Tuesday, June 26, 2007

The Rica Coast


Rosta Cica was great.

It was nice to just be with a group of high schoolers again. I was surprised by the spiritual maturity of a lot of the guys. I was sort of an adult. I also got in trouble (10 guys in a shower at the wrong time as well as 10 guys in a single bunk are dumb ideas).

I feel as though a lot of what I have been learning is to simply love people. Serve them. Smile at them. This is what the gospel is. This is what God's kingdom is. When we do it, we are "pulling" that kingdom to earth. When the chance to go to CR arose, I was in. Like a kid in college who finally gets a job and uses the skills he's been learning, I feel like I could finally put my thoughts into action. And obviously pulling God's kingdom to earth can be done here in Btown too. ... I need to start that.

If you want to hear about my trip, talk to me. There's pictures on Facebook.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

pacifism?

I know this is a little out of context but Mclaren talks about the kingdom of God and how Jesus speaks of it coming in our lifetime and we are the ones who usher it in. He writes a chapter on pacifism. He makes three points that I find interesting:

1. "Those committed to nonviolence based on the teaching of Jesus - if they are wrong now - will someday be right. ...we should say they are ahead of their time - and that's not exactly a fault of theirs but of the times" [158].

2. "In times of conflict, whenever we are tempted to label someone as 'enemy' or 'evil,' we must remember Jesus' climactic words in his kingdom manifesto - that enemies are to be loved" [159].

3. "We need to realize that both our enemies and we ourselves have a common enemy: the very internal darkness Jesus' secret message addresses - the dark drives of lust, greed, anger, and hate that thrust us into conflict and war" [160].

It makes me wonder how Biblical the just-war theory is...