Monday, August 30, 2010

Simply Christian - Reflection 1

Book 1
N. T. Wright's
Simply Christian
Why Christianity Makes Sense

The first thing Wright discusses is the echo of a voice. It is the voice of God the creator "echoing off the crags, murmuring in the sunset." We hear this echo in four things: Justice, spirituality, relationship, and beauty.
-"...all people know, in cooler moments, that this strange thing we call justice, this longing for things to be put right, remains one of the great human goals and dreams." This chapter discusses this longing in all humans for things to be put to right is the echo of the voice of God. He goes on to say that the reason we hear that "echo of a voice, is that is someone speaking to us.... who cares very much about this present world and our present selves, and who has made us and the world for a purpose which will indeed involve justice." and all things being put to rights (ourselves included).
I have enjoyed that he has even commented on other major religions that have also tried to answer the similar question of where does this sense of justice come from. It feels like we are taking an honest look at Christianity doing this.
-Next he looks at spirituality and comments that it is bubbling up as a spring within human hearts and human societies. It is another "feature of Human life which, functions as the echo of a voice; a signpost pointing... toward the possibility that we humans were made for more than this."
-Relationships. "how is it that we ache for each other and yet find relationships so difficult?" the idea of being made for relationships is another echo of the voice of God.
-Beauty. From a sunset to music, to photo, painting or mountains. He wrestles with why things move us and again it is the echo of the voice of God the Creator of all.

That's all i have right now. On to sleep and then tomorrow more reading.

Book Reflections

Self imposed accountability with a global partner (the internet)
Let's just see how well this works....
I have a list of books I am trying to read, and I thought if I would commit to reflecting on them periodically on the blog/facebook it would provide an added incentive of not simply glazing over these books, but really processing them. I am not promising a spectacular book reviews or revolutionary insights that will change your future. I am just hoping to grow and mature, and writing these reflections should help these things I learn press deeper into me.

First up:

Simply Christian
Why Christianity Makes Sense
N. T. Wright

Friday, August 13, 2010

Creator's Art Video

Trinity held an art camp this week. The 3rd - 6th graders (including Caleb) participated in Music, painting, and video production. I lead the video production part. It made for a very busy week, but I am really proud of what the kids came up with.
I hope you enjoy the video. The kids wrote how they wanted to represent each day of creation. I just edited it together.