Category Archives: Faith

Faith, Oklahoma culture

Three Laughs with the Wizard of Oz: A Profile of Bob Waldrop

Editor’s Note – Today across Oklahoma, thousands of citizens are picking up their Oklahoma Food Cooperative orders.  They’ll be assisted by hundreds of volunteers to pick and check their orders from producers all over the state.  We’re re-running this essay we posted last October as a reminder to consider joining this highly positive system of sustainability in Oklahoma.  Later today, we’ll introduce you to a Storm Tracker and his life. Have a wonderful day ~ The Editor

Bob Waldrop - Photo borrowed from his Facebook page with permission.

I recently ran into someone who went to church where Bob Waldrop serves as the Director of Music.  When his name came up they responded, “Oh, yeah…we know him.  We call him the Great and Powerful Oz.  That guy really is something else.”  They laughed and I joined them.  I joined them for the same reason that anyone would join in a joke:  because it was true.  I had never put my finger on a description that fit this man, but people within his congregation at the Church of the Epiphany had summed it up in one phrase.

“The Wizard of Oz” was a character who was revered, feared, was a mystery and who people thought might just have the answers or solutions to every problem they carried with them.  However, the Wizard ended up being a down to earth human being who had done the best he could to build an idea from which hundreds and possibly thousands of people had benefited.  He also, however, contained the notions and practicality of finding virtues in those who sought him out; he was able to pass along something of value to them so that they believed in themselves…and in something bigger than themselves.  Yes, Bob was Oz. Continue reading Three Laughs with the Wizard of Oz: A Profile of Bob Waldrop →

Barbershop Theology

Barbershop Theology: Let’s Make A Deal

I suppose it was a Saturday afternoon. It could have easily been a weekday in early summer. Hair clippings clumped around the base of my dad’s barber chair and it was my habit to grab a broom and sweep from time to time. (A habit highly encouraged by my dad).

The barber shop had three, huge store-front windows. They seemed particularly large to an eleven year old who had to clean them. The sunshine across Evans Avenue was long gone. The air was peculiarly static.  Folks outside moved purposefully to their vehicles, casting weary glances at an ominous gathering of clouds.

A storm was coming. It had been a topic of conversation that afternoon in the barber shop.

In Oklahoma, there is often a strange stillness and weightiness to the air before a storm. We have “thunder-boomers” and tornados; it’s not a storm unless it affects you personally. There weren’t sophisticated weather reports and no such things as Doppler radar. We stepped out front to survey the color of the sky, the smell of the air and checked horizons for wall clouds.  It had grown too dark to tell very much, and it was still the middle of the day.

I don’t remember how the storm front arrived; I am very familiar with hundreds of Oklahoma storm fronts since. I do remember looking across the street at the large trees behind the Malone Ford Dealership.  The tops of trees were starting to whip violently. This was turning into the scariest storm of my young life. There was blowing debris, the building creaked, and the windows actually bowed.  I was terrified! Continue reading Barbershop Theology: Let’s Make A Deal →

Barbershop Theology

Barbershop Theology: Identify Theft

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"Lady Barber," ~ WW II era, photo curteousy of Carol Pearse

Who are you? The class clown? The jock, the drama girl, the tall guy, the dud with the funny laugh?  He’s the cowboy, she’s the artist. It’s interesting how we identify ourselves and others.

Sometimes our profession becomes our identity.  I am a doctor, a teacher, a plumber, a mechanic, or a zoo keeper.  That’s a good one — Zoo Keeper.

For a part of her life my mom was “the lady barber.” In fact, I was with her just the other day and she referred to herself as a retired barber. I thought it was odd at the time, I mean; she does about a hundred other things really, really well. She is a singer, an artist, a collector, a genealogist, a Sunday school teacher, a mom and she is Grandma.

Back to the “lady barber” moniker – Dad’s shop had two barber chairs and he was particularly busy on Tuesday afternoons and all day Saturday. Mom got her barbers license and went to work on those days. If you called her a hair dresser you would be corrected immediately. She far prefers the title barber. Believe me, she would have no problem setting that record straight. Continue reading Barbershop Theology: Identify Theft →

Faith, Woman2Woman

The Righteous Nest

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With the experience of Easter 2011 fresh in my mind, I decided it was fitting to share a story about my daughter’s ability to inspire those around her with her insight into God’s word.  I originally documented this story back in 2009, so she would have been 4 years old.  Enjoy!
Bailey has always had big thoughts and a big attitude.  These attributes serve her well in many situations, and contribute to her downfall in an equal number of others.  On the positive side, her big thoughts also apply to things of a spiritual nature.  From an early age, she was always asking questions, and regularly offered simple yet poignant interpretations of favorite Bible stories.  In fact, we loved to engage her in deep conversation about any and all things as, if nothing else, her theories provided a new perspective on “old” ideas.
Out of the blue one day, she came to her grandmother (my MIL Jeanne) and asked, “What is a righteous nest?” While questions were not uncommon, even ones that required a good deal of head scratching before a response could be summoned, this particular question seemed quite odd.

“What do you mean, a righteous nest? Where did you hear it?”

Bailey, as she was known to do, sighed with exasperation.

“It’s in that song. The one where God has a righteous nest.” Continue reading The Righteous Nest →

Faith

Simple Sabbath: All Things New


Several years ago I lived through a nightmare. A very close friend lost his thirteen year old son. He was a good kid, a little bit goofy, but a handsome young man who sparkled with innocence and energy.  The doctors did not save him; there was no option for an experimental drug or miracle treatment. In a terrible accident, this teenager died — a healthy boy who awakened that morning with his whole life ahead of him; a child lying in a funeral home that night.

It was horrible.

My friend and I sat on the back porch late into the evening.  I could feel the emptiness, the darkness of Dad’s soul. I’ve never felt more helpless; it was so final, and it felt so unfair, unnatural and wrong. I spoke at the funeral. I was angry. I was angry with the boy, I was angry with me . . . and I was angry toward God. Death was not welcomed, it was wretched. By faith I summoned words to convey a better life to come and how we would all see our young friend someday in heaven. The whole time I never once doubted that God is good, and that we can trust Him. But, I can still remember the anger. Continue reading Simple Sabbath: All Things New →

Barbershop Theology, Man Cave

Barbershop Theology, Part Five: Down on Their Luck

I was sitting in a waiting chair as my dad whisked his barber clippers in short motions at the back of his customer’s neck. Another Saturday in the barbershop, a lazy afternoon of casual greetings, conversations about the weather . . .  I was probably reading a Richie Rich comic book.

The scene is quite clear to me because it was the second such experience of the summer. As the barber shop shoe shine boy I was privy to this man’s world of adult conversations and a wide variety of news and opinions.  This day the door opened, banged back and then opened for a gentleman who as pushing it with a crutch. I’m sure I stared.

He pulled himself into the barbershop and with clarity of speech and standing erect to muster some dignity he declared himself a beggar and would be most appreciative it anyone could help a fella who was ‘down on his luck.’  I stared because the man only had one leg and one arm. The lines etched into his face suggested that life had been hard for him. Very hard.

I’ll never forget my dad’s two questions. First, dad asked him how he had lost his arm and leg.  Without hesitating the fellow said that he had been trying to jump a train and he had ‘miscalculated’ the jump. Bad luck seemed to be the theme of his life, or at least that was his perception and he even conveyed a resigned attitude about it.

Then my dad asked, “Do you drink?” (My dad could cut to the chase like that.) Continue reading Barbershop Theology, Part Five: Down on Their Luck →

Barbershop Theology

Barbershop Theology, Part 3: Table or Booth?

Now that I live in a metropolitan area I have adapted to the magic of the business lunch. “Hey, let me buy you lunch sometime and we’ll talk about that.” Recently my schedule called for three breakfast meetings, four lunch meetings and a couple of dinner things.

Lunch was altogether different at the barber shop. I recall watching the clock, growing hungry and for a lull that would allow us to go eat. Since my family rarely ate outside the home, walking across the street to Woody’s Café loomed as a Saturday treat. Over the years I passed the hamburger-and-fries stage and grew to anticipate a cheeseburger with onion rings.

One day I ordered with Mom. (She was the Saturday help, extra barber, and that’s another story to be told later.) Anyway, she ordered a chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and corn. And I learned to love cottage cheese with peaches. Taking my break from the shoe shine chair and eating at the café was a welcomed relief. The food was a much anticipated treat.

To this day one of my small habits is to seek out a rural diner/café/restaurant. One where there are family pictures on the wall, a sports schedule for the local high school team, out-dated décor and pictures with horses. Continue reading Barbershop Theology, Part 3: Table or Booth? →

Barbershop Theology, Oklahoma culture

Barbershop Theology: Relationship before Rules – Part II

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Quanah Parker "...is arguably the perfect representative of the good, bad and ugly of the treaties, tribes and tumult of America's westward expansion."

We do not become good so that God will love us.  Rather, it is the love of God that makes us good.

Quanah Parker is arguably the perfect representative of the good, bad and ugly of the treaties, tribes, and tumult of America’s westward expansion. Quanah’s story is remarkable and more particularly, his mother’s story is a plotline in many of great movie westerns. Indeed, hers is a remarkable tale as well.

Growing up in Apache, Oklahoma I had school mates who were direct descendants of the Comanche Indian chief, Quanah Parker. Parker has many descendants. He married seven times, though he never kept more than three at a time. When an Indian Agent told him that he would have to choose only one wife, Quanah replied, “You choose and you tell ‘em.” Continue reading Barbershop Theology: Relationship before Rules – Part II →

Barbershop Theology, Man Cave

Barbershop Theology, Pt. 4: “The Nose Knows”

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Do you smell that?  I can.

There are certain types of floor polish that smell just like my old elementary school in Apache, Oklahoma.  On rare occasions I will walk into a building to the perfect combinations of soaps, cleaners and mop bucket — boom! Ahhhhh, there it is—the long hallway that takes me down to Mrs. Alexander’s fourth grade classroom. A thousand images flood my mind when I get a certain whiff of my youth.

I’m surprised we could smell anything at all back in the sixties. Everybody smoked. Part of my job as the barber shop shoe shine boy was emptying ash trays. Let’s just say, I emptied them a lot. These days I nearly gag whenever anyone within a quarter-mile lights up a cigarette.

I can smell my memories.   I think that’s why I’m always looking for a barber shop that smells right.  If I walked into something like Spring-Fresh-Potpourri I would turn around and leave. Surely there’s a man law about this: There shall be no potpourri in a barber shop. So what makes a barber shop smell right?  Jeris Hair Tonic, Butch Wax and clipper oil—these contribute basic components to real barber shop smell.

On Fridays, several customers would make their way in from the Sale Barn where cattle had been auctioned. The Angus, Herefords and multi-various bulls, cows and calves were fond of leaving green souvenirs which the men’s boots would inevitably pick up. The barber shop took on even more character when the farmers and ranchers came to town. Smells good don’t it?

Don’t ask me why I love some of the aromas of my youth so much. My best answer will be nostalgia, sentimentality, or perhaps a coping mechanism which works to suppress my neurosis.  Saddle soap, leather dye and cowboys boots dipped in a cow lot—man if somebody would bottle that I’d wear it as cologne! Continue reading Barbershop Theology, Pt. 4: “The Nose Knows” →

Barbershop Theology

Barbershop Theology Pt. 1: Relationship Before Rules

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1965 with my little brother and sister . . . age 9, a workin' man.

My first job was a great gig. I learned a lot about responsibility, customer service, work ethic and satisfaction in a job well done. I was a shoeshine boy.

In 1965 my dad gave me a corner of his barbershop and spotted me the money to buy Kiwi Shoe Polish, saddle soap and a few brushes.  The pool hall owner, George, gave me a couple of strips of pool table fabric. I used the green felt to finish each shoe shine with a brisk buff.

The cost for a shine was 2 bits (that’s a quarter). Often times I would get a ten cent tip. I could finish a long Saturday with a pocket full of change, black fingers and the swagger of a workin’ man. (Oh the stories I can tell you about my years in the barber shop. Lord willing, I shall do so in posts to come.)

Of course you are wondering, “Hmmm, and just how do I get a cool job like that?”

Well, you don’t have to go to college or anything. In fact, I got my start when I was nine years old. I don’t even remember interviewing for the job. Continue reading Barbershop Theology Pt. 1: Relationship Before Rules →

Faith

Simple Sabbath: Comanche County Burgs

Postcard showing Meers Burgers and Store in Meers, Oklahoma.

Down in southwest Oklahoma there are a group of burgs that are filled with great people. Ninnekah to Rush Springs, go west from Rush Springs and you’ll hit Sterling. Keep going you can roll through Elgin. Turn right in Elgin and you can find Fletcher or Cyril. Keep going west and stop at Porter Hill.

Now if you’re really savvy you know where we are headed. Maintaining westerly course you’ll find yourself on the Meers Porter Hill Road that runs smack into Meers itself. They tell me it’s famous, but I grew up not that far away and it’s just Meers. I don’t have a great spiritual thought regarding Meers and Meers Burger. I just want you to know that I know where it is.

I really just want to go back through Elgin and stop between there and Sterling. I used to drive from Apache to pick up my high school sweetheart out there. I met my Sterling girl (that’s where she attended all twelve years of school) in 1972. We’ve been sort of an item ever since.

Right out of high school I married a Sterling Lady Tiger. It wasn’t an Elgin Owl, not a Fletcher Wildcat, not a Cyril Pirate or Cement Bulldog. This Apache Warrior thought that country girl was the catch of his life. And now, nearly forty years later, I still think she’s the one.

We Got Married

Ok, this is where we transition to that faith part of my writing assignment. When we got married she took my last name. How about that? Or, as we Apachean’s say, “Ain’t that sumpthin?”

We were way too young when we got married. The odds were stacked against us in many ways. Continue reading Simple Sabbath: Comanche County Burgs →

Faith

Simple Sabbath: Suffering the Indiginity of it all

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Image by the Associated Press.

If you’re a country kid in Oklahoma you remember these words, “The bus is coming!”  My brother and I could actually see the bus coming from about a half mile away. Mr. Beavers was a permanent fixture behind the steering wheel. He was an icon of rural route bus driving in his OshKosh overalls, Apache Farmers’ Coop hat and stoic face forward.

On that bus pure evil thrived. To Mr. Beaver’s defense, it wasn’t his fault.

There was this kid who took it upon himself to dismantle and utterly destroy the spirit of a couple of overweight, homely and underprivileged girls who rode that bus. The evil boy couldn’t tell you why he detested the girls, nor could he tell you why their “F’s” on spelling papers evoked his disdain.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

Their hand-me-down dresses with patches were particularly good fodder for the boy’s arsenal of contempt. If the girls seemed to be laughing or dared do anything except sit quietly they would be subject to ridicule. It went on for about a semester. It was mean. It was a form of murder, the killing of those poor girls’ souls.

I didn’t directly engage in the aggression. I did something worse. I laughed.

Sticks and stones may break my bones,

But words, those vile, insidious words,

What suffering when malice brings,

It’s what makes junior high HELL. Continue reading Simple Sabbath: Suffering the Indiginity of it all →

Faith

Simple Sabbath: Sidekicks & Shows About Nothing

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"Arrr, grrr, garble, grrrr, howlllll, arrr *and all sorts of Chewy noises*" (translation: I'm not the sidekick, I'm the main character! Who said I was the sidekick?!)

I don’t know who invented the sidekick, but there should be a lifetime achievement award going to someone. There are many famous sidekicks. For Fred Flintstone, Lone Ranger, Johnny Carson and Sherlock Holmes – they are: Barney Ruble, Tonto, Ed McMahon and Dr. Watson, respectively.

A sidekick does not get center stage or major billing; the supporting role is always subordinate to the main character. (Oh, like you didn’t know that… drive a stake: subordinate to the main character.)

I’m sure there is another blog that extols the virtues of distinguished sidekicks. But I mu st note, just for the record, that the greatest sidekick of all time is Tonto. He had dignity, he had a horse named Scout, and he was fit.

Stories

We are geared for stories and we love heroes. We especially love stories with heroes who have cool sidekicks. I wonder if sidekicks know they are sidekicks?  I mean really, think about it… I’ll bet Chewbacca thought he was the main character. But come on man, who’s he trying to kid? *

Yes, there are stories. We all like to think that we have our own story. But I submit that there is but one Story, The Story and there is only one Hero, capital ‘H’.

The Star of the Gospel –God, the author of all that is, authors the ultimate story. His story begins in creation; the Bible is His script beginning to end. He reveals Jesus, the true and better Hero. The interesting thing about regular guys like me, is that we somehow think we are the main character. For the most part we pretend to write our own script (Can you say tragedy?); there are self-salvation projects too (all a farce).

The Gospel rewrites our dead-end characters.

By casting Self as the main character, we become comfortable with sprinkling verses from God’s Script to help our story along. According to bumper stickers, Jesus becomes our “best friend” or “co-pilot.” Man fancies himself a “friend of God” because he is willing to let Jesus play a supporting role. But the hero of the God’s story does not accept supporting roles. God has given Him pre-eminence; He must have first place in everything. Continue reading Simple Sabbath: Sidekicks & Shows About Nothing →

Barbershop Theology, Oklahoma culture

Barbershop Theology (Introduction): “I Give You My Word.”

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I grew up in Apache, Oklahoma. The air there is thick with Oklahoma culture; tribal Pow Wows, local rodeo hands, Mo Betta western wear, grazing cattle, sweeping wheat fields, Friday night football and salt-of-the-earth people.  These things describe my childhood home.

My dad was the town barber. As the shoe-shine boy and floor sweeper I spent hundreds, probably thousands of hours in Caldwell’s Barber Shop of Apache.  I learned to appreciate community and I met a lot of wonderful characters. It seems like yesterday and at the same time it seems like another age.

In my dad’s shop, and around the town, I saw a lot of business deals, from renting pasture and horse deals all the way to car trades and services to be rendered. The transactions were typically hinged on a final understanding:  knowing whose word to trust and when bovine excrement was in the mix. And I learned that a man was “as good as his word.”

In the beginning was the Word – the Gospel of John

Even before time and existence the Word is. The Gospel of John, in poetic form, unveils the declaration of eternal reality. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. This passage does not refer to “In the beginning” of all time and created existence. It refers to what is without beginning, the Infinite; In the beginning God . . .

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,

(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)

full of grace and truth.

If you want to touch truth, if you want to inhale grace, you have to take God at his Word. That phrase, “dwelt among us” is particularly a part of the disclosure of God. It refers pitching his tent, coming into our midst to abide.

Nelson Mandela noted, when we speak to someone in a language he understands, we reach his head. If we talk his language, we reach his heart. God spoke our language when the Word became flesh.

Continue reading Barbershop Theology (Introduction): “I Give You My Word.” →

Faith

Simple Sabbath: Anthems, Cheeleaders and Downs…and Ups

Opportunity

What a great opportunity! You must be doing something right in your career if you are asked to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.

February 6, 2011
Sunday –I put away the book I have been reading as my wife pulls the home-made pizza out of the oven. It’s Super Bowl Sunday at my house. It is getting close to pregame hype and kickoff. After a brief panic — “Ahggg, where’s the remote?” — I go old-school and turn the television on MANually.

Christina Aguilera singing the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLV.

Nestling into my spot on the couch I am good to go. I have pizza, drink and smugly think, I don’t need no stinking remote, I’m watching all the commercials. (Yes, I have bad grammar in my thought life.)

“And now singing our National Anthem,” I hear the public address announcer’s voice, “Christina Aguilera.” Two things go through my mind:
1. Hey, they shoulda got that Youtube, homeless guy to introduce her, that would be cool;
2. Oh, so that’s Christina Aguilera.

She starts singing and I quickly conclude, oh yes, she’s waaay better than me. This pizza is good.

“Don’t get any of that on the couch,” I hear a familiar voice from the kitchen say.

And then, whoops! What? Did she just… I think she messed up. FUMBLE! Another bite of pizza — nice recovery Christi, I muse, and for a brief second or two I feel badly for her. Bless her heart, thats gotta be tough. You know she feels just terrible.

As I reach for another piece of pizza I see the Facebook notice lighting up on my Blackberry. People seem to have opinions about our Anthem and Aguilera. Since I am viewing remote-less, I juggle my pizza and phone to read the comments. The early opinions seem to be that she is now the worst person on the planet. Ouch, tough crowd.

“Are you using a napkin?” that same lady in the kitchen asks.

Continue reading Simple Sabbath: Anthems, Cheeleaders and Downs…and Ups →

Faith

Simple Sabbath: The Kingdom of God

Luther in Worms

When Martin Luther stood confidently before the Diet of Worms in 1521, he was emboldened by his devotion to the Word of God. Luther lived much of his early life oppressed by the guilt and burden of religion. But a careful reading of God’s Word and the conviction of the Holy Spirit offered him freedom. Luther achieved liberty by faith in Jesus Christ. His voice sparked the Protestant Reformation. Yet, Luther faced an almost certain death unless he would recant and soften his position on the authority of Scripture. His response was this:

I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.

Here I stand; I can do no other, so help me God.

Some 450 years later, another Martin would initiate a fire of change in America. Martin Luther King, Jr. became an iconic figure of the Civil Rights movement. Dr. King preached nonviolence in a war against segregation and discrimination. He was committed to non-retaliation; he preached the merits of love and a passion for peaceful, civil disobedience. And the backlash was intense – Dr. King was sharply criticized by both blacks and whites. He was beaten and struck with bricks; his house was bombed, and ultimately he was assassinated.

Both Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, Jr. suffered persecution as they prompted and promoted change.  But it was not only they who suffered—men and women who chose to follow these great leaders suffered consequences for their commitments to truth and justice. They understood that to share a leader’s vision meant that they might share in his persecution as well.

Admirer or Follower?

I have been greatly intrigued by the biographies of both of these great men.  Studying the contexts of their lives and the effects of their ministries inspires me.  I am staggered what they endured.  I admire them greatly.  But to be honest, I don’t know if I could have followed them. Why? I am a chicken at heart.  Daily, I pray for the grace to overcome obstacles that cripple my pursuit of truth. I want God’s will. I want to do more than admire the right path; I want to follow it.

The study of the Kingdom of God proposes a question for each person. Are we satisfied to be admirers of Jesus, or are we willing to become followers?  What are the implications of being a fully devoted follower of Christ?

Continue reading Simple Sabbath: The Kingdom of God →

Faith

Simple Sabbath: The Gospel in an Alabaster Jar

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Wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done shall also be spoken of in memory of her. Matthew 26:13

First, a small etymological exercise: gospel – our Old English form of this word is godspell, god (long o) which is good –  spell or story/message, translation of Latin. bona adnuntiatio, itself a translation of the Greek word euangelion “reward for bringing good news.”

The context of our verse is the impending crucifixion of our Lord Jesus. Jesus encounters a woman who pours a very expensive amount of perfume on his head. Jesus tells his indignant disciples that she has done “a beautiful thing.” (see Matthew 26, Mark 14)

By all means, build your life on the gospel. Let’s see a few ways that the perfume incident helps us convey the gospel of Jesus –

1. Jesus said wherever the gospel is preached, the story of this woman should be told. It is a story of passion for Jesus. It is a story of total sacrifice. It is a story of pouring out all earthly possessions to express a heart devoted to Christ the Lord. We must tell such faith stories.  Apologetics, reason, sound doctrine, etc., — all are important as we share the gospel. But few people come to Christ as a result of logic or debate. The power of the gospel is a testimony of faith. Concern yourself less with converting your neighbor; choose, by faith to love your neighbor.

2. The beauty of this moment was the woman’s fountain of passion. Let us ask, “Was this an act of compassion or an act of sacrifice?” Go and learn what this means (see Matthew 9:13).  Can we strive to impress Jesus? Should we offer sacrifices? Some people believe that sacrifice will make them more acceptable to God. But the Sacrifice has already been offered according to the gospel. It was not the woman’s sacrifice that Jesus commended, it was her passion. This woman found Jesus; she found a reason for hope and one who would set her heart on fire.

3. The woman’s social faux pas was her impulse to do something. She seems to have been carried away by her emotions. She let her feelings get the best of her. Nobody told her to do it, something stirred her from within. She forgot to ask a simple question, “What will others think?” While society criticized her, Jesus commended her. (There’s a big lesson for parents and teachers. Can you think of a time when a student let the heart get ahead of the head? The gospel says don’t be so quick to reprimand.)

Continue reading Simple Sabbath: The Gospel in an Alabaster Jar →

Faith

Simple Sabbath: Apostle’s Creed, Lots of “isms,” and the WHY, not the HOW

What is the Bible? What’s it for?

The Bible is God’s revelation to man. Okay, so?

What is He revealing?

To begin with, the Bible reveals how the world was made, how it was ruined, how it was rescued and how it will be made new. The Bible reveals God’s Word. Every mountain and every molecule is the word of God. He spoke and it is!

Ultimately His Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Bible reveals Truth and the Truth is God’s glory; His glory is the redemption of man through Jesus Christ. And that’s the Truth, believe it or not.

Ooooohhh wow, deep stuff.  (sarcastic tone  for effect).  Well, yes.

From the Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

This history of the Apostle’s Creed is a worthy lesson. We will not cover it here, but we will contemplate the “first truth”; From Genesis 1 the Creed submits: “God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

Here are four musings from Genesis 1 in this Simple Sabbath post:
1.    God’s creation is good. He said so;
2.    God is one and has created from Himself;
3.    God creates everything by His word;
4.    We love His creation because we love Him and are created to enjoy Him forever.

1. A Good Creation:  The Bible reveals Spirit and matter existing with integrity and in unity (it is coordinated, so to speak). The material world is good. There is a marvelous unity in creation. Genesis teaches that the Spirit is present “moving over the surface” or hovering. View this presence as His love and care for creation.
Though Plato has the entire western world distrusting all things material, and would prefer that we ponder the next reality, we reject his posit (dualism – just say no.)  It’s a wonderful world; God created it and said, “It is good.”

Listen, that first miracle wasn’t random. That water to wine thing at Cana was appointed by the Divine. Jesus was dropping his calling card. More than a rescued social event, Jesus sets the stage for the Kingdom of God. He fills those water cisterns with joy…that’s right, joy! … right here and right now.

Continue reading Simple Sabbath: Apostle’s Creed, Lots of “isms,” and the WHY, not the HOW →

Faith

How Do You Worship? How Do You Pray? How Do You Live?

I was in church the other day and was thinking about how my 47 years within the independent Christian Church family in Oklahoma has shaped my view.  I was also thinking about highly enriching visits I had made to other churches such as the local St. Elijah’s Orthodox Church or St. Mary’s Church in Oxford.   Then my mind flipped over to a conversation I had with a family member about the “church within which my daughter was getting married.”  They were surprised it wasn’t our home church, the one in which she was raised.  I wasn’t surprised at all, however, because she is my daughter.  God is bigger than one church (I John 3:20) and is realized in more than one way (Psalms 8), and His church is bigger than my church (Acts 13). My younger daughter visited a church this past Sunday that meets in the old Will Rogers Theater on Classen Boulevard.  She said it was a good visit, and they had a lot to offer the age group of which she is a part.  I don’t worry about the kids finding God…I know they will, wherever they end up worshiping.

As I was sitting there in church, however, lost in my own thoughts I noticed that there are parts of our service which “feel” right to me.  I’m more able to pray or worship when particular traditions are carried out, and less able when others are performed as part of the service.   Then I looked down the row at all the people sitting there.  How do THEY worship? How do they pray? I don’t know.  I know that some of my best worship experiences have been outside of central Oklahoma.  And, for some reason, the place in which I seem to be able to connect with God the best in prayer is on my knees, in the prayer chapel sitting on the Lifechurch.TV campus in Edmond.  It doesn’t matter…I suppose there are meanings, moments, feelings and places where each person has better “in-tuned” experiences with God than others.  Those are mine…what are yours?

But most importantly, I wonder, how is it that we live?  Do we carry out our worship and prayer into our lives?  Are there better “places” we can live for God than others?  I won’t be able to always pray in the prayer chapel, and I won’t be able to always fly to Oxford just to sit through a worship service or sermon because that fits with me.  And, I don’t really have a choice most of the time about where I go to lead my daily life.  And, it follows that I must live for God regardless of whether I’m in the best fitting place for me.  And I must find him in worship regardless of whether I’m in the right location for what makes me feel best. And I must be Him for those around me, regardless of whether they “feel comfortable” to be around…or not.

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Faith

Never More! (?)

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Choc Beer is but one of the local Oklahoma breweries. Click the photo to visit their website. They ALSO promote responsible drinking...you can't enter their website without taking a moment to think about your age. Lamar's words today, however, would have you think about this question: "Is there someone around you with drinking challenges? If so, how will your reviewing the website influence them?"

by Alfred Lamar Jackson

Hello, and how are you today? Today is a great to be alive and kicking. If you are alive and kicking and reading this now it means you are blessed with air in your lungs, strength in your legs, and vision in those pupils

Today I wanted to skim across an issue that seems to pop up every now and then. I decided to take my turn and put down my opinion on this matter. So let’s get started.

Drinking. I can hear the sighs now. I can feel the groans coming from the guts of a vast majority of people. I just want to put a spin on the issue. I’m not going to talk about whether it’s right or wrong, I’m going to talk about what you and I are responsible for as believers in Christ.

1 Corinthians 8 is a great chapter. It’s very meaty as I like to say. We’ll take a sample from verses 11-13.

So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat cause my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

PARAPHRASE:

So first I’d like to remind you to start and the beginning of the chapter and read to the end to understand to whole part of this message. First off, knowledge is power when it’s put into the right hands. To summarize, Paul is talking about the beliefs at the time about food sacrificed to idols. That food was seen as defiled. Now, believers free in Christ should know that food is food and eating food sacrificed to idols is the same whether you eat it or not.

A very big key lies in verse 9. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

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