true freedom...from it all

"The one true freedom in life is to come to terms with death, and as early as possible, for death is an event that embraces all our lives. And the only way to have a good death is to lead a good life.... The more we do God's will, the less unfinished business we leave behind when we die." - William Sloane Coffin, June 1, 1924 to April 12, 2006

colleges

Well, the college search has begun somewhat in earnest. Over spring break last week we visited 4 colleges just to check out the "scenery." Old dad here got a surprise. We visited Allegheny, Hiram, Heidelberg, and Kenyon. (Also on the list for future vists are Haverford, Ohio Wesleyan, Wooster in Ohio, and Marietta and maybe Denison). Allegheny and Kenyon were my paper choices. Kate was clear, Heidelberg and Hiram were her cup of tea in academics and campus cultures. I felt the same way! She is looking at political science/public policy and vocal music (with options for continued oboe and piano). Heidelberg, where my dad went, but it was too close to home for me, I thought wouldn't measure up. It was far and away the best visit and the most connecting for political science and music combined.

Kate played in the last concert of the season yesterday in the Akron Youth Symphony. It was a wonderful concert. I kept wondering who was that attractive young lady playing oboe! :) Having accomplished children sneaks up on you! They played:
Finlandia by Sibelius
Midday Witch by Dvorak
Carmen by Bizet
among others

Judas gospel

The recently revealed discovery 30 years ago of an ancient book called the Gospel of Judas has created quite a stir.  Some folks like biblical writers Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels are attributing great authority to it.  Most of the biblical scholars I know, including myself, are asking, "What's the big deal?"  This book was written at least 80 if not more years after the 4 Biblical Gospels were written.  Why do we think it is more authoritative than the Biblical Gospels?  I think this book will help us to understand the times of when it was written in the 2nd Century, but we have to be careful we don't simply transpose it directly from the 2nd Century to the 21st Century.

 

This is one among many ancient books that are continuing to be discovered.  Why does this one receive such instant credibility as compared to the others and especially in light of the 4 Gospels in the Bible?  I find many folks being intrigued by the Judas gospel and now planning to study it.  Yet, I find in many cases they have not spent any or little time really studying personally the 4 Gospels of the Bible.  They react to those gospels more by hearsay from other folks (negative and positive). And some folks have said we shouldn't force an "orthodox" viewpoint of the Bible on folks.  I agree.  BUT, the definition of what is a Christian for close to 2000 years has meant a somewhat boundaried faith in who is Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the authority of the Bible (espcecially for we who claim to be Protestants), and a central understanding of the Trinitarian nature of God and the sacramental nature of baptism and eucharist (thanksgiving or communion).  NO ONE has to accept these boundaries.  BUT to be in the body of Christ, the Christian church, they are the norm.  but as I said, to live in our US society, you are not forced to accept them or to believe them.  But as I said () in the historic boundaries of the Christian church they have central meaning and identity for us...or else we aren't a Christian church.  We may good, ethical people seeking to help the world, but we are not the followers of the resurrected, living Christ whom we believe has saved humanity through continuing to work among us and with us in human history.

 

Judas like many of the other discovered gospels come from the Gnostic strain of the early church.  There are some today who are giving great veracity to the Gnostic gospels.  The Gnostics were only one of a variety of groups who were part of a movement called Christianity (rather than an organization as we have known it in modern times).  Some claim that the Gnostics were closer to what Jesus intended but patriarchal powers of the time sought to deny their message.  As I study the history, it looks to me less of power elites controlling which strain or Gospels became predominant.  Rather the general populace just didn't not find the Gnostic gospels to be compelling or "real" enough and they were discarded over time by not passing the test of speaking "truth" to the main part of the church...who were not powerful people.

 

I think the discussion about the meaning of the Gnostic gospels is more of an interfaith dialogue that I do feel comfortable in being a part of.  But it is not a strictly Christian community conversation.  Gnosticism is not about Jesus Christ.  It is about more finding correct human behavior through more mystical means.    It so happened that some Gnostics in the first few centuries since Jesus used Jesus as a way to communicate their faith.  That is gnosticism, not Christianity.  The Gospel of Judas fits more into that tradition than the Christian tradition.

 

Here is a definition of the Gnostic thought...which is receiveing a great revival among some Christians these days.

 

Here is a critical article which uses the thought of NT Wright, who I believe is one of the best New Testament scholars of our time.

David Loar
http://discipledavid.blogspot.com ...my blog
http://www.fairlawnwest.org ...church web site

http://www.loar.org ...family web site

 

needy

Followers of Jesus are less "needy" than others around them and thus can pray more for the conditions of the world around them.  That's what I got from my meditation reading today.  It also strikes me as I pray The Lord's Prayer which was what Jesus offered in answer to the disciples request to teach them to pray.

 

Here is some of my meditation this morning:

 

Breaking out of the bondage of self does not mean we ignore or deny our needs.  In fact, quite the reverse is true.  If we can discover healthy, God-directed ways to meet our emotional and physical needs, then we become less needy, less selfish, less self-preoccupied individuals.  This is the paradox of following Jesus.  Discovering what our needs are and asking to have those needs met may be one of the most unselfish things we do.  All of us have needs, and all of us have choices as to how those needs are to be met.  Many of the way we humans act are counterfeit means of trying to meet our most basic physical, emotional, and spiritual hungers.  With God's help we can find genuine ways of satisfying them. 

 

We want to turn our ourselves over to God, but how?  How do we get out of the driver's seat?  The key is willingness.  If we crack the door just a little bit, then God will direct us in the process.  Revelation 3:20 says "Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you.

 

(end of meditation)

 

David continues:

 

There are two prayers that bring this home for me in my spititual practice -

 

1) AA Third Step Prayer

 

God, I offer myself to Thee--to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt.  Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do They will.  Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy power, Thy love, and They way of life.  May I do Thy will always.  Amen.

 

2) John Wesley's annual renewal of covenant prayer

 

Let me be your servant, under your command.
I will no longer be my own.
I will give up myself to your will in all things.
Lord, make me what you will.
I put myself fully into your hands:
put me to doing, put me to suffering,
let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,
let me be full, let me be empty,
let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and with a willing heart
give it all to your pleasure and disposal.

 

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen. 
 

David again: This is the tenuous rope that we balance on.  Are we willing to let go of our lives, fully committing our life to follow Jesus, to die with him...so that we will rise with him to life that never ends?  OR, will we do the perfunctory "religious" thing by going to church, seeking to be good people trying to get better, and only try out Jesus for those portions of our lives we are willing to let go of, but still holding on to those other parts of our lives that seem unreasonable to let go of?

http://www.fairlawnwest.org/purpose.htm

David Loar
http://discipledavid.blogspot.com ...my blog
http://www.fairlawnwest.org ...church web site

http://www.loar.org ...family web site

 

using the Bible

Scripture is not to be used.  It is to be received.  - David Loar

_______________________________________________________

Quotation:
    It is Truth which we must look for in Holy Writ, not
cunning of words. All Scripture ought to be read in the spirit
in which it was written. We must rather seek for what is
profitable in Scripture, than for what ministereth to subtlety
in discourse.
    ... Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of
        Christ, I.v. [1418]

_______________________________________________________________

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I never win an argument at the risk of losing a
soul.

David Loar
http://discipledavid.blogspot.com ...my blog
http://www.fairlawnwest.org ...church web site

http://www.loar.org ...family web site

 

Akron school levy

The connecting fiber of our community is being stretched with the discussion and vote on the Akron Public Schools operation levy. On one hand the necessity for the levy for the district's operating budget is essential. (To remind folks: the levy has nothing to do with the building program that is now going on. That money comes mainly from the state building fund and from the city income tax. Nothing of it can be used for operations. The paradox is if the levy doesn't pass, we will have new buildings with very reduced use of their functionality.)

One the other hand, there are clearly folks who are stretched hard by having their property tax raised for the levy. The case can be made on how essential the levy is, but that doesn't change the financial dilemmas that some folks are facing. Their budget needs are stretched too thin with the addition of the increased levy on their property taxes. For those of you in this predicament, I find myself struggling between my children's educational needs and the truth that I know you face if the levy passes.

The majority in the Ohio state legislature has made us hostage to this situation for a so called "fiscal responsiblity agenda". It has forced us as local Ohio communities to be in internal conflict at a time this state needs it communities to be able to put their best foot forward in the face of a declining popultion. The unwillingness of the legislature to follow the ruling of the Ohio Supreme Court has left constituencies of great need to be in conflict with one another.

This state has no coordinated educational policy. Rather, we have an uneasy "compromise" of various constituencies who have squeezed out as much as they can for their own particular program to "save" children's education. And then on top of that, we have the federal "No Child Left Behind" program as the 1000 lb gorilla in the middle of the whole thing. So now we have dwindling dollars being fought over by a variety of competing "educational" experts and reformers e.g. standardized performance testing for graduation and charter schools. The bottom line is that the students of the public schools of this state are left in a very precarious situation. And teachers have little room to function in the arena in which they are expected to perform the best...the classroom.

The specific reality in urban districts like Akron's is that as the money dries up in the district, those who can afford it move to outlying districts so their children will have the opportunities they believe they deserve (even though those same outlying districts are also starting to experience the financial squeeze). The children who remain in those urban districts whose families are unable to move, mainly for economic reasons, deserve to have the same educational opportunities. This is another reality of the economic injustice that continue to fester in public education. It brings us back to the folks who own their own homes, but are are facing economic limitations in voting for the levy. Vulnerable folks are being thrown into competition with other vulernable folks. The fiber of the community is being stretched more and more toward the breaking point. When we're up to our rear in educational plans for our children, who is going to drain the swamp? With that question the chorus of competing educational saviors begins their litany of answers. We still are not working together in developing a unified educational policy for all our children, but work to appease the "saviors" by giving each a portion of the pie. The children keep losing.

Ok, so this is a round about way to ask folks to vote for the APS levy. But I couldn't just simply do that. This levy is not in isolation. It has a host of factors that are driving it and are confronting it. And in the end, whether it passes or fails, with the present circumstances, we will have a portion of this community mad as hell. Who could have ever imagined that we would come to a time in the U.S when trying to provide quality education for our children would lead to dissecting the unity of the community?