Moving To St. Louis

For some time now our family has been debating the idea of moving down to St. Louis. Family is very important to me, and a move there puts us much closer to both sets of grandparents while also staying in a major metropolitan area. In St. Louis, where my parents already live, the kids will be immersed in a much more holistic family environment than we are able to provide as a family island here in Chicago. Additionally, we will be able to see my wife's family with much greater regularity being only a few hours from Nashville. So although this is a blessing on many levels for our family, we have not taken the plunge until now. It has for us however become evident we as a family are standing at a crossroads of several events professionally and personally that make it clear, now is the time for action.

So on December 18th a mere 46 days away, we will make the move to the St. Louis area. To tell you the truth, we need your help. Simply speaking, we need friends here in Chicagoland to help us load the truck, and we need friends in St. Louis to help us unload the truck. I need IT consulting work. If you are connected to a small business or non-profit that currently outsources your IT I ask that you would talk to the decision makers about giving my services a chance. I have 9 years experience in small business IT. Working in a small business environment I am proficient both as a web-application developer and as a network / PC technician.

To those of you here in Chicagoland we will leave behind. We will miss you! Many of you are dearly loved and we hope you will make our home a stop on your journey when you are passing through St. Louis. To those in St. Louis I am looking forward to rekindling old friendships and making new ones as well, so I hope you will make time soon to come share our table and see what community we build together.

Blessings and Peace!

My 2010 Ballot

It's election time, so I thought I'd throw out what my 2010 ballot will look like. It's quite a mix of parties and candidates, but it is consistent with my wishes to choose the best candidate based on an overlook of their entire platform.

Governor - Rich Whitney - Green - (http://www.whitneyforgov.org/)
Attorney General - Steve Kim - Republican- (http://stevekimforag.com/)
Senator - LeAlan Jones - Green - (http://lealanforsenate.org/)
House - Ben Lowe - Democrat- (http://www.loweforcongress.com)
State Senator - John Millner - Republican - (http://www.johnmillner.org/)
State Rep - Michelle Mussman - Democrat -(http://www.votemichelle.org)

Peter Rollins - We are Bound to Each Other

Christianity is where we are loosed from the need to believe in some God who guarantees that life is meaningful so you can sleep well at night. So that you can say, "I know it's all going to be OK when I die, and everything is going to be great; and it doesn't really change who you are it's a belief that just makes you just function, and you are blind to the other.

But actually, God is nigh in the depth of being self. That you find God in nothing more than giving water to those who are thirsty, giving food to those who are hungry, to giving clothes to those who are naked, visiting those who are in prison, standing up for justice. Giving yourself utterly to love. You know, living by that sword, and dying by that sword. Because we all know if you live by the sword of love, you die by the sword of love & so we are now bound to one another.

- Peter Rollins

From the Sermon at RevolutionNYC, "Why the New Atheist Don't Go Far Enough"

A Comment On The Cross

The Sacrifice of the Cross is not about mere animal pain that is meant to assuage the lust of a sadistic, blood-thirsty, parochial god. It is about the revelation of the nature and meaning and way and power of a Divine Love that saves from an Enemy and a menace that the darkest phenomena of history can only but hint at. To consistently dismiss and to structurally ignore major facts in the God-given revelatory memory is to assure that little of what God intended to be communicated by this costly revelation will be communicated by it.

- Emmanuel Charles McCarthy

Return Email Unread To A Single User

This week I had a person very close to me start receiving abusive emails from a family member. This friend asked me if there was a way to block email from that particular user without changing the email address completely. Although I first told the person, "no, it's not possible." After a little work inside the powerful Gmail program by Google I was able to relieve this person with the information that blocking mail from a single user is possible. I wanted to detail the process below, to allow others to use this amazing feature without giving up their current email address, even if they are not currently Gmail users.

If your email address is already hosted by Gmail skip to step 4.

Step 1 - Signup for a Gmail account. If you have a smart phone and your current email is with your ISP (@comcast, @att.net, @sbcglobal.net) this process will add a second benefit to you by enabling IMAP which is better understood as email synching.

Step 2 - In Settings dashboard of your new Gmail account go to the accounts tab go to the row titled 'Check Mail Using Pop3' and click on "Add a mail account you own" button to enter the account information for your current email address.
Step 3 - While still remaining in the accounts tab of the Settings dashboard find the 'Send Mail As' row and click the 'Send Mail From Another Address' button to complete the steps contained there to enable you to continue sending mail using your existing email address.
Step 4 - Change the settings in your email client (Thunderbird, Outlook, etc) and on your phone to check Gmail rather than checking your ISP directly.


Now we are ready to setup the mail return inside Gmail.

Step 5 - Under the Labs tab in the Settings menu enable "Canned Responses." After hitting the radio button to 'enable' make sure you navigate to the bottom of the page and save changes.


Step 6 - Using the 'Compose Mail' button open a new mail pane. Do not worry about a To: or a Subject: since you are just using the type to create the text of your response to the offending email sender. I used "Your message has been returned unopened. This user is not accepting messages from you at this time." as the automated response, but you can type any text you would like here.
Step 7 - Use the 'Canned Responses' button that has now appeared under your subject box to 'Save New Canned Response.' Give this response a name in the dialog box that opens and choose save. Exit 'Compose' window by using the 'Discard' button.

Step 8 - Near the search box at the top of the page use the link to 'Create a Filter.' This opens the 'Filters' tab in the Settings dashboard. Select 'Create a Filter.' In the From: box add the offending email address. If the offending party has multiple email accounts enter each in the From: box separated by an OR in caps. Proceed to next step by clicking the 'Next Step' button.

Step 9 - In this final step you will tell the Gmail filter how to respond when an email arrives from the chosen From address(es). You should check the box to 'Delete It' and the box to 'Send Canned Response' selecting the response created in Step 8. Select Create Filter and you are finished.


I hope that this tutorial helps others in the way I was able to help protect my friend.

Red State / Blue State Divorce Email

I received the letter below as an email this morning.



Besides it's smug arrogance and ignorance of fact, which is par for the course in our 21st century political discourse, there was a more minacious thread running insidiously through the letter

We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies and illegal aliens.

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us.

We'll keep the SUV's, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right.

The reader is also left to assume that all these previous quotes hang on the writers demand to also keep, "our Judeo-Christian values." I wonder if the writer and those who choose to forward this email have any idea their "Judeo-Christian values" and "Jesus" have nothing in common. Sadly while these people claim their value system is rooted in the person and teachings of Jesus it seems they have NO knowledge at all of his radical humanity centric message.

"Judeo-Christian values" wants no part in poverty, priding itself as a homecoming for the greedy and powerful. "Judeo-Christian values" wants nothing to do with peace, priding itself as the sword and hammer of the world. "Judeo-Christian values" create accomplish nothing more than to make Jesus emasculated eunuch for the empire by making his admonishments to "sell everything and give to the poor" or too "Love your enemies" metaphorical concerned only with a person's "heart condition." "Judeo-Christian values" teach one to aspire to acquire before you expire with no regard to how that exploitation impacts either the creation, the created, or the creator. These "Judeo-Christian values" are a FARCE.

The time is NOW! Christianity is under an imperative to give up these "Judeo-Christian values" with their tribalistic, empire endorsing, materialistic, consumerist personal "god" for the God made manifest by a community of people addressing the human needs present now in the abandoned places those people are vested into while remaining responsible for the consequences their decisions have in impacting the greater community of the world.

These "Judeo-Christian values" are a blight, a societal cannibalism which like any parasite will destroy the host it feeds off. Frankly, from where I sit, you can keep your "Judeo-Christian values"

Can "Damn You" be Good News?

On Friday night I spoke at a 30 hour famine event using the "beatitudes" from Luke 6. However for the sake of emphasis I used the scholars version rendering of the text, because of it's "shocking" words.

Congratulations, you poor!
God's Domain belongs to you.
Congratulations, you hungry!
You will have a feast.
Congratulations, you who weep now!
You will laugh.
Congratulations, to you when people hate you, and when they ostracize you and denounce and scorn your name because of the son of Adam.
Rejoice on that day, and jump for joy!
Just remember, your compensation is great in the place of God's dwelling.
Recall that their ancestors treated the prophets the same way.

Damn, you rich!
You already have your consolation.
Damn, you who are well fed now!
You will know hunger.
Damn, you who laugh now!
You will learn to weep and grieve.
Damn you when everyone speaks well of you!
Recall that thier ancestors treated the phony prpohets the same way.

But to you who listen I say, love your enemies...

On the way home my lovely wife asked me, "Where was the good news in that message?" She was concerned that the teens of our audience would have left feeling more judged and more hated by a God who has been constantly misrepresented already. Although I think that the transition to salvation as transactional between God and man clouds the ability to "hear" the good news, I will not go into that for the purpose of this post. Instead I want to focus on the text itself, and draw out the "Good News" that is very present in this text, even for the oppressor (the rich, the well fed, the laughing).

To begin, I want to ask the reader to take off any lens you have as you come to the text that inclines you to hear the text in an individualistic way. This is hard in the western culture of America, since we are a culture of rugged individualism. However I think it is necessary to understanding that this message, as well as the totality of scripture is directed to communities rather than individuals.

So the text compares two communities, the oppressed community and the oppressor community. To the oppressed community Jesus admonishes them, "your weakness is strength" to the oppressor community Jesus warns them, "your strength is your weakness." Jesus reminds those who have been scorned that they are loved by God. Jesus warns those who have perpetuated that scorn that they are loved by God.

"WAIT," you might be thinking, "he told the oppressors "Damn, you" are you missing that is not an encouragement but a scold?" I did not mistype. Jesus expresses love to this group by foretelling to this group where the institution of oppression leads. History is full of examples of as society's rise up, and then eventually collapse in revolt at the hands of the oppressed.

Let me have you read a story by Clay Shirky:

In 1988, Joseph Tainter wrote a chilling book called The Collapse of Complex Societies. Tainter looked at several societies that gradually arrived at a level of remarkable sophistication then suddenly collapsed: the Romans, the Lowlands Maya, the inhabitants of Chaco canyon. Every one of those groups had rich traditions, complex social structures, advanced technology, but despite their sophistication, they collapsed, impoverishing and scattering their citizens and leaving little but future archeological sites as evidence of previous greatness. Tainter asked himself whether there was some explanation common to these sudden dissolutions.

The answer he arrived at was that they hadn’t collapsed despite their cultural sophistication, they’d collapsed because of it. Subject to violent compression, Tainter’s story goes like this: a group of people, through a combination of social organization and environmental luck, finds itself with a surplus of resources. Managing this surplus makes society more complex—agriculture rewards mathematical skill, granaries require new forms of construction, and so on.

Early on, the marginal value of this complexity is positive—each additional bit of complexity more than pays for itself in improved output—but over time, the law of diminishing returns reduces the marginal value, until it disappears completely. At this point, any additional complexity is pure cost.

Tainter’s thesis is that when society’s elite members add one layer of bureaucracy or demand one tribute too many, they end up extracting all the value from their environment it is possible to extract and then some.

The ‘and them some’ is what causes the trouble. Complex societies collapse because, when some stress comes, those societies have become too inflexible to respond. In retrospect, this can seem mystifying. Why didn’t these societies just re-tool in less complex ways? The answer Tainter gives is the simplest one: When societies fail to respond to reduced circumstances through orderly downsizing, it isn’t because they don’t want to, it’s because they can’t.

In such systems, there is no way to make things a little bit simpler – the whole edifice becomes a huge, interlocking system not readily amenable to change. Tainter doesn’t regard the sudden decoherence of these societies as either a tragedy or a mistake—” Under a situation of declining marginal returns collapse may be the most appropriate response”, to use his pitiless phrase. Furthermore, even when moderate adjustments could be made, they tend to be resisted, because any simplification discomfits elites.

When the value of complexity turns negative, a society plagued by an inability to react remains as complex as ever, right up to the moment where it becomes suddenly and dramatically simpler, which is to say right up to the moment of collapse. Collapse is simply the last remaining method of simplification."

As Shirky foretells the fall of complex society, Jesus in this text also warns of the downfall of living atop the oppression food chain.

Jesus illuminates that both sides of the oppression equation, the oppressor and the oppressed, are caught in slavery to the violent system that oppression is. Jesus tells both groups that they are loved by God, by planting the very seed of hope needed by both groups. Jesus is not condemning the individual, instead he condemns the societal grouping, the institution, that enslaves each community.

To put this another way, in a way I know might offend many of you but captures the gist of Jesus' words with contemporary relevance, the text could read, "Damn you America your military corporate imperialist machine will crumble." Jesus can condemn the institution of American exploitation and oppression. This is not a condemnation of the individual but rather, as with all others on both sides of the oppression equation, a recognition that slavery to that machine is damaging to the humanity of it's persons.

The slavery to oppression is a cruel master no matter which side of it's violence you are seated in. So Jesus offers the only alternative to violence to everyone willing to hear the alternative, "Love your enemies." By embracing the shared humanity of all persons the cycle of violence is broken. The oppressed can see the humanity of the oppressor and therefore feel his oppression. The oppressor can see the humanity of the oppressed and therefore feel her oppression. Enemy love is the great radicalizer. It frees all to stand in freedom; freedom with God, and freedom with fellow humanity.

The invitation to embracing uncompromising love makes Jesus' "Damn You" an invitation to freedom. Enemy love ends the cycle of violence, though often it's participants feel the burning from both sides of the cycle. Enemy love joins all once divided by social fences back to oneness. Enemy love is the mystery through which creation reconciles back to God. Enemy love is not transactional, it is the relational cradle of new life. Enemy love is the extremist act whose seditious ripples topple the violence of oppression. Enemy love is Good News and all structures and institutions that prevent one from experiencing it be damned!

Jesus: The Pascal Mystery

As I was preparing to write my thoughts for this Good Friday I wanted to do a little reading to prepare myself. I had some unique observations last night as we ate a ritual meal with friends that I was wanting to share. I will not write those thoughts, well not exactly. As I was reading and preparing I came across a speech by Richard Rohr from 2005. In 1 paragraph during the speech he succinctly, and with far better words than my own put these thoughts together. So instead of my own thoughts, I feel much more compelled to just give you that paragraph.

The Pascal mystery might not be a phrase that is familiar to all of you; it is a phrase that was coined by Augustine as he was trying to describe the Christ mystery. The mystery is that life and death, loss and renewal are the two sides of everything and you dare not separate them. If you do, you have reality falsely defined. If you have reality unfairly defined, it will not lead to enlightment, it will not lead to truth. For Christians the Christ mystery of “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again” is a mythic acclamation that describes that transformative movement from death to resurrection. I hope I’m not being too cynical in saying this, but I don’t think we really want to walk that mystery ourselves, so we worship it in Jesus. Now let me explain that. This theory is exemplified in the recent movie the Passion that’s gained so much notoriety and fame. You know, Jesus never once said, “Worship me,” he said, “Follow me.” One of the cleverest ways to avoid following someone is to worship him, it really works, it's very clever. You just put him on a pedestal, you make God out of him and you pay all kind of homage to this God figure and then you don’t have to do what he did. All he was doing was walking the journey of a good and full- blooded Jewish man into love and he died a good full-blooded Jewish man on the path of love and when you love that is where it is going to lead you. You’re not going to fit into the system as it usually is structured which is not usually in the direction of love. It is usually structured in the direction of power (and not necessarily in any kind of descent, certainly the Roman empire would have been structured in the ways of ascent). There is no way he was going to fit inside of that world and inside of that culture. We use Jesus to answer a problem.

If you would like to read the enitre speech you do do so by following this link - http://kbow.us/2ULu.

Dane Potts: A Personal Note

“Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one.” -John Lennon

When Dane first arrived to live with us, it was autumn and we'd sit outside on the patio for hours. We talked about music, pain, God, movies, camp, and Ashley. It was in one of those talks where I was schooled in the “appreciation” of AC\DC. One night we came upon the subject of The Beatles. Now let me out myself to you all, in the same way I outed myself to Dane that night. I am fairly Beatles ignorant. So I got educated, I learned why Sgt. Pepper is the greatest rock album ever, and why Yellow Submarine is still a more important album, or something like that. Although I am sure the Beatles fans can correct me as to the details of my “lesson” that night, for me the thing I remember most was transitioning into talking about John Lennon. For those of you who have never picked up on it, I am a bit of a hippie, so Lennon was a subject I could get into. Talking about Lennon, got us talking about 'Imagine.' Talking about 'Imagine' got us talking about God. That's how it was, our conversations were tapestries, and I am bundled up in the warmth of the memories tonight as I face this cold news.

Dane is not here anymore, as Christi put it so eloquently tonight, “the piece of God that lived in Dane is what I will miss” I agree. There is more to Dane that I will miss than I could possibly write in a letter like this.

...
...

...

I'm back, after 15 minutes of more crying, punching a wall, and still more tears, I am back. I won't pretend that life in the Bowman house is a field of roses, there were good times and bad times. That's what it means to be part of a family. Dane was family.

I am sure many of you have similar experiences. Dane was so talented at making people feel loved. I loved to watch him insert himself and love people. I know many of you were the recipients of that love. Dane talked, laughed, played, and dreamed with you. You love Dane, because you too have memories of that laughter, of those games, and of your shared dreams.

I have such wonderful memories to treasure up. The night we talked about The Beatles, Lennon, & Imagine, we dreamed together too. We dreamed of a retreat that would be shaped around these themes of God we both loved in the lyrics of the song. We dreamed of a retreat called Imagine. We even designed the T-Shirt. We realized eventually, this retreat was a futile, since some people would be pretty offended by a retreat based on lyrics by John Lennon. Still I treasure that we dreamed a lot together.

Treasure up your memories of Dane. Remember his mom, his aunt Cyndi, his girlfriend Ashley, and those others close to him as they mourn. Remember to thank God, for how you felt loved, and maybe learned to love better because of Dane. Remember Dane for what he meant to you, and to your sense of being in family with him.

I know my family seems one person smaller tonight.

In Memory Dane Potts:

May 20, 1990 – March 10,2010

Glen Beck & Social Justice

I have been recently on a series of posts looking at Jesus. The point of this has been to distill down how I am understanding the words, teachings, and ministry of Jesus at this point in my journey. I am continuing forward with that series. I am currently writing the "Prayers of Jesus" and will be posting that soon.

However, the stir created over Glen Beck's much reported comments on his radio program has caused me to desire to post some thoughts originally part of a conversation on Facebook on here.

Recapping the original Glen Beck quote:

I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church?

After these comments by Beck I set my status to a quote by John Allan Bankson (@knowtea).

I'll continue to preach social justice because Jesus did. I pity anyone who gets his/her theology from Glenn Beck.

A friend of mine responded with his endorsement of Glen Beck's ideas.

So this was originally offered as my response to him. I am now posting it as my response to Mr. Beck and those others who would claim that Jesus' message is easily harmonized with the republican motto of "individual freedom and personal responsibility"

Being born into the most privileged class of the most powerful empire on earth, it is easy to be sold on the imperialst creed of 'freedom' and 'personal responsibility'. However great those ideas are, and I do believe they are great ideas, there are causes and complication beyond those ideas.  Loving people requires we (I am speaking to those like myself born of privilege) look to understand the systemic inequality and emotional complication those inequalities make manifest in the world.  

This does not mean we look to the state for answers to the systems of oppression. I am not supporter of using the empire as vendors of good & services.  Coercive power, even when being used for "good" is an enemy of love.

Instead we practice a new creation, a powerful transformative force rooted in economic justice.  We empty ourselves of privlege, entitlement, and power, to suffer in solidarity with, and to creatively empower new realities within oppressed peoples.

Look at the life and ministry of Jesus. Whether it's Healing the sick, giving the blind sight, setting the oppressed free, and proclaimg God's love among the poor that he promised in his ignaugral adress and traveled from village to village to practice, or  touching the unclean, eating with the outcasts, and speaking against an oppressive religious system which ultimately got him executed as an insurectionist; Jesus message was FIRMLY rooted in social justice.

The power of social justice is one of self identication as equals to the poor and disadvantage.  Social justice is the word of God, (love your neighbor) taking on flesh.  Incarnation is social justice, and I would tell anyone, if you're NOT hearing social justice in your church then leave, because they are preaching a different Jesus than the one recorded in the gospels.

Jesus: His Commands (Follow Up)

This is the follow up to a 14 part piece. Start here to read it through:

As I reread my entire piece today, I am struck by such a sense of inadequacy of these words. I am earnestly attempting to live out the commission to "follow me." I read these commands compiled so succiently, and I get a lump in my throat. I do not dine as equal with the poor, I have not sold everything and given to the poor. Both my hands and both eyes are still in place, though they most assuredly cause me to sin. I focus on the temporal, I serve non altruistically, I forget to remain a child, and I bear a yoke that does not come from my teacher.

It would be easy to see the weight of these commands and walk away, content to live in a "Spiritualized" reading of the text. It would be easy to look here and say, "I am saved by grace, admission paid for entrance into heaven." and feel no obligation to be affected by these words. It would be easy to reduce "Love your enemies" to a statement on church politics, while supporting the military industrial machine that works to obliterate it's enemies. It would be easy to support "Love Your Neighbors" looking around my suburban neighborhood at homogeneity of neighbors like me, while oppressing those around the nation and world who do not worship, marry, eat and earn like me. It would be easy to "Be Born of The Spirit" if this is about a tingly feeling from the rhythmic pulsing music of the worship band while ignoring that the Spirit of God first led Jesus to a wilderness to suffer and ultimately to a death as an insurrectionist against the state. It would be easy to make these words moral platitudes rather than face the reality that this is the clear action required for being discipled relevant to the here, the now, this place of time, space, and matter.

I offer this follow up as a bridge-way. Tomorrow I intend to continue on, looking at the "Prayers" of Jesus. I believe that if we don't come to speak the words and heart of the Christ, back to the father, who's Spirit rested on Jesus, then we will never experience a sense of God's "doing" in the world. Our commission as the followers of Jesus is to Love God, Loving People, preserving and illuminating the world with the divine light that fills new creation and proclaims resurrection the the places and things destroyed as casualties to this empire.

Here What The Spirit is Speaking, Let Jubilee be sounded!

Jesus: His Commands (14 of 14)

This is part 14 of a 14 part piece. Start here to read it through:

Judge with Proper Judgment – John 7:24 – This command would seem opposite of Jesus' command to not judge. Two things that I note here, one is that the religious leaders who this is specifically directed are already judging, so Jesus commands them, in light of the reality that how we judge we will be judged, to judge rightly. The second thing I note here, is that this is not a judgment of a person's actions or moral standing, instead Jesus reminds all listening to see the fruit of those who speak and anct on behalf of God, and use wise discernment to see which are producing the kind of outcomes that are in line with the God of justice and mercy.

Come Thirsty – John 7:37-38 – Jesus once again invites those who wish to follow him to come with their inadequacies. As he has stated elsewhere, this is not an invitation for those who are spiritually healthy, and well provided for. This is an invitation where we are commanded to come broken and receive the power of resurrection, to receive a new spirit!

Wash One Another's Feet – John 13:14 – Jesus instructs his followers to take the position of servant to each other. The family of God must not be a place of politics and posturing, instead it must be a place of servanthood. Jesus illustrates his commands of intentional emptiness before commanding those who follow the way to practice the same. Each relationship of our life, should challenge us to deeper language and practice of service.

Love One Another – John 13:34-25 - This command is repeated several times in this last conversation Jesus will have with his disciples. Love must define the follower of Jesus. The apostle John writes elsewhere that “God is Love' so if God's incarnation expression of his immanence on the earth is to be realized through the actions of those who follow in the way of Jesus, the our selfless sacrifice and intentional emptiness must lead is to the place of becoming love embodied. Jesus followers will be defined by their love.

Keep My Commandments — John 14:15 — Jesus concludes his time of teaching much the same way he started it. The ministry and mission of Jesus was defined by these commands, and he asks his followers to be defined all the same. It is in following these commands that we as conduit's of God's Spirit, can join Christ in selflessness, emptiness, and divine light. It is in these commands, rooted in God's love, manifested in his mercy and justice, that we practice resurrection as an insurgent kingdom against the kingdom of this world. It is in these commands that we are filled with, and bring new creation to the broken, dark places. It is in following these commands that we preserve and illuminate the world. It is in these commands that God is incarnated, and continues to dwell in the neighborhood of humanity.

I also posted some Follow Up thoughts to the commands.

Jesus: His Commands (13 of 14)

This is part 13 of a 14 part piece. Start here to read it through:

Dine as Equals with the Poor – Luke 14:12-14 – Following the way of Jesus is not possible if we are not able to see ourselves in solidarity with the poor. Intentional emptiness calls us to give up our rights, and in selflessness realize that the practice of resurrection is not a practice that makes us savior to the poor, instead it is entering the new creation economy and living equally with the poor so that together there is enough.

Obey Unselfishly – Luke 17:7-10 – One does not follow God for a reward. Like other warnings about receiving glory from men, and desiring prosperity, Jesus reminds that the Jesus follower participates in God's kingdom, because that is the kingdom he is a citizen of. Do not expect special reward for your participation in God's work.

Do Not Profit Off God's Name – John 2:16 – Jesus is overwhelmed at the temple for what it has been turned into. In God's divine order, the temple had a place of worship for the entire world. However, the space for the message of God's love for the world had been replaced by those seeking to profit for themselves off others devotion to God. This is a strong warning to the Jesus follower to not find themselves using the things of God to their own financial advantage.

Be Born of the Spirit – John 3:5-8 – Participation with God's work in the world does not begin with us. It is the spirit of God, poured out like the wind, that initiates the person into this life. It is not by superior wisdom, personal decision, or moral merit that a person is empowered to live by the Jesus way. Instead, it is God's work, being spread throughout the creation, that begins the work in us to follow Jesus into selfless sacrifice and intentional emptiness.

Don't Focus On Temporal -John 6:27 -There is a tendency by those who are not hearing God's voice calling them into practicing resurrection life to come looking to Jesus to meet the temporal. Jesus commands the followers of the Jesus way not to be fooled into using his name to meet there temporal needs. Jesus warns his followers not to think there are deeds or behaviors that will serve as incantations to receive God's favor. Instead, God's work in the world is new creation.

Continue Reading Part 14 of 14

Jesus: His Commands (12 of 14)

This is part 12 of a 14 part piece. Start here to read it through:

Fear Not, He is Risen – Mark 16:6 – As has been well illustrated in many of the previous commands followers of Jesus way participate with God in his resurrection work of bringing new creation from to the broken places of this kingdom. Jesus commends his followers here to remember that the first born of the resurrection is risen, and God's redemptive has been empowered. Despite the appearance of success by this world and it's kingdom of death, God's kingdom is advancing.

Be Merciful – Luke 6:36, Luke 10:37 – Practicing compassion is not the default nature of a life following the conventional wisdom of this kingdom. When Jesus teaches Be merciful, as your father in heaven is merciful, he teaches that in contrast to the religious leaders of his day who used “Be Holy, as I (YHWH) am Holy” quoting God as a tool against those struggling with brokenness. Jesus teaches that mercy to the broken places of this kingdom, is living out the very heart of God.

Give Them Something To Eat – Luke 9:13 – Participation in what God is doing. The disciples saw a problem, in this case it was hunger. God too in our lives will open our eyes to the needs of those people whose lives have need. When God opens our eyes to hurt and needs of others it is our duty to respond to God and meet those needs.

Give to Those In Need – Luke 11:41 – Religion teaches that a system of rules, and adherence to policy is the mark of purity from God. Jesus however challenges the idea that personal piety and traditions are able to clean the heart. Heart cleanness, comes from the awareness to are forth following response to the suffering and brokenness of those who have need.

Guard Yourself From Greed – Luke 12:15 – It is common thinking in the wisdom of this Kingdom to see wealth as a sign of favor from God. I recently heard Andy Stanley point out that wealth is all the “extra” we have in our lives. My extra clothes, my extra rooms, my extra car, my extra spending money, etc. We live in a culture of so much extra, and it is our inclination to see that extra for me. Jesus sternly warns that when our resources are expended on ourselves, then our richness is found in those things, rather than being found rich in God.

Continue Reading Part 13 of 14

Jesus: His Commands (11 of 14)

This is part 11 of a 14 part piece. Start here to read it through:

Stay With Me — Matthew 26:35-45, Mark 14:32-41 — Three times as Jesus prepares for the cross he asks his disciples to stay present in his suffering. Christ asks all followers of the way to stay present in his suffering. There is no resurrection without death, and we therefore join Christ in the selfless emptiness of incarnation, death, and resurrection , filling all the brokenness of this kingdom with the immanent presence of the Kingdom of God.

Make Disciples — Matthew 28:18-20 — The Jesus way is a self replicating organism. Jesus orders his followers as they are going in the goings of life, to replicate his selfless sacrifice and intentional emptiness, thereby being the incarnation of God's redemptive justice and mercy on earth, the preservation and illumination of the creation by God's divine light. In doing this, to train those others God has commissioned to this same task.

Have Faith In God – Mark 11:22-24 – Dependence on the intangible is very difficult. Jesus uses a tangible example to those followers present with him to illustrate God's provision for the work of reconciliation. Those dependent on the conventional wisdom of the kingdom of world place their faith for provision in expertise and income. God's economy of enough is available to meet the needs of provision for the redemptive advancement of the Kingdom of God.

Beware of Religious Professionals – Mark 12:38-40 – Religious experts are easy to find. Most every church employs one. Like the religious leaders of Jesus' day the quest for power and prestige gained by speaking on behalf of God is alluring to a person's selfish pride. While not condemning all professionals in religion, as a generalization Jesus however sternly questions integrity and motivations of this career path.

Stay Focused – Mark 13:33-37 – As anyone charged with a task, so Jesus reminds his followers to be ready for the return of the master. Otherwise put, as the house servants would keep up the house ready to the masters preferences, so followers of the way should remain focused on the mission of God in the world.

Continue Reading Part 12 of 14