Grace Found

I've been cleaning up my doc files this morning and stumbled across this forgotten draft written a couple of years ago. In light of the dust storm being kicked up from Rob Bell's Love Wins new book that challenges the theology of eternal damnation, I decided it was timely to find this forgotten writing and to polish it up and post it. There is some great dialog in this about the nature of God's grace. I hope it will provoke you to add your thoughts about it.

(2008)
Ok, one of my fave bloggers recently posted up about one of my fave topics: Grace. Here's an excerpt:

But for His grace we would not be Christians, right? However, I've discovered that many Christians are afraid of the real message of grace, especially those in MFI type churches. Why? Well they don't like the notion that we are all equal before God. Telling the prominent pastor who's spent 40 years dedicated to serving the church that he is no more justified in God's sight then the drug addicted, gay stripper who genuinely turned to Christ, doesn't usually sit too well. That message scares many Christians who feel they've paid their dues and deserve a "special" place before His throne. I even heard someone once say that in heaven the Mother Theresa's of the world will get to sit at the feet of Jesus, while the newly converted convicts will have to stand in the back. 

 Here's a bit of the comment I posted over there:

I love this post. Grace, grace and more grace. It is, I believe, the single most underrated attribute of God. What you’ve said here is so true, that we know the bible verses and how to talk up grace, but living it out with ourselves and with others is a different story.

Rob Bell and the Audacity of Love : Love Wins {over hell}

 In the Christian circles I run in there is a newly released book titled Love Wins by Rob Bell, a megachurch pastor in Michigan. I'm not a fan of megachurches, but I am a fan of Rob Bell, though I've never read any of his four other books. He got my attention with the production and content of his short video series called Nooma, specifically the clip called She.

But this is not why I'm bringing up Bell's name. It's his new book with the bold, audacious message that God's love is actually bigger than hell and that Love will win in the end of the story. Not hell.

Oh how dare he.

It's causing a stir,  a HUGE stir in  cyberspace, with the predictable mud slinging and wargames already begun.(oh how fond Christians are of religious discourse and debate!) I have no intention in throwing a bone in that dog fight debate quickly turns to unkindly mean-spirited dogma.

What I will say is that I am thrilled that someone like Rob Bell (who has a tremendous amount of influence) is challenging the traditionally held belief of eternal damnation.

I've challenged this belief, too, and you can read it about my wrestling match with it HERE....and as an obscure blogger in my little, tiny corner of the great big ocean of blogs, the topic of hell is the most commented topic of any other topic I've blogged about in five years and 400 posts. (The second most stirring up topic? Women and equality in the modern Christian church. Go figure.)

Curious? To hear from Rob himself about his new book and the message of love winning over hell's fire,  check out his interview this morning on ABC news.

**If you've read the book and have a review please leave a comment with the link. I'll plan to get a copy soon and get out my own review.

Liberation as a Man Tied to Liberation of Women: a TED talk

 It's Women's History month here in the United States. Earlier this month we also recognized International Women's Day.  In light of it being Women's History month I did little search on TED for a talk to feature on my blog today. TED Talks are short videos, usually 10-18 minutes tops, presented by people expert and passionate in their topic. TED, which stands for technology, entertainment and design, brings together the brightest and most creative thinkers and speakers at their events. Speakers on the platform have a maximum of 18 minutes to present their talk. Thus, these short videos, aka TED talks, are archived online for anyone to view. Some of my college instructors have used TED talk videos for class instruction.

I prowled around TED looking for a video from a woman about women in light of the month. Instead, I found Tony Porter, a Black university professor and speaker from New York, a man who advocates for equity with women. The talk is only 11 minutes long. It's a presentation he gave at a TED womens event last year. Below is the transcription of some of what he said.  I hope you'll view it and in doing so catch a bit more fire as I did in being committed to the equity of the sexes.

I need you with me. I need you working with me and me working with you on how we raise our sons and teach them to be men-- that it's ok to not be dominating, that it's okay to have feelings and emotions, that it's okay to promote equality, that it's okay to have women who are just friends and that it's okay to be whole...that my liberation as a man is tied to your liberation as a woman.

-Tony Porter, TED talk

A Church Only a Mother Could Love : The Bridge

 This church doesn’t have a PR department or a logo or a red velvet bag for your tithe. All they have is a scrappy, shared yoga studio on NE Tillamook and each other. The only thing I could find lacking at The Bridge was judgment. There is no “IF” at The Bridge. No qualifications. They literally DO love you just for being there. It’s the “only a mother could love you” church. Everyone qualifies. Every. Single. Soul. The more flawed the better. (Amanda Westmont, A Year of Sundays)

Last Sunday, while I was holed up in my writing cave studying the begeezus out of my eyeballs,  a couple of local bloggers with an ambitious plan to visit a different church each Sunday this year stopped by my rowdy little faith community.
This may seem like a dizzying commitment to church hopping, but what makes this grand experiment of theirs more interesting is that they are atheists. Not sure what variety of atheist they are since the postmodern times we live in there are tribes within tribes of every ideology. I would guess that they aren't of the fundamentalist-atheist tribe or they wouldn't waste their time peeking their heads through any church doorway.

So why are they doing this?

You'll just to go read their Blog to find out.

International Women's Day - Hurray for Failed Evangelical Wives Like Me

Not an Evangelical Marriage from Recycle Your Faith on Vimeo.

Craig Spinks of Recycle Your Faith out of Colorado toured through Portland last year with his lovely wife Sarah. He was on the prowl around America for folks to talk to about themes of faith and Christian culturalisms. On that prowl of his he found me through our mutual connection to Jim Henderson.

Craig Spinks, 2010

He filmed me for over two hours, letting the discussion erupt spontaneously wherever it would. Part of that discussion took a turn into the special considerations of evangelical marriage. An entire book could be written about the unnecessary suffrage of women who aspire to be model Christian wives who in their submissiveness to their husbands trust that it is their godly duty to obey. I tried for many years to fit in that role and it just wasn't working for me. Jerry, my husband for more than twenty years now, is a laid-back guy with a quiet sort of strength. I'm the loud one in the family. In Christian circles, most notably evangelical circles, there is an unspoken code that women are to remain in the shadow of their husband. He must shine. She must support. Our marriage did not exemplify this in the least. Jerry is so unassuming that at one church one man was aghast when he saw us kiss for he thought Jerry must be my brother. "You're always up front talking and praying that I just thought you were single and that Jerry was your brother... I thought it was weird when I saw you kiss and then I figured out, 'Oh, Pam's married.'"

This says more about his picture of evangelical women than it does about my public displays of affection with my husband.