the friesen blog

For years I have felt an awakening in my spiritual journey.  I feel freed from much of my youthful legalism.  I feel more alive to the Spirit's leading and I long for more and more grace.  I recognize that faith is a journey and is best lived in community.  Sometimes however, I wonder if my new freedom is just a new kind of religiosity.  I was recently reading a description of Pharisees, the religious-renewal group that Jesus had a few things to say to, and it sounds like a description of me.  I sometimes wonder if my freedom sounds like a new form of religion to others.  Take a look at this description of Pharisees from Early Christianity and its Sacred Literature.

...were apparently the most influential religious-renewal sect in Palestine in the time of Jesus.

...neither doctrinal nor biblical fundamentalists, nor were they priestly aristocrats anxious to maintain the status quo.

...they were open to the development of law and doctrine and argued that temple purity was not to be reserved for priests alone but that such religious purity before God was for all Jews in everyday life.

...believed that holiness was practical and that it applied to all spheres of life, for instance, at work, at rest, and in all human relationships.

...Pharisaic movement was made up primarily of laypeople.

...Pharisees were especially popular among members of the emerging class of artisans and merchants.

...more flexible in their understanding of the significance of the law and the temple, they were sometimes branded as a liberal movement.

...tried to preserve their Jewish religious identity but, at the same time, attempted to respond to the cultural challenge posed by Hellenism, especially as it affected the middle class.

...wanted to apply the laws that originally applied only to the priests to everyone, thereby making the whole nation obedient to their version of the law.

Lee Martin McDonald & Stanley E. Porter.  Early Christianity and its Sacred Literature. (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2000), 68-69.

After reading that, its true, I am one of the Pharisees.  God be gracious with me.

I saw this and it made me laugh.

enjoy.

On October 2nd, 2005, at 7pm there will be an Induction Service for Leanne and I at Mount Hamilton Baptist Church.  This will be like a commisioning like service for ministry at MHBC.  If you are interested in attending feel free to come on by.  A friend of ours, Merv Budd, will be sharing some of his thoughts.  It should be pretty good time of encouragement and challenge.

The address is 626 Upper Wentworth St., Hamilton.

Apparently, I forgot to get tickets for the last "What Would Jesus Crush" tour.

One of my favorite words of, say the last 5 years, is the word chimera.  I first came upon the word in the Gabriel Garcia Marquez book, Love in the Time of Cholera and then again recently in Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.  (I hope to write a little more about Gilead.  It is a tremendous novel.)  It is not the Greek mythological creature that intrigues me about the word it is the idea of 'an illusion or fabrication of the mind; esp: an unrealized dream.'  Somehow that seems to be the perfect word to identify what often happens in my head.  I think that I can get a renovation project done in our new house only to see it become an 'unrealized dream.'  Of course life is full of unrealized dreams.  And sometimes identifying unrealized dreams can be incredibly freeing.    

chi-me-ra 

1a cap: a fire-breathing she-monster in Greek mythology having a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.  b: an imaginary monster compounded of incongruous parts  2:an illusion or fabrication of the mind; esp: an unrealizable dream <a fancy, a -- in my brain, troubles me in my prayer - John Donne>

One of my favorite people in the whole world is now blogging.  Brian Julin-McCleary is blogging over at http://brianjulinmccleary.blog.com/

Brian is what you get when you combine Andy Kaufman, a social activist, and someone with a giant heart into one man.  And he's gonna be a dad in a few months.

While Leanne and I were on vacation we were able to spend the day with Brian in Seattle.  We saw some old friends and his wife, Natalie.

I look forword to entering the life of Brian online.

peace.

dallas 

Congrats to the people who put together the Resonate Forum.  Today, Resonate turns 1.  Today they have also launched the new journal.  Check it out.  It has some great resources and articles.  Plus they have a place where you can suggest which 40 books are essential for ministry in a postmodern context.  I think there are a bunch of books missing but its still fun to check out.

Thanks Jordon and others for putting this together.

peace.

dallas