Home is Where the Work is?

This morning after I entered the church I began to walk the hallway to my office. At about twenty feet away I began to hit the unlock button on my keyless entry for my car. I hit it over and over, frustrated when I got the the door of my office I thought, "Well I am going to have to get that fixed". After I realized my folly I thought that I should post this, maybe it is a critique on my readiness to leave work. Then I began to shove my key into my office door it would not fit, Funny I thought. Then on my third try I looked at the key, it was the key to my home. This is definelty a critique of something, I am just not sure what?

Pax
Stephen

My Grand Dad's Funeral

Here is the Eulogy I delivered at my Grand Dad's Funeral.

I am about to be a dad. In four months my little girl will be born and she will never get to meet the most wonderful man I have ever known. At 4 a.m. on Sunday morning that was the first thing that ran through my head when my dad called to tell me of my Paw Paw’s death. We, here today, join the rest of creation as it cries out at the loss of one of its most prized members. We, as a family, thank you for being here as you show your love and remembrance of this amazing life and this amazing man.
It is a strange and confusing tension that we find ourselves in today. We mourn, we mourn his absence, the absence of his kind smile, his gentle words, we are brought to silence because we do not hear his warm voice, we sit and we tell his stories because over the years they have become our own. We find ourselves in this tension because we all long for just one more minute, one more smile, one more time to see him at the top on the drive way with his arm around granny Betty waving good bye and telling us to hurry back. We are here to mourn but we are also here to celebrate. We are here to celebrate this man’s life and the life he talked about to everyone he met. The life that follows this, the one without sickness, without cancer, without heart bypasses and strokes. The life where he can see from both of his eyes and his body does not hurt anymore from the years of Chemo. That life he wanted everyone he met to have a part of, the life with God. We mourn his passing but we celebrate the life he is passing from and the life he is passing into.
If you knew Paw Paw at all you knew his love for the scriptures. Over the past nine months he has been studying intently a scripture in I Thessalonians where Paul calls the church to “study to be quiet.” In his quest to know God and make God known he submersed himself in this idea. I believe Paw Paw arrived at his conclusion before he ever knew it. St. Francis found the answer long ago as well, he expressed it this way, “Preach at all times and if necessary use words.” This is the answer that Paw Paw has always practiced. He could be silent because his life spoke in poetic prose of his love of God and neighbor. That is why last night over 300 people came to, in their own ways, tell Paw Paw thank you. He lived his life and lived it to the fullest.
After seeing all of us gathering here today as well as last night a picture comes to my mind. I picture him walking towards an old bridge, joyfully knowing where his path leads him. As he arrives at the base of the cobblestone bridge he turns back and looks over the road of his life. He sees you, he sees me, he sees his times with us all and he sees us here now. He sees us grand kids, his boys and his dear bride. I see that warm smile come across his face and with no regrets he turns back to the bridge begins his walk across stepping into God’s sweet embrace he hears God whisper; welcome home, well done my beautiful child, welcome home.
William Cullen Bryant wrote, in his poem Thanatopsis, for us to live in such a way that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, that moves
To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but sustain'd and sooth'd
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams

As I have talked to Granny Betty, my Uncles and my Dad, Paw Paw walked to this bridge not with fear or regret but with and unfaltering trust. Granny Betty said Sunday morning she looked at him and for the first time in months he was resting. He was resting because it was time to go home. He wrapped himself in the blanket of Gods love and laid his head down where he peacefully fell asleep in the arms of his father.
I told you at the beginning how I hurt so badly because my little girl will never meet the greatest man I have ever known. I am comforted now because I know she does not have to meet him to know what kind of man he was. She can know him by the impact he made on all of those who have known him. The love and grace we all learned from him, we were all taught by his constant smile and joy even in the face of all his pain and the honesty and goodness his life alone called us all to. That is the man my little girl will know because the legacy of his good spirit lives on in all of those whom he touched. Paw Paw we all miss you, you lived a life of beauty, thank you for who you were and even more who you helped us become. I love you Paw Paw. Rest well beloved child of God.

Pax
Stephen

September 11, 2004?

It feels like 9-11-04 was when the terrorists attacked the US. It feels this way because once again President Bush has used it as a crutch on which to prop this war in Iraq. The American People have to see this rhetoric. I know what I am writing is nothing new but the president has not used any new language or "strategery" since that horrible day in 2001. Here is a good bi partisan push to end this bloodfest, we as christians must do something to end this and refuse to let anyone advance it in the name of God.

Pax
Stephen

Hotel Darfur

Here is a really cool site that is working with Don Cheadel, the star of Hotel Rawanda. I am with McLaren on this one, why do we never hear about this region and its problems? Maybe this is a good way to get involved.

Pax
Stephen

On Life and Death

With in a two-day span I experienced one of the greatest joys and one of the greatest loses of my entire life. On Friday a few weeks ago my wife and I found out the sex of our little baby and were able to finally call her by her name Mary Clare. Two days later on Sunday Morning at 5 am my dad called and told me my grandfather had passed away. My granddad was and still is one of the most influential and important people in my life. Life and death are both very precarious things. Both bring about change, adjustments and anxiety. I preached my granddad’s funeral, I opened it by saying “I am about to be a dad and I am so scared because my little girl will never get to meet the greatest man I have ever known.” How do we reconcile the joy of life in the midst of death? I feel like I am experiencing John Mayer’s quarter life crisis, in that I do not know how to let go and embrace at the same time, do any of us know how to do that?

Pax
Stephen

Sermon Help

Sitting in the office at church not really wanting to work all that much. I'm the only one here today. Myself, The pastor Jill and the music minister Elise, are all part time. Glenda, the church administrator, is out today attending to a sick family member. So I'm free to run naked through the sanctuary if I feel like it. Not that I ever have, but don't think the thought hasn't crossed my mind.

When work actually does cross my mind, its mostly regarding my sermon next month. I need to get it done within the next week or so. Jill is doing a summer series on saints. They don't all have to cannonized, just people that we can learn something from that may apply to our own faith journey. I'm doing Thomas Merton. So I'm asking our faithful few readers to comment here. What should the church today learn from Thomas Merton?

On an unrelated note, if you want to see me and Jana's engagement pictures, click here. For the record, my butt got all muddy when we took those pictures of us sitting on the ground.

Nice Job Christianity Today

In a really nice, non partisan way, Christianity Today addressed the current aligning of religion and politics primarily on the religious right and the GOP. I wonder what kind of reaction this will get?

New Taste sensation

Had Taco Bell's new CrunchWrap Supreme for lunch today. It is the best thing the Bell has put on the menu since the Double Decker Taco. Please frequent this fine establishment and order the CrunchWrap Supreme so that it stays on the menu.

God works in mysterious ways

This is really funny. It's good to see the President giving a CBF church a shout out.

To our faithful few readers

Sorry it's been so quiet here lately. Stephen is chaplain at Camp Calvin right now and I'm deep in Summer School and work at Emory. Here's the sermon I preached today in my summer school class. The text was Psalm 119:105-112. It was my first attempt at preaching a Psalm or Wisdom Lit. Feedback is always appreciated. Enjoy!

Adam

Our text today often gets a bad wrap because of its setup. Psalm 119 is by far the longest Psalm in the Bible. Each group of verses in the Psalm is eight lines of Hebrew all beginning with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Aleph, Bet, Gimel, Dalet… You get the idea and that’s about as much Hebrew as I remember. Our verses today are in the Nun section. I wonder how many people when reading this Psalm even make it this far. We’re over 100 verses into the Psalm and you still have another 67 to go. When reading the text in English this setup can feel very arbitrary and even when the original author’s style is explained the Psalm can still feel forced.
The Psalm itself falls into the category of a wisdom Psalm. There is no superscription attributing it to any author or tradition. Given its place in the Psalter, our text was most likely written and preserved during the post-exilic period when Jews were allowed to return to their land under the reign of a Persian King. We know that this Psalm was used in worship during Pentecost, 50 days after Passover, celebrating the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. There is no indication in the text that the Hebrews were required to wear red and pretend to speak in tongues that day. Surely the Hebrews had to find this Psalm as long winded and arbitrarily styled as we do today. The Hebrews, being good Christians even before there were good Christians, must have preferred spontaneous, contemporary worship rather than this stilted, laborious move through the Hebrew alphabet. Obviously I’m overstating the case here. This is Holy Scripture preserved by the Hebrews and read on an important day in their history. As I read our text today, I’d like to submit that we are being allowed a glimpse into a sort of Lectio Divina for the Hebrew People. The nature and setup of the Psalm allows each part to be easily remembered so that the text becomes ingrained in one’s soul, enchants the imagination, and creates a framework in which the spirit of God moves as the text becomes part of one’s very being. Let’s listen together now to Psalm 119:105-112.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to observe your righteous ordinances.
I am severely afflicted; give me my life, O LORD, according to your word.
Accept my offerings of praise, O LORD, and teach me your ordinances.
I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law.
The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.
Your decrees are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.
I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.
There are lots of great Old Testament words that sound very preachy from the pulpit in this text. Words like law, oath, ordinances, decrees and statutes. Honestly all of these sound very scary to me. They conjure up the image of the Old Testament God standing among the clouds of heaven with a lightning bolt in hand ready to smite all those who need a good smoting. I want to spend some time today unpacking what all these words mean for us today.
Verse 105 states that God’s word is a lamp unto the Psalmists’ feet and a light to the path. Word shows up again in verse 107 as the Psalmist demands life according to God’s word even as he is severely afflicted. In the Hebrew world, “Word” means the words of the prophets. The Psalmist is stating that the words of the prophets are the guide for his life and then the Psalmist demands life according to the words God has spoken trough the prophets. But just what words did the prophets speak? They of course were known for calling Israel back to repentance each time Israel strayed from the path of Godly living. You have your social justice prophets like Micah and Amos that cry out on behalf of the poor and oppressed. You have your prophets who changed the way the people worshiped God during the exile like Jeremiah. There are really longwinded prophets like Isaiah and your really weird prophets like Ezekiel. Love them all or hate them all they offered words of wisdom for the Hebrew people. So understand that when this text encourages us to live by the word of God, it is referring to more than words of scripture. It is encouraging us to listen to the voices of prophets throughout scripture, history, and even today. So study a contemporary prophet like a Jim Wallis or Mother Teresa with the same open spirit with which one studies the Isaiah’s and Micah’s of the Bible. The word of God is an ongoing thing in our lives. The prophetic voices are still all around us. We just need to listen to them.
And now to the words like ordinances, decrees, and statutes. Again I don’t know how much meaning those types of words carry for us today. They seem like archaic legal jargon that no one uses in every day conversation. But in the Hebrew world these words in our text referred to requirements and prohibitions found in the book of Exodus. The most famous of these requirements and prohibitions is of course the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai, the very moment the Hebrew people commemorate by reading this Psalm. We all think we know the Ten Commandments. Have no other Gods before our God, don’t worship idols, don’t take the name of the Lord in vain, remember the Sabbath, honor your father and mother, don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal…. I confess from here on out I had to look up the rest of the commandments, but 8 out of 10 isn’t bad. Don’t bear false witness against your neighbor and don’t covet anything in your neighbor’s house. All of these seem to us to be great ideals that we try really, really hard to live by. Don’t murder and don’t steal are usually pretty easy for most of us, but lots of us work on Sunday or cause some poor waiter at the restaurant to have to. And who doesn’t occasionally glance with envy at the neighbor’s new car parked in the next drive over from our beat up old hunk of junk. Yet we confess these shortcomings as soon as we become aware of them we promise we’ll try even harder to live by. But all the effort in the world misses the point of these commandments, decrees, ordinances, and statutes. These are absolute requirements and prohibitions. God gave these to Moses on Mount Sinai with the understanding that the people of God simply do not do these things. These are not suggestions or ideals. If we are the people of God, these are the things we do not do under any circumstances. Think about that next time you growl at the barista who’s making you late for church because he or she is slower than usual with your customary Sunday morning Starbucks double shot half caf skinny mocha latte.
Finally there is the misunderstood word law in verse 109 of our text. Whether we mean to our not we understand laws more in the modern context of speed limits or rules prohibiting us from buying beer on Sunday. But law in this case was Torah. All the teachings and instruction of Moses. The Ten Commandments would be included in this. The History of the people of Israel, humankind’s expulsion from paradise, the deliverance of the Hebrews from the hand of Pharaoh, right to the moment the Israelites were about to enter the Promise Land is tied up in the Torah. This was more than just Law, this was their entire identity as the people of God. The Psalmist does not forget his identity as a Hebrew in covenant with God, even as he holds his life in his hand and is afflicted from all sides. I would contend that we today must continue to remember that we are still Sons and Daughters of the same God that delivered the Psalmist and the rest of the Hebrews from exile back to the promise land. We must claim the Torah as our story as well. We must claim our identity as citizens of the Kingdom of God and continually announce that a new age is upon us. We must recognize the ongoing story of God’s redemption of the world. We know that the story of God’s redemption did not end with the return to the Promise Land of Israel. Even the Psalmist knows this as the author declares in verse 111 that the Lord’s decrees are our heritage forever. This is a semi-revolutionary statement considering how much of the Hebrews’ identity is tied up in the idea of a Promise Land. The Psalmist is declaring that God’s Word, God’s Prophets, God’s Prohibitions and Requirements, God’s story of his relationship with the Hebrews is of equal if not greater importance than the land the Hebrew people believe will someday be theirs to rule over.
Most importantly, don’t miss the great irony of the text. The Psalmist is claiming all of this despite affliction, danger, and the wicked that surround the author. Somewhere along the line we’ve confused God’s will with a path of ease and safety. In our world, a dead end or affliction or living perilously or trouble with the wicked must mean that we were never truly in God’s will to begin with. This certainly was the mindset of many of the Hebrew people. The book of Deuteronomy and many subsequent Hebrew texts follow that logic. I think our text today combats that idea. And that’s the tension we have to live with today. Are we willing to claim our heritage as the people of God even when things don’t seem to be going our way? I think this Psalm encourages us to claim our identity even in the midst of our afflictions. This Psalm understands that God’s path is not always the easy path. Even among our afflictions and shortcomings we cannot be afraid to claim the prophets both ancient and modern, the teachings and requirements and prohibitions and the ongoing story of God and God’s people, and we claim them not just as things of value, but as central to our very identity as the People of God. Amen?

An Emerging Institution?

So, this happened.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. Should Emergent have a full time paid staff? I've always felt that one of the strengths of Emergent was that even its highest leadership had lives in the local church. Will Tony stop going to church? Obviously not. But he is now in the position of working for an Emergent that is itself becoming an institution. Something just seems off about it. I may write more about this later.

Adam

Mary Clare Ingram

Mary Clare Ingram
Originally uploaded by stephenadam.

Here you can see Mary Clare's Face, Eyes, Hands, and Ribs. On the next one she is about to kick my wife Mary Liz, so she is balled up. She is absolutely Beautiful!
Pax
Stephen

Mary Clare Ingram

Mary Clare Ingram2
Originally uploaded by stephenadam.

Here is the first sonogram of Mary Clare from June 10, 2005
Pax
Stephen

Judge Stephen

This week I had the experience of serving on two different juries. In my time of service I served on two criminal trials. They both were for the drug Methamphetamine. I am not writing about the problem of this drug, although there is a serious problem.
This was my first time in the jury box and the entire time I thought to myself, “Man, I wonder what they are going to decide on this one?” Then I realized, “Oh Shit!?! I have to decide on the next 10 to 20 years of this mans life” Judging and deciding another’s possibly next 2 decades is a gut wrenching process. I was literally torn with feelings of duty and grief. I knew he was guilty but wanted him to be innocent, to have a second chance, to be able to experience freedom tomorrow, but he was not and did not go to sleep that night a free man. I had no reason to feel sorry for him, to have sympathy or to want freedom for him, but I did.
As I walked out of the Court that afternoon some words of a high school friend came bursting into my head, “God’s glory is shown when those who are not His chosen receive their eternal punishment.” I disagreed with him then and I am completely offended now. I believe God loves God’s creation, not only loves but is in love with it. I did not know this man on trial and I hurt to the deepest part of my soul. It is so difficult for me to look at God the same way as I was told I had to.
I do not know if I think that God hates judgment or punishment but I am convinced that God does not enjoy it if God does it. I am not a universalist, at least not yet, but give a couple of more jury duties under my belt and check back with me then.
Pax
Stephen

Talents vs. Commodities

Rachelle Mee Chapman spoke on Neomonasticism at this year's Emergent Convention. I skipped the session(I think I was sleeping) but I've been listening to it on my drives to the office for the last few days. Rachelle came out of a Vineyard Church which is a very successful and well meaning consortium of churches. She was on staff as an up and coming leader at one particular church. She recounts sitting in staff meeting and treating new members to the church as commodities. For example, a new member who could play the guitar was immediately directed to the worship committee. A new member who worked at a children's hospital was immediate viewed as an asset to the nursery department. I confess that I often look at the membership of my church in much the same way. Right now I'm looking for Sunday School teachers for next year. I know this will involve begging at some point. But what Rachelle mentions and what I'm worried about is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. I think this is how we burn well-meaning people out and they leave church. We take them and make them feed the machine of programs rather than helping discover their God-given passions. Rachelle states that she asks people where they want to shine and seeks to help them do that. This seems much more in line with the mission of God.

Lord, help me find those in my congregation who want to work with our youth in the Sunday School hour. And help me to inspire and nuture the God-given passions in my youth and in the rest of Emory Church.

Adam

We have too much free time

I can't believe the controversy this has stirred up. Who knew EC would someday have entire websites devoted to why they're wrong.

Maybe I'm to much of an idealist, but here's what I think. Each church should decide who they are, what their mission is, and how to carry out that mission. Don't spend your time criticizing the choices of other Christians or churches. Spend your time living out your mission as your community of faith sees it. Criticizing other people who are trying to follow Christ as they understand it seems like something the Great Unmaker came up with to divert time, energy, and resources away from the mission of God. Those of us who are heirs to the Protestant Reformation have to understand that part of that legacy is that a uniform theology and expression of that theology will never exist.

Am I saying that all expressions of the mission of God are correct? Absolutely not. I am advocating making a choice not to worry so much about what others are doing and instead only critiquing our own communities. Criticism and reproof are neccesary parts of living as members of the Kingdom of God. What disturbs me is the lack of unsolicited criticism that seems to flow over the impersonal medium of the internet these days.

Adam

If Adam Can So Can I...

S & ML Under Cabanna
Originally uploaded by stephenadam.

If Adam gets to put his beautiful fiance onthe blog then, by God, I get to put my beautiful wife on there as well, plus I wanted to figure out the Picture thing as well.
Stephen

The fiancee and I

IMG_0003
Originally uploaded by stephenadam.

Just trying this out.

This is NUTS

Since when did protecting the persecuted or upholding "Anti Bullying Rules" in schools to protect Gay kids as well as other kids become the Liberal Schools promoting Homosexuality? This is Nuts!!

Pax
Stephen

Vocation and Call or Will Work for Jesus?

This afternoon one of my closest friends called me to talk about his vocation. He is in a Science department at the great evil also known as Auburn University. He has a great mind, great personality and a great desire to search for God. He loves to talk about issues of faith and theology as well.
He has a problem though; he is having trouble deciding if he should stay in his field. It is not because he does not love science or that he is not good at what he does, the problem he is having stems from guilt ingrained in him from his youth. It tells him if he has a love for God and feels a call to God’s service then he can only serve God in some form of formal pronounced ministry. I want to help him understand that it does not matter so much what his vocation is he can still think about theology, pursue knowledge of God and practice and explore the faith.
I have suggested, much to the chagrin of some who read this blog, Parker Palmer’s book Let Your Life Speak. I have two questions: 1. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to tell him to help him think about all of this more? 2. Any other general thoughts about vocation and what God’s call looks like in many different fields of study?

Pax
Stephen

How do we practice what we preach?

A good friend and reader of this blog, Patrick Devane, was recently called to pastor a church in Thomson, GA. Congratulations to him and Megan. This pastorate will require him to live in Thomson while still commuting here to Atlanta a good portion of the time. He and Megan are finishing their last semester of seminary this fall. Megan will be staying here in Atlanta probably three or four nights a week and Patrick probably two nights a week. Megan and Patrick are planning on keeping their apartment here in Atlanta as well as having somewhere to live in Thomson. Jana and I have already told Megan any night she doesn't want to sleep in an empty apartment she's welcome to stay in our spare bedroom. I had the passing thought of telling Patrick and Megan to just stay at our place and ditch the Atlanta apartment. It was only a passing thought until Jana said the same thing without knowing that it had been on my mind.

You see, two things I get on my soapbox about are living in community and being good stewards of resources. Jana and I do consider Megan and Patrick to be a part of our faith community, so shouldn't we make this offer to them? Is it a good use of our resources(space) for me and Jana to have an extra bedroom while Patrick and Megan use their resources(money) to maintain what may be unneeded space?

The offer has been made and everyone seems to agree it's a good idea in theory. The question is how do we make it work in practice? How do we share the space of our apartment and not get on each others' nerves? It's agreed that if any party decides this is not a good idea we won't go through with it and there will be no hurt feelings. But it seems like its the right thing to do. So how do we pull this off? Any thoughts ranging from theological to practical will be accepted. Megan and Patrick feel free to read and comment as well.

Adam

A Shift from Doctrine to Practice

Oh the times they are a changing, at least I hope they are. As I sat with my pregnant wife this morning eating Breakfast at a local eatery Gritz I came upon a startling revelation. Maybe the church should not dispense doctrine. Now please do not hear me to say that it should not talk theology, any time a person talks God, humanity, and the world they are talking theology. It is when this theology moves from ideals to beliefs and the church begins to dispense it in a dogmatic fashion (I probably am thinking about this because a similar line from Dogma) When I see Jesus, he seems to provoke the people to action not didactical belief structures.
Is it the plight of the church to spend more time money and effort doing doctrine rather than the reconciling work of Christ in the world? If we follow this model than our theology will develop from our practice and not the other way around. I cannot lie, this model does sound scary and is radically different from the current model, but there seems to be a hope in the unity that it could possibly bring. If we were united by our practice then our theology could be different and it not mean the destruction of the unity. It is obvious we are going to disagree in our thoughts can we not focus on our actions then and find continuity in our practice? I wonder what would happen if we stop trying to live in churches characterized by doctrine and begin to live in missional communities of practice?
The discussion about faith and works becomes null and void at that point because they could not be separated, they would be one in the same.
Pax

Stephen

My Trinity primer

The following is a paper I wrote for Dr. Walker's Theology and Philosophy class last fall. We read a very basic book on the history of the Trinity and then had to answer a question about it. The question was, "Is the doctrine of the Trinity still relevant today? Why or why not?" This is not an exhaustive final thought, but it does articulate my most coherent thoughts about this doctrine that's suddenly so controversial.

Adam

To defend the doctrine of the Trinity and make it relevant for today, I must turn to the 20th Century theologians. Jurgen Moltmann understood that the Trinity is a model that allows humans to know that God has suffered in the midst of human suffering. For Moltmann, the event of the cross is the seminal event in that suffering. When Jesus suffered and died on the cross, God suffered as well. The distinctness of each being of the Trinity allows Jesus to be forsaken by God and the unity of the trinity allows God’s being to experience what it feels like to be godforsaken. In a world of pain and suffering, God is a God who has suffered along side those he seeks to redeem. This echoes Karl Barth, who stressed that the Trinity dealt with God’s activity in the world. God is who he is among us in what he does. Moltmann’s theology of the Trinity was of course influenced by the holocaust and the attempt to answers questions regarding the pain and suffering that the events of World War II caused. In all this suffering Moltmann argued that even God was being self-sacrificial. The decision to disjoint the Trinity at the event of the cross was as much of a sacrifice for God as it was for Jesus.
The next theologian who did relevant work on the concept of the Trinity is Leonardo Boff. Boff uses the Trinity as a model for the ideal society. For Boff, the image of the Father, Son and Spirit being distinct yet one served as a model for the society the kingdom of God was supposed to be. Boff’s vision of the Trinity leads to a human society that exists as a community of equal brothers and sisters built on relationships of communion and participation rather than domination or oppression. For Boff, seeing one part of the Trinity such as the father as dominant over other parts of the whole allowed people to construct images of God that did nothing but reinforce the preferred social order. According to Boff, the Trinity helps show that God’s nature is one of relationships, thus helping explain God’s desire to have relationship with the human race. Finally Boff concludes that society dishonors the Trinity when it allows inequality to exist but honors the Trinity when human kind seeks to live in perfect communion with one another. The doctrine of liberation theologians such as Boff is still relevant in a world were much systematic injustice still exists.
Finally the doctrine of the Trinity carries weight in the post-modern world because it speaks to the unfathomable nature of God. Theologians discussed in the book from Augustine on to the twentieth century understood the mystery of God. They speculated on the Trinity but were cautious not to lose the mystery inherent in it. As mystic faiths such as the Kabala speak more of a faith that is not easy to explain or defend, perhaps Christianity can benefit from inviting people to ponder the nature of the Trinity rather than discarding it as an irrelevant doctrine of an archaic church.

Trinity Questions

I have changed the title of the orginal post so as not to offend or discredit anyone who holds the doctrine of the trinity dear. I am sorry for the arrogance of "Trinity Sminity" it was a funny way, to me, to show my frustration with the doctrine in my mind. I know this is a discussion that has and will be going on for a long time. I still cannot get past wanting to at least look for another way of talking about God the creator and the gang. I find some happiness in the Eastern Orthodox idea of an eternal dance, but it still does not jive completly with me. I've heard rumor that Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt have beat this over the head and have maybe made some progress, what that progress is I have not clue. So does anyone have another idea, keep or loose the established vocabluary, I just want a way to talk about God and the gang without having to have my tongue in my cheek. Mist, water and Ice are not acceptable answers, ha ha.
Stephen