Crazy Week

Well, I fully intended to post much earlier than Thursday this week, but things at the Sign Shop have taken up most of my "free" time this week.  It's amazing what backing off of carbonated drinks and caffeine will do to your head also!

I voted and cast my ballot patriotically on Tuesday.  Short line, but it's really interesting that in our age of technology, that I still had to go to four different spots before I could even go to my little voting tent.  It sure would be nice if I could just text my vote in to a number...but not until the 2 hours after the end of the performance...wait, wrong election!

Now the spamming can stop and I'm through posting about the election.  I am reserving one post for next week after we know who our next president will be, but then I'm stopping.

Today I did start a new book.  Well, it's not a new book, but one that will no doubt stir up some great conversations inside my head and/or on this blog.  I am reading The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren.  I have no particular agenda heading into the book.  I know that some of you are already skeptical of him or even of me for even reading this book, but it's not what you first think.  McLaren is not writing a book about some "DaVinci Code" secret about the bib

le or Jesus really being from another planet.  Here is what he says about this "secret message":

"The secret I'm thinking of is more like the kind of rush of insight that comes to you near the end of a really good movie:  you've been confused about something since the very first scene, but suddenly it all comes together.  For many of us, we feel we've been watching the movie attentively, but we haven't gotten to that moment of clarity yet.  We wish it would come."

He doesn't pretend to have it all figured out either, but he does feel like he is on the verge of that moment coming.  I can totally relate to this position.  It's no secret that I carry a certain disdain for the organized church, but I also carry such a fondness for her that I am part of a church plant.  During this part of my journey, I have discovered many things about the church that are simply not biblical, but were very important to the churches I've been a part of.  If that is true for church, the possibility exists that the same is true of our understanding of Jesus.

"What if many have carried on a religion that faithfully celebrates Jesus in ritual and art, teaches about Jesus in sermons and books, sings about Jesus in songs and hymns, and theorizes about Jesus in seminaries and classrooms...but somewhere along the way missed rich and radical treasures hidden in the essential message of Jesus?"

Just the possibility of that being true, pushes me to search more.  I am invigorated by the thought of seeking Jesus again - of digging through the rubble of modernity and post-modernity and traditional and contemporary and liberal and fundamentalism.  I really believe that Jesus was more radical than my picture of him, which in turn should, and will, lead me to think differently and live differently.  I am excited.

Have a great rest of the day and I hope that your Halloween night is filled with candy and a lot of good conversations with neighbors!