year bday.  They had a "doggy" theme which included a hilarious dog-bone shaped pinata which the kids enjoyed smacking around.  After that--and prior to heading to Rebecca S's place for a dinner party in Dublin--we stopped by our favorite spot in Silicon Valley:Castro Street in Mountain View.  In Books Inc., I came across a discounted David McCollough biography on Truman and picked that up.  It should be excellent.

Rebecca had some very interesting co-workers of hers from NASA over for dinner (along with her very kind and funny parents).  The couple sitting across from us were both mathematicians and were lots of fun to talk with.  They were knowledgable about all kinds of topics and since I recently listened to "Science Friday" on NPR where a mathematician had talked about the opportunities to be found in doing mathematics involving the fourth and fifth dimensions and beyond...  I threw that one out there to score some points.

On Sunday, Ivy and I enjoyed meeting up with old high school and youth-group friends Carmen, Mimi, Mary and Jeanne (and spouses) in San Francisco for New Year's eve.  Enjoyed talking with Mimi's new husband Fabio who she met in Italy when she was teaching at an Intl school, and where they now live.  We're going to visit them this Spring and they're planning to do the same while we're in Budapest.  To bring in the new year, we took Bart down to the waterfront in SF and chilled out at a restaurant/bar called "Ozumos."  This was fun but they absolutely need to turn down the "music" (which was unfortunately a bunch of bump & grind rap for the most part).  As we were leaving, we walked by a young guy with blood splattered all over his face and then saw there were three bouncers holding another guy back against the wall.  Then, as we got about 30 feet away, these guys came outside and started fighting again, but--excitingly enough--literally 15 cops on strange motorbikes (not the normal motorcycles) all pulled up and jumped on the pugilists.  We also got to see some beautiful fireworks right near the bay bridge and I'll post some pictures.

Final thought:  Ivy and I really enjoyed listening to a Tim Keller sermon this past weekend as well on my laptop.  It was about how Jesus perfectly combines speaking the truth with empathizing with those in need.  Keller had a good observation that conservatives have a tendency to simply speak the truth while lacking empathy and liberals are often the opposite.  Yes, the verdict:  a healthy dosage of both is is needed.

The most-emailed article this past week in the International Herald Tribune was written by a Univ of Chicago professor entitled "The Anxiety of the Atheists--Religion and Reason."  He notes that there have been a number of new books out recently that are attempting to show why all religion is harmful and false.  He wonders whether this particularly aggressive attack from both academics and mass media (how often do you have priest, for example, portrayed in a positive light on tv or in the movies...) might have a lot to do with the insecurity secularists feel over the failure of the Enlightenment and "modern" society to create a good world to live in.  Here's the last half of the article:

"A deeper and far more unsettling answer, however, is that the popularity of the current counterattack on religion cloaks a renewed and intense anxiety within secular society that it is not the story of religion but rather the story of the Enlightenment that may be more illusory than real.

The Enlightenment story has its own version of Genesis, and the themes are well known: The world woke up from the slumber of the "dark ages," finally got in touch with the truth and became good about 300 years ago in Northern and Western Europe.

As people opened their eyes, religion (equated with ignorance and superstition) gave way to science (equated with fact and reason). Parochialism and tribal allegiances gave way to ecumenism, cosmopolitanism and individualism. Top-down command systems gave way to the separation of church from state, of politics from science. The story provides a blueprint for how to remake and better the world in the image and interests of the West's secular elites.

Unfortunately, as a theory of history, that story has had a predictive utility of approximately zero. At the turn of the millennium it was pretty hard not to notice that the 20th century was probably the worst one yet, and that the big causes of all the death and destruction had little to do with religion. Much to everyone's surprise, that great dance on the Berlin Wall back in 1989 turned out not to be the apotheosis of the Enlightenment.

Science has not replaced religion; group loyalties have intensified, not eroded. The collapse of the Cold War's balance of power has not resulted in the end of collective faiths or a rush to democracy and individualism. In Iraq, the "West is best" default (and its discourse about universal human rights) has provided a foundation for chaos.

Even some children within the enclave are retreating from the Enlightenment in their quest for a spiritual revival; one discovers perfectly rational and devout Jews or Hindus in one's own family, or living down the block. If religion is a delusion, it is a delusion with a future, which it may be hazardous for us to deny. A shared conception of the soul, the sacred and transcendental values may be a prerequisite for any viable society.

John Locke, who was almost everyone's favorite political philosopher at the time of the founding of the United States, was a very tolerant man. In his 1689 "Letter Concerning Toleration," he advocated a policy of live and let live for believers in many faiths, even heretics. But he drew the line at atheists. He wrote: "Lastly, those are not at all to be tolerated who deny the being of God. Promises, covenants and oaths, which are the bonds of human societies, can have no hold upon an atheist. The taking away of God, though but even in thought, dissolves all."

Instead of waging intellectual battles over the existence of god(s), those of us who live in secular society might profit by being slower to judge others and by trying very hard to understand how it is possible for John Locke and our many atheist friends to continue to gaze at each other in such a state of mutual misunderstanding."

On Sunday, we checked out the new church plant that is an extension of our existing church (Peninsula Bible Church).  The meeting was in the evening in Willow Glen--a suburb of San Jose.  Having the meeting in the evening reminded me of the college service at First Baptist in Davis which was also held at night.  There's often something festive and cozy about meeting up at night and right now we prefer this over meeting in the mornings.  In fact, as I think about it, I always loved attending youth group in high school on Wednesday nights and walking across the dark courtyard of Foothill Covenant toward the lit-up "youth room" with acoustic guitar being played and singing.  So much promise was held in that room and it was fitting that it appeared as the "light in the darkness."  You'd also hear the pleasant sounds of highschoolers talking, laughing and goofing off.  For a couple years, our youth pastor, Russ Blake would drive about 10 of us home in the van and this was huge fun in itself.  He let us do "Chinese firedrills" in which we'd jump out and run around the van at stoplights at least a couple times every night.  Ah... a nice tangent and trip down memory lane.)

The pastor at the new PBC service is going through I Corinthians which hit upon the importance of avoiding divisions amongst different groups of people.  He also noted that one of the key goals of life is "to love others in community."  This is pretty profound and, in fact, made me think of how I would like to keep in touch with good friends that I don't live near any longer and that the world of blogs/pictures/journals/updates can help a lot with this!  I'm liking Vox and you should get yourself a site too!

After a fairly tiring Friday (especially for Ivy who has a lot going on with her classes, job as a Webmaster, and occassional battles with Kaiser's bureaucracy), we were up for some fun in the evening. We cruised over to Santana Row (a faux-European pedestrian street that is pretty lively with shops, restaurants a big bookstore, a Fantasia boba cafe and an art gallery) and went up to the lounge in the funky hotel Valencia. The place is definitely classy & cool with walls of beads you have to pass through to enter into a dimly-lit area filled with couches and candles. There was some funky music in the background and we expected Vaughn and Sydney from Alias to show up at any moment.  There's also a balcony that overlooks the street. In honor of the new James Bond movie coming out (we haven't seen it yet), I ordered a martini (though James probably doesn't get his with apple flavor like I did) and Ivy got a mojito.

We then walked over to the theater and saw the outrageous, crude and yet quite funny Borat movie with Sacha Baron Cohen. Jesse S had first told us about him and his Ali-G persona a few years ago and we were amused just by hearing about his exploits as a hip-hop interviewer of important people (e.g. he interviewed Andy Rooney and Pat Buchanan. He asked Pat, "Yo, so why was dere no BLTs found in Iraq? Yo, so how long was you President?.... Just like with Ali G, Cohen's comic talent lies in asking interesting people stupid questions and then seeing how they react. What he also did as Borat quite a bit was expose people's prejudices regarding Jews, gays, muslims, etc. Overall, though, I was impressed with how most of the Americans he interviewed proved themselves very courteous and surprisingly tolerant. Of course, he exposed some dark prejudices that many people harbor and he went after some ignorant people who he was pretty sure would provide some incendiary comments for all to see. Although he went over the top in many areas (vicious jokes regarding Jews in particular--though he is Jewish; and the naked wrestling scene with his "Kazhak" friend took raunchiness to new heights), overall we are glad we saw it.

On Saturday, we went rollerblading in the afternoon, cleaned our place and worked on our websites. On Sunday, pastor Bernard Bell delivered another excellent message. Bernard is a very kind, serious and smart Scottish guy who has been teaching from Revelation all five years that we've been at PBC--our church has 4 main pastors who switch off teaching.  I also think it's very cool that Bernard and his wife went to the Isle of Patmos (which is where the book of Revelation was written) for his vacation a few years ago.  The text was Rev 17 and the topic was the strong contrast between the "Great City" (which probably referred to Rome and similar "great" cities built by powerful men) and the "Holy City" (which is a "city" of human beings redeemed by God).

Here is a key part of the message that I've pasted in from PBC's website. It's something I'd like to remember. Ironically enough, this weekend was kind of a tale of two guys with the name starting with "B": Borat and Bernard...

"The great city is the city built by humanity away from the Lord’s presence; its horizon is earth-bound. The holy city is the city built by God. It is the city where God is. It is this and this alone that makes it the holy city."... The big question is, "Does that delight us?" Is it enough that the defining characteristic of the holy city is that God is there? Is it God himself that we long for? Or are we after his benefits: a successful life, a home in the right neighborhood and the right school district, a good job, kids who "are above average," life free from pain, angst and regret?

In his sermon "The Weight of Glory" C. S. Lewis states,

We allow ourselves to be satisfied with the wares of the great city when God offers us something so much greater, he offers us himself. Earlier we sang, "I have no longings for another, I’m satisfied in him alone." Could you sing that with meaning? As John Piper is fond of saying, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." Do you believe that? Are you satisfied in God? Do you even want to be satisfied in God?

In the first paragraph of his Confessions, Augustine wrote,

Does the thought of God stir you deeply?

In The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs writes of a paradox in the life of the Christian:

Are you looking to be satisfied with something other than God himself? Seeking satisfaction in something other than God is characteristic of the great city, not the holy city.

Revelation ends with a vision of the Holy City, the new Jerusalem:

Here we have it again: the chief characteristic of the Holy City is that God is there. Here we have the fulfilment of the heart of God’s promise, oft-repeated throughout Scripture: "I will be your God, you will be my people and I will dwell with you." That fundamentally is what God is up to. But is that what you want? Do you want God himself?

The last six chapters of Revelation present us these two cities: the great city, Babylon, the prostitute; and the holy city, New Jerusalem, the bride. God wants us to experience the rapture of a bride for her husband, not the intoxication of a client for a prostitute.

It is by having our eyes fixed upon the holy city, and realizing that the chief characteristic of the holy city is that God is there, that we can resist the seductions of the earthly city, the great city. But if it is not God that you desire, you’ll be open to all the seductions of the earthly city. The great city has much to offer that will satisfy for a moment. But the great city cannot satisfy the deepest places of the human heart, because humanity was not created to be a race of city-builders, humanity was not created to live apart from God. God created people to live with himself in the city which he builds. We also sang, "When he calls me it will be paradise: his face forever to behold." Is that how you define paradise: to behold the face of God?

May God break us of our earthly appetites, intensify our appetite for himself, and then deeply satisfy us with himself. Amen."

This past week, I've noticed a connection between a number of things that I wanted to write down before I forget about them.  It started with how I've been seeing more clearly how food, wine, coffee, even water all have a lot more flavor and texture to enjoy if you simply focus upon them and savor what you're eating or drinking.  For example, tonight Ivy blessed me with another phenomenal meal and I made a point of appreciating all of the unique and delightful flavors that went along with it.  Identifying all the unique spices, etc.

But this process of savoring and appreciating something extends far beyond food and drink.  I've been reading a book Laurel loaned me called "Einstein's Dreams" and it's written by a professor who is a physicist.  It describes the various different worlds that Einstein imagined would result if the physics of the universe were changed and time worked differently than it does in our universe.  For example, if time were circular, people would continually repeat their lives endlessly.  Or, if time flowed faster in some parts of the earth, and slower in others, people would age faster based upon where they live.  The book is extremely well-written with beautiful descriptions of these alternative worlds.  Besides being an interesting book, however, what I've taken away is the important of appreciating and savoring time and life itself as it moves along in a linear way.  We shouldn't live in the past or the future but we should focus upon and relish each individual moment NOW.  (I recall my Davis roommate Andy had a book on Pascal's Pensees and Pascal has a great aphorism on this very point of living in the present).  So, in addition to relishing the complexity and various flavors of food and drink- we should do so with the time God has given us.

Finally--and along these lines-- a few weeks ago Ivy and I saw the Girl With a Pearl Earring (good overall).  The highlight for me was when the painter Vermeer told the young girl to look at the clouds outside and say what color she saw.  She said initially, "white."  But then when she looked closer and stared, she said "and green, blue, yellow, red..."

I found the Pascal quote.  (I love the internet):

"47. We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or we recall the past as if to stay its too rapid flight. We are so unwise that we wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does; so vain that we dream of times that are not and blindly flee the only one that is. The fact is that the present usually hurts. We thrust it out of sight because it distresses us, and if we find it enjoyable, we are sorry to see it slip away. We try to give it the support of the future, and think how we are going to arrange things over which we have no control for a time we can never be sure of reaching.

Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so. (172)"