emergent conversant, fellow social media friend, steve knight put together this presentation on a theology of twitter. it has some great content. maybe the greatest content is him quoting me from my spirituality and social media series i did with matt cheuvront.
i’ve chronicled this church before and their interesting church sign sayings. this one popped up yesterday and all I could think about was “what about the sabbath?” suppose that is lazy even though god mandates that.
Reflections on Weeding from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.
so i finished weeding out my neglected garden (which i need to go back to since this was recorded a few weeks back) and i had some thoughts.
Matthew 13
The Parable of the Weeds24 Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 "The owner's servants came to him and said,'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'
28"'An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'29" 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"
i am glad that i know a God which is patient in sorting out the weeds & wheat instead of how we in the christian community often argue who is in & out.
Reflections on Gardening from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.
so its been a long summer & as seems par for the summers my yard falls in disarray at some point. this summer, at this point, it was our flower gardens which were overrun with weeds and i didn’t tend to them. much like my own soul (and i’d guess others as well) things that were not bearing of any beauty or worth creep their way into my life and overrun that which i want for myself.
tending to the yard, in my eyes, feels like it has a lot to do about my care for being a neighbor. its not that i want to have some envy of the neighborhood, quite the opposite, but i my yard might be the conversation i have with someone as they walk/drive by.. (not to mention i have my best conversations when i’m actually outside doing work on the yard) .. and i’d like for those to be positive experiences.
so its a deep breath day & hard work day to clean house (or in this case garden) and find ones self at a place of peace where you can begin to move forward. this is me, reflecting on a little gardening.
i stumbled upon this article about pastor david weekley who recently came out to his congregation about his sexual reassignment past.
He told them that in 1984, just nine years after undergoing
extensive sex-reassignment surgeries, he was ordained by the Methodist
Church without telling anyone of his original gender at birth.
i am pretty stoked to hear of the congregations response, which was positive in support. it shows a wonderful example of grace & acceptance. i do have a wonder when it comes to the big umc church. what is in a person's history that needs to be vetted out in the process of ordination?
in the little segment i have quoted, it is said that he didn't tell anyone of his original gender. i'm fine with that not being an everyday conversation piece, but when we talk of an ordination process (one that i understand to be extensive and thorough) that it isn't a topic of conversation i find hard to imagine.
who is responsible for asking the question or being open? is it even an issue?
what do you think?
update: we are getting a good conversation over the posting at my facebook wall. if you're a friend chime in. if you're not a friend, ask, and then do the same. or just drop a thought here.