Conspiracy… the Resurrection!

Soo… some of us may have figured that once Fatty became a father, this blog would fall by the wayside. And who could blame him? We all understand, especially those of us who are parents as well (I think that’s almost all of us…?). Life is never the same again… mostly in good ways.

Well, I’ve enjoyed reading this book and everyone’s thoughts enough that I asked “his incredible HURT quadruple-marathoning swiftness” for permission to carry the torch for a bit, until some sense of normalcy returns to the Stevens household. Oh, wait – that’ll never happen (just kidding, Matt – don’t worry, you will survive!). So I’ll take a crack at putting up a post each week with a section of the book to read and some corresponding questions. Matt and I plan on passing the baton (yet another shameless running allusion) back and forth every month or so for the time being.

Before I take on this honour, however, I must inform everyone that I have a different version of the book than what I assume most have – mine is paperback, and from the UK. My page numbers probably don’t correspond with yours, and I have to deal with funny spellings of words like “colour”, “honour”, and “cheque”. But don’t worry, the chapters and headings (and the words, most importantly) are the same. So I’ll just call out the readings by headings, for example, from “Life in the Dark” up to (but not including) “Word from a Different Reality” in chapter 1. Just to keep us all on the same general thought as we read and post comments. If you want to keep reading, of course, no one’s stopping you (overachievers)!

I’ve just finished chapter 3: “What Jesus Knew: Our God-Bathed World”. So this week I’ll be starting on Chapter 4: “Who Is Really Well Off? – The Beatitudes”. Next week I’ll post the “assigned” reading and a few questions or quotes that got me thinking and/or praising. Forgive me if I don’t get a posting up on a like-clockwork regular basis – my reading time is pretty limited with two rugrats of my own, but I will do my best.

So, now that I’ve laid all that out, I’ll share some of my thoughts from the remainder of Chapter 3. The overwhelming thought that kept going through my mind as I read through this chapter is that I have not even scratched the surface of understanding how deeply involved and present God is in our world. I particularly have been challenged by the truth that the kingdom of the heavens is not some far-off cosmic place, but it is actually here as the “kingdom of the heavens.” This has started to change the way I pray, especially in, “Our Father, who art in Heaven…” and thus right here with me!

Space has always intrigued me since I was a kid, and as I've matured I've found it to be one of the most vivid manifestations of God's presence in our universe. Thus Willard's demonstration of God's truth really resonated with me - space is anything but empty! The picture above is not computer generated at all; it is a picture taken by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope of the Orion Nebula. God is the ultimate artist.

What are your thoughts? Here’s some questions to hopefully get us going again:

How do my common ways of thinking prevent me from fully realizing God’s presence in this world?

How can I combat these worldviews and experience God more fully?

Let's talk again! Aloha, BG

Are we doing this blog thing still? YES! April 5-11 Reading: pgs. 61-66

After weeks of being tempted away from The Divine Conspiracy community by the NCAA Tournament and ridiculous amounts of much cherished free time with Spring Break, I'm sufficinetly convicted to post the next reading!

Todd and Brandon and I have decided, however, to skip chapter 3 and move onto the more practical chapter 4 that starts laying the ground work on the Sermon on the Mount and what Jesus actually meant when he calls us to be his disciples. Perhpas we'll come back to chapter 3 later. Basically, its a look at the 20th century split in western Christianity between conservative evangelicals focus on believing right theology and liberal social gospelers focus on right action in the realm of the world's problems. Willard's main thesis is that neither of these camps come remotely close to addressing the truly great need of the individual soul to be reformed and re-made by intimate interaction with Jesus while we live out our days on earth.

The first part of chapter 4 focuses on the basic question of who God is and how we often fail to think accurately about His existence.

My favorite quote from this section is on pg. 64 where Willard writes "It is deeply illuminating of kingdom living to understand that his (Jesus) steady happiness was not ruled out by his experience of sorrow and even grief." I was struck with the thought "if this is true, Jesus is the one that I want to learn how to live from." With all the suffering, pain and injustice in the world (think of the worst situation you have ever seen; mine would likely be the Kibera slums in Nairobi, Kenya) Jesus lived a life meaningful life that was able to engage the world's neediest, and yet live a life permeated by joy. This is what I want, too, so I need to learn from Him. What or who else can truly offer this life option with integrity?

Questions:
How has your view of God matched up with the reality of God that Willard describes? How has it fallen short? Does it matter in terms of how we live day to day?

Final Thoughts
Its my intention, even after dropping the ball for a few weeks, to try to do my part to keep this little community together. I think it is worth fighting for and I'm excited to keep moving through this book with you guys. Maybe its just selfish because I benefit so much from reading your guys words. In an effort to make reading and commenting easier, I put your emails on the settings of this page so that you'll receive an email everytime someone posts or comments. I'm hoping this will take away the step of having to check the blog to see if anyone is writing. If this is annoying, feel free to take your name off or ask me to do it (it's in the "settings" part of the blog under "email")

alohas, fatty

Weekly Reading and a Good John Piper Sermon on the Recession

Week's Reading: pg. 21-27 (start "Made to Rule", end at "The Kingdom is Now 'At Hand'")

In these pages, Willard distinguishes between our kingdoms and what we have say over and His Kingdom and what He ultimately has say over. Willard's main point here, as I see it, is to grasp that the divine conspiracy Jesus offers is for us to willingly submit our kingdoms into His larger Kingdom purposes. When I first read this book, the entire concept of "kingdoms" seemed a clunky, awkward and sometimes confusing way to think of these matters, but I've come to appreciate the word "kingdom" more and more.

This week is a great opportunity for us to reflect on well we are deliberately submitting the things we truly have say over into His Kingdom purposes. I think it would be very productive for each of us to reflect on how conscious we are of our own kingdoms, and specifically how these relate to His Kingdom. Major areas for consideration: body, mind, emotions, marriage, finances, talents, job, friendships, etc. I think this is a great opportunity for us to share a little bit more of where we sense God calling us to be transformed the most in; certainly it will look different for each of us. I know I am super encouraged as I read your guys honest reflections and it spurs me.

Lastly, I missed the church this morning and ended up listening to a John Piper sermon about what purposes God may have for our current economic downturn. I was particularly challenged by his thoughts of personal sin that can be revealed during hard economic times (such as anxiety, fear, and self-reliance), as well as how these economic conditions can challenge our view of the challenges developing nations are constantly facing. Speaking more generally, I have found www.desiringgod.org to be a great resource; I often save teachings to my mp3 player and listen to them while working out. Peace out.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/3566/Audio/

The importance of community

great to hear your thoughts guys! here's my first post (i'm sorry for taking a while--my computer crashed recently, so it took me a while to get back online). i like how you've encouraged us from the outset to consider the church and the crucial role of community, rob...koinonia, baby! i think you've been key in our fellowship (e.g., faithcrew) and understanding of what it means to follow Jesus as a community in this regard. and i think this blog is a great way to practice community with each other, matty, no matter how far away we are from each other geographically. i'll keep this short, but i just came across an interesting link (sponsored by google) that i thought was a cool example, albeit nonreligious, of community at work (i know there are a ton of great community resources on the web, perhaps there are some that others also think worth noting--i particularly like the concept of the Tip Jar:)

http://moderator.appspot.com/#16/e=3cfc 

No Reading for This Week

Hey guys,

Todd and I talked Sunday on our run and decided it would be good for us to have a week off from pushing ahead in the book. I know some guys are still waiting on the books to arrive, and it is a bummer to try to read quickly to catch up. Keep the encouragment and challenging thoughts and insights flowing; I know I grow so much more when I see growth going on in other believers lives.

Matt

Trip down memory lane for the Faith Crew people

Had to load it as two files since youtube videos max out at 10 min.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yav5guznj_E
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXrWyWDPj5s

A short note about commenting on the blog

I'm not sure if anybody else is running into this issue, but I have had trouble posting a comment when I am not actually logged in through my google/gmail account to the blog. I'm not sure why this is, but my suggestion is just to login everytime you plan on putting on a comment to make your life easier. Also, feel free to throw up new posts like this anytime.