Monday are for March Madness Ramblings

Following Up on Nazarenes and Emergents

There has been lots of good discussion on this post and on plenty of other blogs regarding the statement released by the Board of General Superintendents on the Emerging Church. Having had some time to really reflect on the statement and to read so many different comments on it, I have just a couple of more thoughts to share.

First, I am more excited than ever to be a Nazarene pastor. There are so many great things happening among the Nazarenes and there are so many changes taking place. There are strong grass roots changes of ecclesiology, missiology, and even our understanding of the fullness of the Gospel that are going to transform lives and lead people to lives of discipleship.

Second, I am glad that the BOGS are just now making a statement on the Emerging Church. This conversation/movement/whatever has needed time to sort itself out and there are some clear pieces to it now. There is a division that is taking place along theological lines even within the emerging church. It is important to realize that 3-5 well known speakers and writers in no way define the work that has been done in the emerging church, nor do they predict the outcomes for those in the conversation. What we are actually seeing is that those particular writers are not at all defining for the movement itself.That makes sense since the power of what has been taking place has always been very open source and grass roots, it would be completely counter intuitive for it to ever be top down and organized.

Third, even with differences becoming very clear within the emerging church, the way that those within the conversation treat each other and talk about each other around these issues is a great lesson to many within the church. One constant for those who have criticized the emerging church has been anger, divisiveness, and frankly a witch hunt like feeling. I will never understand why it has to be that way, but it consistently is. I had a professor in seminary give us a strong piece of advice as young pastors. He said, “I would always be very hesitant to speak critically about another Christian leader.” That has always stuck with me is a good piece of advice for us all. It is not that we shouldn’t be discerning, or that we should disagree with one another. But Jesus, in his prayer for his disciples in John 17 makes our ultimate calling clear – unity. It is through our unity and love of one another in the church that the world will see clearly the truth of Christ. If we can’t find loving ways to disagree or to grapple with differing view of our faith how will the world ever see the truth of Christ in us?

When reading the Bible gets really hard

This week, for the first time since I started on my 60 day journey to read all of scripture, I hit the proverbial wall. I was just finishing up Psalms and moving to Proverbs and I just couldn’t do it. It was tough. I realized that I still had another 7-8 days of OT reading before I got the NT and I didn’t want to do it anymore. I always reach that point during Lent, but usually it comes earlier. Regardless I pressed on and put my spirit to the task of absorbing the wisdom of the proverbs.

Here are some of my favorites.

Prov. 10:10 – Whoever winks maliciously causes grief, and a chattering fool comes to ruin. (So watch all that winking!)

Prov. 7:22-23 (Words warning against an adulterous woman) All at once he followed her like and ox going to the slaughter like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.

Prov. 16:19 – Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud

Prov. 22:24-25 – Do not make friends with the hot tempered, do not associate with those who are easily angered or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.

Prov. 23:4-5  – Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. Cast but a glace at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

In Case You are Trying to Find Me This Weekend

The madness begins on Thursday and I can hardly wait! This should be an interesting tournament. It feels really top heavy to me and I wouldn’t be surprised if 1 seeds and 2 seeds make up the whole final four. Not sure if there are any Cinderellas out there this year. But here are some tips for filling out your bracket.

- This was not a great year for mid-majors. Don’t expect to see Davidson or Gonzaga in the Final Four

- MD will win there first round game (Gary’s teams almost always do), but if they face MSU in the second round they will struggle. MSU is a bad matchup for them.

- Don’t sleep on Baylor they are good

- Don’t overvalue Texas they have been terrible since they were #1 in the country

- Trust teams with veteran backcourts like Villanova.

- Trust talent, no matter how old it is. Kentucky’s freshman are the real deal

- Don’t trust any PAC-10 teams, that league was pathetic this year

- The Big East was tough this year, expect their teams to do well

- My  first round upset picks are UTEP over Butler, Minnesota over Xavier and St. Marys over Richmond