bierkergaard

I have been doing a lot of reading of the Bible and commentators on the use of the sword. This has been a reaction to hearing Shane Claiborne advocate the laying down of arms unilaterally. I take Shane seriously, so his arguments deserve attention. Shane advocated no response from the West to the 9-11 attacks. He may personally not seek justice against an enemy who violated him specifically, that is his Christian choice (forgiveness does not preclude punishment), but he has no right to dictate the terms of response of the aggrieved families, friends, communities, and our nation, to the attacks. He illegitimately subsumes the right to respond. His position, supposedly ethical , is profoundly unsettling, in that he seems to view that his prerogative should predominate. There is much about Shane that I admire and respect, but on this, he is wrong. There should be times when Christians should object to the unjust use of force. Our invasion of Iraq, especially in retrospect was unjust. Afgh...

On Tuesday night, I had the good pleasure of sitting at the feet of Shane Claiborne...literally. The church was so crowded that the only place where I could sit was on the floor, feet away from the lectern where he was speaking. I could have kicked him if I wanted to. Of course, I didn't. I kept having to pull my long legs to my chest as to not trip him as he moved around animatedly. Shane is one of the founders and public face of The Simple Way , a movement of community-minded evangelical Christians who reside in the badlands of Philadelphia. Kensington, I have been there. Speaking of face, see his picture in the 'hood. The Simple Way serves the community, showing a radical commitment to loving one's neighbor. And it is love in practical ways: Food, shelter, clothing, companionship. Much like Jesus selecting the down-and-outers to do His ministry. Really, all of us are down-and-outers. That's the point, no matter how good we look and smell. I know something must gi...

Continuing the boat theme from the last post... Saw a truly odd thing when we were walking the beach of Malibu while out in California. This unmanned sail boat had shipwrecked on the beach. Inside the boat was a recording studio of sorts. Aqua Rock. People were actually stripping stuff off the boat like vultures and carrion. Couldn't help but notice that the name "Zeus" on it. Apparently the "god of the sky" title did not include the seas. You know, the gods fail us when needed most. Storms hit and the gods are in the drink with us. Good to know Jesus is the Master of the Universe, waves inclusive. Mark 4:35-41 35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, aslee...

Today I was reading a verse in a Devotional about Peter walking on water and then sinking. Kind of a curious mix of supernatural success and all-too-human natural failure. I am not going to slam Peter. At least Peter got his ass out of the boat. Peter looks at the winds' effect on the waves (circumstances) and starts to drop like a rock. My theory of what was going on here is that Peter saw the waves in tumult and began to focus on himself (self-preoccupation). Taking his eyes off Christ, made his feet lead. Yet, when he started to sink...He called out to Christ. There is a progression here that is wise for us to contemplate. Matthew 14:30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted.

So, I took down the Christmas lights tonight. It was not a big job. 30 seconds, one strand, one tree. I am a Minimalist, decrying the gaudiness and garish lights a-flashing. Actually, less labor. There are still some hangers on with the lights up in the hood. Poignant, painful. In Autumn, leaves fall from trees. In Winter, Christmas lights come down. I can hardly contemplate now the empty Easter candy bowl and smokey remains after the firework 4th of July finale. So much loss... Part of the wonder of life is that nothing ultimate goes on forever in this world. That should inculcate appreciation and inoculate against entitlement. The reality that we are always on a roller coaster of experience. We wait in line in anticipation, we go for a wild ride, and then we walk away looking back. If lights were on the tree in year round, besides saving me a ton of work, it would get old fast like mozzarella sticks out of the oven for more than five minutes. Yet, I do hope a couple of neighbors lea...

On Friday, I spent a good portion the day searching for missing scissors that are a part of the kitchen knife set. My pattern is to put things back where they belong because I am absent-minded and don't recall where I left something. It is a lesson I learned with my dorm key in college. I suspected I was the guilt party in the scissors' AWOL as Lina, though more prone to not return objects to their location of origin, also remembers where she leaves things. So, I confessed that I was in all likelihood the guilty party. Preemptive coming clean. Far easier to assume guilt and be shown to be innocent than to protest innocence and found later to be guilty. Lina was chill about the lost scissors advising me to give up the hunt. It became more of a personal quest. Finally, I gave up the search, still firmly confused as to the scissors vanishing act. It kind of ruined my Friday...we can bleed emotionally from substantial slashes or small cuts. This was the latter. When we arrived at a...