well....i am trying....

When Curtis and I discussed starting a blog I did not intend to be posting anything (except maybe comments), but Curtis has been emailing me non-stop to post something since I came up with the idea. My excuses have been long; I haven’t had time, date night, and someone took my notes from the sermon and threw them away (my notes were really thrown away by a tear down crew member). Regardless, here it goes…

If you know Curtis, and are involved in his daily life, you start to see his sermon form over the week as he prepares for Saturday night. Even more, if you happen to be reading a book he is reading or know what class he is currently taking, then you can pretty much predict what his sermon is going to be about(or where he will take it). However, no one knows for sure what is going on inside his “Lillie Pad” (the name of their blog/home, but I will use as a reference to Curtis’ head). This week’s sermon response will come out of a book that I have been reading and how it interacted with the sermon.

Last week Curtis gave me a book (Desiring the Kingdom) for CT (Cave Time a.k.a. book club for men, our name gives the manly spin to book club). After, the introduction I thought Curtis had assigned CT a book that he had to read for class. The book is heavy in philosophy, theology, and sociology which come together to make a critique on Christian education, worship, worldview, and personal/social formation (it’s not a light read). The author address how people create their vision of what the good life is like (everyone’s personal kingdom/life flourishing) by the practices that embody their day (the carnal, non-cognitive essence of their being). The author’s premise is that everything that humanity encounters forms the personal being, in one way or another (this comes first and foremost through the senses). As people are formed(through encounters with the senses), habits are created, all directed towards a telos (humans are intentional creatures with an end goal in mind i.e the good life). The telos that people form through all their encounters often run contrary to the kingdom God (often not even cognitively). A person’s telos(based on what they love/desire) forms him or her into the person that they are.

I am starting to get off track, but I am trying to build a foundation to share how the sermon impacted me. The author of the book identifies how things like the market, mall, school, government, and sports are designed to gather our allegiance (what a person gives to the kingdom they belong too) These allegiances pull at our desire and eventually become who we are. (Ex: think of the pledge of allegiance that children say every morning grounding the children into allegiance for their country and the hope is that they become good loyal law abiding citizens). These things are not in and of themselves bad, but can wear us down by forming our telos (often subconsciously; think of how some of the world cup commercials speak to soccer as a religion as people associate and give everything for their team). However, our (Christians) allegiance is supposed to be to God, but all too often created things (even idols) get in the way.

{A test to help identify our allegiances is by looking at the practices and habits that we do every day without thought, with our time, money, etc. When our life is looked at closely our actions usually speak to a different kingdom than God’s...aka...idols}

Using Curtis’ example of his VBA (Valentines, Birthday, and Anniversary) relationship, he exemplifies what his ultimate goal or desire is. His daughter Becca is able to identify what Curtis’ ultimate love is. When Curtis transferred this example to the Church and our failure to reflect how important our faith is to our children, it points to an allegiance that does not put God #1. In addition it shows that our ultimate love and desire is not directed at God.

I started to think about all aspects of my life and the things that I put in front of God (creating my own idols). I often do not claim allegiance to God or seek his Kingdom. All too often what I truly desire and love are things in this world. The sermon helped me identify some of the false idols and kingdoms I have built by acknowledging all things are from God. Curtis’ statement about how we often feed our stomachs and genitals but are too busy to give God, the creator and giver of these gifts, really struck home.

I just finished another book by Shane Claiborne, Irresistible Revelation, and he has blown some of my false Gods and kingdoms out of the water. He has helped reorient my some of my views that have been formed by the world. The question, I keep asking myself, is do I want to change? Can I really seek God with all my heart and strength? Will I love and desire God over the false promises and idols that our world creates? It is often the leap of faith to fully trust God and that his way is better. I struggle with trusting God and believing that his way is better than the world. I have been formed by the world and in order to change I feel like there is a lot of work to be done as I try to deconstruct 26 years of molding (and it keeps beating at my door).

I have come to the conclusion that we are carnal creatures and our practices form us. If I cannot implement practices towards God’s kingdom I will continually be shaped by the world (which leads to my false idols). Therefore, I have started asking myself what practices can I implement into my life to reorient my direction, recreating my worldview, redirecting my love and desire? I have been thinking about the Mormons and how they send their children to Sunday school every day before school. They believe that if their children are going to be schooled by the world, then they need to have just as much if not more schooling in the church. I often feel like to be that committed is beyond me (or crazy). But then I ask myself aren’t we called to give everything?

My goal for this week is to try to identify idols in my everyday life, tear them down, and find new Kingdom oriented practices that can form me into a new Creation.

Wow this turned out longer than expected...not even sure if I make sense or if I tied it enough to the sermon...respond...you tell me