AUTHOR: Robin Dugall DATE: 2:13:00 PM ----- BODY:

Hi friends, I just finished grading the weekly journals that have been written by my students in community with me in studying Romans/Galatians. Amazing couple of posts...both of which are worth your time to take a peek at and appreciate. These are a couple of fresh takes from students who are taking this journey with openness to the Spirit and intensity of mind. Is there really a difference between the secular and the sacred? by Ryan Based on our lecture on Thursday this question of the secular and sacred has been a huge hope of mine. The hope is that I can come to realize that God is truth, and God is everywhere, and God is ultimate authority; therefore how can there be a "sacred" world and a "secular" world, wouldn't there just be a world? A world that is covered in truth and in God and in His promise. And this is what I truly believe. I believe that sometimes the most sacred aspects of God's creation are found in the most "defiled" things of this earth. The homeless, prostitutes, drugs, pedifiles, homosexuals; all carry Christ with them. What separates them is that they don't know it, and they don't recognize it, but I truly see God's hands in the most secular of parts of His creation. This is how we experience Christ relationally, when we recognize His hand and His power, His sovereignty over all things and we embrace the secular. One of my favorite authors writes that life is a dance toward God. God knows life and He knows truth, and we think we know life and we know truth; but our call as Christians is to learn how to view life and love as God views them. This involves learning a whole new kind of "dance" a dance that we don't know and God does, and we step all over God's feet in the process of learning how to dance, and we may never get it, but it is in this dance that we attempt to learn to view truth like God views truth. Truth is not propositional, truth is not contextual, truth cannot be explained in charts or graphs or formulas, but experienced in this dance we are constantly learning to do toward God... Or how about this tasty intellectual treat? CHRISTIAINTY IS COMPLETLY SELFISH. by Dave Christianity is completely selfish...and I hate that. We are all in it for ourselves because it works for us and because we are happy/successful/hopeful people. Most of us became Christians to better our lives, to receive salvation, to live the abundant life; whatever it was, you and I did it for ourselves. To escape some past or some fear or some eternal destiny. But what is the abundant life which the emergent church is so fond of talking about? It isn’t about being comfortable here in America but instead is about literally "selling all your possessions" in servitude to others. The only way to make Christianity unselfish is to completely disregard the self and to aid others completely, never putting yourself first. Maybe Gandhi and mother Teresa did it right, and are the only ones whoever actually did it right. So what am I going to do about it? I'm going to finish my degree, get married, get a job and continue a selfish life because that what I do best. If any of us really believed Jesus, and that his glory is truly everywhere, we would actually adhere to the harder aspects of Christianity that we are CALLED to partake in. the complete abandonment to self and the serving of others always. Unfortunately, we are Christians because it works for us, not because we actually want to engage the world the way we are called too. Gross. I read things like this and I find myself hopeful...hopeful that the Kingdom is at work in an emerging generation that is asking questions about the reality of faith in life NOT just about how to build bigger and better "kingdoms" to ourselves. Church cannot be about our kingdoms and our accomplishments but about Jesus' Kingdom and His work in the lives of those He loves and releases to incarnate that love in the world/culture.

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