Introducing two cool new friends...by way of the Trinity (duh, how do YOU talk about friendship?)

So, we worship, love, and pursue a Trinitarian God. God in three Persons. One God, three persons. Sharing the same substance in three different centers of being. That being said, for a Christian the functional presupposition about God is that He is profoundly relational. The Father didn't begin singular, then just randomly produce a couple more folks like Himself (the Son and Holy Spirit). Even speaking of a 'beginning' in regards to Him is nonsense. From the get go, from 'eternity past,' this is the way He Is: 'Triune' or 3-and-1. In our humanity (and very North American emphasis on singularity) we have a really hard time wrapping our mind around this concept, that is, thinking of living a life in this manner. In reality though, God has left hints of Himself written on us,, blind as we are to see them most of the time. A really healthy marriage or a great friendship can give us tiny glimpses into the intra-Trinitarian life that we will someday share in fully. However, because of sin (both in terms of personal moral failure and the much larger and harder to see 'systemic' varieties of evil that arise in any organization or community that humans lay their hands on) we are either lonely hyper-individualists or so subsumed into our respective relationships as to become mere extensions of one another. Neither distinct or fully without distinction, stuck in a psycho-spiritual limbo of sorts. It's hard for us to be individuals-in-communion, that is, properly 'Trinitarian' in our relationships. (If you like, you can check my much earlier blog on "What I Believe" for a rather simple Trinitarian Doctrine. That being said, being made in the Imago Dei presuppositionally includes (or at least includes the intent for) relationships of depth, meaning, and delight. Long Story Short: God thought up the idea of spouse-ship, frienship, sonship, daughtership and any other relational ships you'd care to board. No other animal on this planet has our (human) capacities for participation in, and enjoyment of relationship, specifically that of friendship. He is the author that has written His love for parties, theology and a pint with the boys (and girls), big meals with friends, and dates with the one we love on our hearts. My pastoral admonition? Drink good beer, eat nachos at the Wild Horse regularly, and read Luther...no wait, wrong pastoral admonition. Or maybe not... My real admonition? Go look like God: be good friends with someone. Model the Divine life with them, letting your light shine out so to speak. And check out the blog of my two newest friends, Jonathan and Tish, they kick ass: www.speculationsandsuch.blogspot.com

Hehe....

I got an A at Harvard.

A Small Response to a Comment given on the Blog Entry Immediately Prior to this one...

So, Hello to 'anonymous.' I am genuinely sorry if I've offended you in some way. If you want to take issue with me or something I've said, please email me. It will be just between you and I, and only for the sake of restoring anything thats broken, straightening whats crooked between us, or just plain apologizing for what I've done. I hope to hear from you soon. As for your comment proper, I think its a bit of mis-characterization. Indeed, I am a bastard, any of my friends will tell you this if pressed on the issue. 'Pharisee' however is not my particular flavor of bastard though, because, you see, a Pharisee trusted (foolishly and self-deceptively) in his own righteousness before a very particular and impossible-to-satisfy Law or Code. He then held that legalistic 'righteousness' over others. Why am I not a Pharisee? Because I know, and will admit openly that my righteousness is a tattered rag, insufficient in every way. I've nothing to be proud of. Only by the grace (grace means UNDESERVED FAVOR by the way) of God go I. So what does that mean in relation to my blog? Simply this: Any confidence or boldness I have in proclaiming the Truth (or even merely a single aspect of it) comes not from my own righteousness (though certainly, a Christ-like life on my part wouldn't hurt the credibility of the Gospel!) but because of the reality and righteouness of Christ. The reality of Christ is reliably presented in the New Testament documents and is only doubted by those with ideological axes to grind, not by anyone with an even vaguely even-handed assesment of them. But I digress: The reality of Christ confronts us with the very Person of God. He loves us dearly, enough to die for us...but He will not be toyed with or ignored, and He will certainly give no quarter to any pretense of rightesouness that is claimed outside of the work of his Son. Much more importantly is the fact that Christ's righteouness has been applied to my life and its complete lack of righteousness, to cover up my ugliness, to pay for what I've done, and what I will continue to do, unfortunately. I am a new person in Him, and by God's grace, I will live more and more in such a way as to reflect the new Life that has been given to me: that of Christ. I am a Sinner saved by Grace, and I only want to tell the story of my sorry ass being saved from itself. Feel free to be in touch, whoever you are. At the very least, please repost an accusation that sticks. None of us fully sees themselves, we need friends to tell us the truth about ourselves. Cheers!

When the going gets tough, the tough get going...but they still whine like wee little girls most of the time.

So, I've been reviewing some of my own blogs this evening. I complain alot. I will probably complain more too. I am a pretty tough guy, and I don't give up on anything anymore really. But I am big whiner. At least I have been since I came out here. That in itself is the reason I'm writing this. Seattle, towards the end, was getting to easy. I actually thought I was on top of my personal flaws. Ha! I am finding that seminary, working at Starbucks, and dealing with the joy ('joy' in the "yay, its time to get nailed to a cross/burnt alive/fed to lions"...y'know... New Testament-sense-of-joy) that is New England has had the effect of bringing a number of character flaws that are resident in me to the surface. Then I whine...and then my over-inflated sense of manliness is faced with the person of David.
The psalmist begged God to 'remove his dross' or 'alloy.' Dross are the impurities that float to the surface of a molten puddle of gold. Alloy is the state of a metal when it is not strictly composed of one element. While today, 'alloys' of many sorts are stronger than many 'pure' metals (i.e. steel is an alloy of iron and carbon primarily) in Biblical times, plowshares, basic tools/implements and swords were all considered of better quality if they were free of a. Dross, and b. Alloy. Gold could only be refined by a heat sufficient enought to liquefy it so its various impurities would float to its surface and there be removed. Bronze and Iron could only be purified by an even higher heat. These processes are called 'forging' and 'annealing.' These are rather technical terms that aren't worth really explaining right now. Suffice it to say that the best plowshares and the strongest of blades were made of iron or steel that had been heated to near its melting point, had had the tar beaten out of it with hammer and anvil, and thereupon been quickly cooled down in a bucket of cold oil, only to begin the process again. Each fell blow of the hammer did two things to the blade. It beat the impurities out of the steel (its dross and alloy), and it changed the internal structure of the blade by compressing the molecules it was composed of into latticed 'stacks' one upon the other, thereby multiplying its strenght and flexibility by many times. All that to say that in the end, one was left with a thing of remarkable beauty, utility, and durability.
With those sorts of thoughts in mind, we return to the Psalmists' pleas to have his 'dross' and/or 'alloy' removed. It seems that he knows that he can be made into something of value (purified gold, a gleaming sword) and it seems that he knows something about the process (exposure to intense heat and pressure, and literally 'getting the crap beaten out' of him) and asks for it anyways. Brave man...asking YHWH for such things. I will plainly admit I am eisegeting this text a little, but not without point, and not abusively so. David wants to be purified. And so do I...
So far, coming to seminary has been my forge, and my circumstances the fell blows of the Purifier, the Swordsmith. When the Lord is in His temple, surely the Master is in His Smithy too. So...I need to stop complaining...at least I am not consigned to the scrap heap beside the forge, no?
C.S. Lewis, in "The Problem of Pain", and in "A Grief Observed" observed that God was chiseling away at us, the unfinished lumps of stone that we are, trying to turn us into fully human creatures. Many times this is undertaken by the application of pain and suffering. Furthermore, in "The Great Divorce" that ascent from the dreary Hell to the resplendent Heaven (by way of Bus) is marked by the main character becoming more and more 'real' as he ascends. When He gets to Heaven, he is still not 'solid' or 'real' enough to get on in that place, for even the blades of grass pierce his feet like actual blades, and the waters of a Heavenly Stream grip him like a vise and almost carry him away.
It seems that to be purified, to be strengthened, to be made ready for service, to be made more 'real' or more 'solid' involves pain. But what a lovely pain...or at least a worthwhile one. I suppose I would really have something to worry (and complain about...) if I weren't feeling any pain. (Then again, I wouldn't be complaining about it would I? The anaesthetized comfort of a being that is less than real is the comfort of a man on his death-bed.) So let us pray (as I am trying to) that God would not take away His fell blows, His determined pruning back of our wilding boughs, His making of us into more 'real' and 'solid' people, but that He would lend our suffering purpose, as He lent it meaning on the Cross.
(Cf. Proverbs and Hebrews "God disciplines the sons (and daughters!) that He loves")
Hoping you are encouraged in Christ,
Troy