A Community Called Atonement Ch. 9 and 10

Many apologies on the tardiness of getting back to this discussion. A few weeks ago I went to Boston with our teens and then the weeks leading up to last weekend I was preparing for our 30 Hour Famine. Both events went really well, but I'm mostly excited about the Famine event. It's the perfect youth ministry event, because it teaches the spiritual disciples of fasting and serving and gets kids involved in caring for the world and making a difference...and if you do it right, it builds a foundation for a life of compassion and justice.

Now onto the discussion of our book. I've decided to change our format up a bit to provide a little bit more direction for our conversations. So I'm gonna have some questions to which we can each respond. Feel free to go beyond the questions (maybe even ask your own), but I hope that trying to answer the same questions would give us a bit more focus.

So here are the questions for chapters 9 and 10.

1. Did you agree with Scot's statement that "the cross creates the kingdom as Christ envisions it"?
2. How have you explained the wrath of God as it appears in scripture? (Scot gives a couple options: impersonal wrath or personal wrath)
3. On page 75, Scot says that "...the gift of the Spirit is cosmic." In this instance he is connecting the Spirit to the enabler of community. I'd love to hear stories about how you've seen the Spirit's work benefit community.

What needs to burn?

I've been thinking about the Jewish sacrifical system and what it has to say to my life today. There are the conclusions that are often told like, "is your all on the altar?" or "we need to give our best to God".

But one that's been sticking in my spirit is how the sacrificial system connected the temporal things with eternal things. There was a unity of things that will last and those things that will last forever.

A sacrifice was always something important to the person making the sacrifice. It was something like grain or goats, things that were needed for sustenance and survival and and even for defining status. But as they were burning, they couldn't be used for any of those. By making the sacrifice, the person showed who really provides and defines sustenance, survival and status.

So I've asked myself. What in me needs to burn? What in my theology am I relying on for survival?

And this may be an extension of the previous conversation? What in our American theology and practice needs to burn in order for us to connect more fully to the heart of God?

For me, the first thing that pops into my head is busyness, the desire to always have something to do. Doing things isn't bad. But when doing the things becomes the object...something's gotta burn.

Another is the inclination to create an "us vs. them" attitude. Yes, there are differences, but there is also sameness. What needs to burn there?

Just more thoughts and questions...

[Edit] A funny photo sent by Tim Miller of one of his professors, Dr. Stone.

Creation Rushed or Unrushed?

I wondered this morning as I was rushing around trying to get stuff ready for the week.

I wondered if God was rushed when he created the universe. Like, did he wake up one morning, look at his schedule and say, "Oh my me! I have to make light and darkness today. And tomorrow I need to separate the waters. And the day after that I gotta make dry land and from that land I have to make sure that stuff grows from it. And that's not it. The day after that I'll be required to make stars and the sun and moon. Whew, that's going to be a lot of work. But I won't be done then either. The next day I have to make flying things and swimming things. I'm not quite sure what those will look like yet, even. Oh my. And when I want to be done, I have to get up the next day and make animals that walk on the earth. And I'll probably need to make one of the animals rule over all the others, just so that there can be some semblance of order. And after that day, I'll get some rest. Man, I can't wait for Saturday."

Or was there peace in all that he made?