Tag: deeds

Jóhannesarguðspjall 13. kafli

Höfundur Jóhannesarguðspjalls virðist taka ákveðna stöðu með Kalvín og útvalningarkenningu hans í 13. kaflanum (nú eða þá að Kalvín leiti í 13. kaflann til stuðnings sínum hugmyndum). Öllu og öllum er ákvörðuð stund og hlutverk. Frjáls vilji virðist ekki til í hlutverkum Júdasar, Jesús eða jafnvel Péturs. Höfundur Jóhannesarguðspjalls virðist sjá atburðarásina sem fyrirfram skrifað handrit af himnum. Þar sem hann situr og rifjar upp atburðina 50 árum áður, þá virðist allt passa saman. Jesús vissi, Júdas vissi og Pétur hefði átt að vita en var alltaf svolítið seinn. Continue reading Jóhannesarguðspjall 13. kafli

Jóhannesarguðspjall 9. kafli

Það er auðvelt að festast í því sem skiptir ekki máli, sérstaklega ef það er erfitt að horfast í augu við aðalatriðin. Þannig hef ég oft lesið þessa frásögn og einblínt á kraftaverkið, hvernig Jesús breytti lífi blinda mannsins og hversu frábært það er að Jesús læknar. Á sama hátt þekki ég góða menn sem gera lítið úr frásögninni og benda í því sambandi á hversu ógeðslegt það sé að blanda saman munnvatni og drullu til að maka í augu einhvers. Continue reading Jóhannesarguðspjall 9. kafli

Hefur þú tíma?

Þessir þankar voru skrifaðir fyrir KSS fund í desember 1998 og hafa verið lagfærðir með tilliti til málfars og aukins þroska og endurskrifaðir að hluta.

“Það sem mest er um vert í lífinu,” sagði maðurinn, “er að komast áfram, að verða eitthvað, að eiga eitthvað. Sá sem kemst vel áfram, sá sem verður eitthvað meira og eignast meira en aðrir fær allt annað eins og af sjálfu sér, vináttu, ást, heiður og svo framvegis. Þú álítur að þér þyki vænt um vini þína? Við skulum athuga það svolítið nánar.” Grámennið blés nokkrum núllum út í loftið. Mómó dró bera fótleggina inn undir pilsið sitt og reyndi af fremsta megni að skríða inn í stóra jakkann sinn.
Continue reading Hefur þú tíma?

Frelsi fyrir aðra

Hugleiðing á æskulýðsdaginn 1999, flutt í Háteigskirkju. Lítillega lagfærð með tilliti til málfars og þroska.

Narcissus var eitt af goðum grísku goðafræðinnar og fallegasta vera sem nokkurn tímann hafði lifað. Goðið Echo varð ástfangið af Narcissusi og og gerði allt til að vinna ástir hans. Echo var hins vegar svo ólánsöm að á hana höfðu verið lögð álög. Það eina sem hún gat sagt var bergmál þess sem hún heyrði. Þegar Echo ætlaði að tjá Narcissusi ást sína, var það eina sem hún gat gert að endurtaka orð Narcissusar. Narcissus datt ekki í hug að eitthvað væri að hjá Echo, hélt að hún væri að gera att í sér með því að endurtaka allt sem hann sagði og gekk í burtu. Continue reading Frelsi fyrir aðra

Risastór ljósblár bangsi með bleikt hjarta á maganum

Flutt á Sæludögum í Vatnaskógi og í námskeiði um prédikunarfræði við Háskóla Íslands einhvern tímann á síðustu öld. Lítillega lagfært með tilliti til málfars og þroska.

Fyrir nokkrum árum var ég að tala við fáeina unglinga og það kom til tals hvernig Guð væri.

„Ég held að Guð sé gamall karl með skegg,“ sagði einn.  „Guð er allt,“ sagði annar. „Guð er svona einhvers konar þoka,“ „Guð er þetta,“ „Guð er hitt“ og „Guð er fyrir mér,“ sagði ein stelpan, „Guð er fyrir mér risastór ljósblár bangsi með bleikt hjarta á maganum.“ Continue reading Risastór ljósblár bangsi með bleikt hjarta á maganum

Thoughts about the “Tribal Church” by Carol Howard Merritt

When a young person walks into a church, it’s a significant moment, because no one expects her to go and nothing pressures her to attend; instead, she enters the church looking for something. (16)

Tribal Church is one person’s attempt to put it out there; her thoughts and feelings about being a parent, a spouse, a seeker, a rostered church leader, a young adult, a person-in-debt, all while living in a world of constant changes and uncertainty. She addresses the struggle of being a follower of Christ in a world were young people outside the church walls “seem much more gracious, loving, and responsible, more consistent with Christ-like behavior.” (2) Continue reading Thoughts about the “Tribal Church” by Carol Howard Merritt

Þetta er alvöru

Fyrir nokkrum mánuðum, næstum ári var ég að lesa mér til um kirkjulegt starf með ungu fólki og rakst á sögu frá Bandaríkjunum sem hafði veruleg áhrif á mig. Þannig var að móðir kom mjög æst til fundar við æskulýðsfulltrúann og prestinn í kirkjunni sinni. Hún hafði verulegar áhyggjur af syni sínum á háskólaaldri og taldi það sök kirkjunnar. Presturinn og æskulýðsfulltrúinn ákváðu að kalla soninn til fundarins til að fá botn í málið. Continue reading Þetta er alvöru

Recruiting Volunteers

Recruiting volunteers still requires work, but the context has changed. Now there is awareness and pride where before was obligation. And that makes all the difference both for those who recruit and those who say "yes" to this opportunity for ministry.

From Leading Ideas: A Resource for Church Leaders.

Að gleðjast með skaparanum

Mig langar að lesa úr Litla Prinsinum eftir Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

– Stjörnurnar eru ekki eins fyrir alla. Fyrir suma sem ferðast eru stjörnurnar leiðarljós. Fyrir aðra eru þær ekkert nema smáljós. Fyrir aðra sem eru lærðir eru þær viðfangsefni. Fyrir kaupsýslumanninn minn voru þær gull. En allar þessar stjörnur eru þöglar. Fyrir þig verða stjörnurnar öðruvísi en fyrir alla aðra… Continue reading Að gleðjast með skaparanum

Organizing Armageddon

The most persistent systemic problem with big international aid efforts, one highlighted in virtually every major study, is that no one is in charge. In a major catastrophe, thousands of high-minded, highly motivated folks pour in from all over the world. Each big agency has its own style and priorities, and each sets up its own supply chain of planes, ships, and trucks. They compete with one another for resources, duplicate one another’s efforts, and generally get in one another’s way.

from Organizing Armageddon: What We Learned From the Haiti Earthquake via Derek Hoven.

What is not mentioned in the article, and is even more catastrophic is the fact that very few of those aid efforts utilize and work with locals, allowing the locals to participate in the decision-making process.  This is perhaps best understood by the fact that no Haitian is addressed in the article except for the negative image of a muscular man stalling the Red Cross in their effort to deliver food.

The Self Interests of Congregations

A paper called “Church Based Organizing: A Strategy for Ministry” presented be the Gamaliel Foundation, makes an interesting claim about the new focus of congregations:

Fifty years ago, the self interest of the church was to respond to the problems of poverty, poor schools, lack of health care etc. affecting its people. Today the self interest is still there; but a more powerful self interest is the very survival of the congregation.

Here is more about Gamaliel Foundation.

Ministry to shut-ins

Few years ago I wrote an educational material for the church of Iceland, in collaboration with Guðrún Eggertsdóttir and Ragnheiður Sverrisdóttir, about how congregations can structure their ministry to those that are unable to leave their home.

I have always meant to look at the in context of the structure of Stephen Ministries here in the US. And maybe one day I will.

Finding our way into the future

Unless we are able, as Christians, to discover ways of conducting our life and our mission that differ radically from the Christendom form of the church that has dominated throughout most of Christian history, we shall be doomed in the future to be part of our world’s problem, and not its solution.

…

Perhaps if ecumenism was less concerned about the union of tired, old institutions and more concerned about the calling of the Christian movement in the world as a whole, ecumenicity itself would be more vital to all who take this faith with some degree of seriousness.

…

We Christians, who have imposed ourselves and our faith on so many, for so long, must now earn the right to explain the reason for our hope.

Finding Our Way into the Future by Douglas John Hall.

Acts in Common

Acts In Common is an organization of Christian believers who seek to renew, resource and empower Lutheran congregations and ministries in African American neighborhoods in the Detroit metropolitan area. Acts In Common (AIC) seeks to assist these congregations and ministries to find creative and public ways to invite others to know God’s love through Jesus Christ. Membership in Acts In Common is open to all Lutheran congregations in the territory of the Southeast Michigan Synod who subscribe to the purpose and goals of the organization.

Acts in Common.

Specific Actions

Church-based organizations do not try to solve problems. Problems will always be there, and we cannot afford to waste our energy fixing unending problems. We do, however, take specific actions on clearly defined issues.

from  Congregation-Centered Organizing: A Strategy for Growing Stronger Communities via The Gamaliel Foundation an organizing institute.

Here I think Mark I. Wegener is not correct. We cannot afford giving in to problems, and just continue to bring band-aid to the wounded. Community organizing is more then running around with first-aid kit, it most address the reason for the wounds.

“Power” is Not a Bad Word

Some people are put off by the blatant appeal to power, which is an integral part of congrega tion-centered organizing. We tend to think of power as manipulative, as domineering, as too political, as “power over” someone else, and we suspect such power is out of keeping with our Christian values. We recall Lord Acton’s famous dictum: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.”

More recently, however, we have come to recognize that power in and of itself is neither good nor bad. Power is nothing more than the ability to accomplish something.

Whether the goal is to accomplish something helpful or harmful is another question, but power itself is a necessary ingredient for any action. Power is constitutive of life. (Mark I. Wegener)

from  Congregation-Centered Organizing: A Strategy for Growing Stronger Communities via The Gamaliel Foundation an organizing institute.

Liberalism as the Root of Decline

In the article Death of Protestant America: A Political Theory of the Protestant Mainline (subscription needed), Joseph Bottum seems to come to the conclusion that well educated liberals in charge of the mainline denominations headquarters are to blame not only for the church’s decline but for rising division in God’s chosen country it self.

Many Americans are profoundly patriotic, no doubt, and many Americans are profoundly critical of their country. We are left, however, with a great problem in combining the two, and that problem was bequeathed to us by the death of Protestant America – by the collapse of the churches that were once both the accommodating help and criticizing prophet of the American experiment.

Mr. Bottum is right when he brings attention to the new unity in the religious spectrum.

The horizontal unity of Mere Religion cuts across denominations. Serious, believing Presbyterians, for example, now typically feel that they have more in common with serious, believing Catholics and evangelicals – with serious believing Jew, for that matter – than they do, vertically, with the unserious, unorthodox members of their own denomination.

However, I would not use words like serious and unserious believer, implying that those that don’t belong to the conservative, orthodox, “right-wingishy,” world that Mr. Bottum seems to lean towards are somehow not taking their faith seriously. It is actually possible to claim the oposite as a fact.

Restructuring UMC

The United Methodist Church or, more specifically, its U.S. component, often continues to be entangled in U.S. political and economic ideologies and desires. … we must clearly grasp that the so-called “American Way of Life” requires critique. Capitalism and consumerism are not practices taken straight from the gospel.

Elaine A Robinson has an interesting article about the need to restructure UMC in an Age of Empire (PDF). Asking questions about the unbalanced relationship between north and south.