Dear faithful friends/readers.

Some of you know that I am a co-facilitator of Sunday School class this semester at my church: UBC (university baptist church). I help lead "The Other Side" - which is essentially a gathering of 20-40 year old men and women - we say that we are "post-college age, without being too old." There are a bunch of grad students, but also a number of working professionals and a professor or two.

Recently, we have been studying and discussing the Core Values of UBC with the class. Each week we take one of the core values posted on our website (www.ubcwaco.org), read the description, read the supporting scriptures and then break it down together to see what that means for our lives, for our church and for the world.

After Sunday we post a continuing discussion on our message board and try to keep dialouging about it through the week. While I can't give you the password to chat about it there, I can post my comments here and invite you to participate with me in the discussion. (I may not do this every week, but this seemed like a good discussion to start this week).

I think the sermons are available on line, but I'm not sure when yesterday's (9/23) will be posted... well, BAM! I just looked online and its there already. So click here and listen to Don's sermon so you have more context for the note below.... and then lets talk.

I have to go do homework now.... :( Boo. Make it a great day!
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Hi Friends,
Its Monday morning at 7:30. I'm drinking coffee and putting off finishing my reading for class. So I decided to go ahead and post some continuing thoughts about this week's class.

Was it just me or (first of all) was class really good on Sunday? You all are so smart and
thoughtful and I'm so glad to hear your thoughts every week as we break down UBC's core values and how they integrate into our lives. Secondly, was it just me or did Don's message seem to dovetail perfectly to our discussion?

As a reminder, the scripture we looked at this week in Sunday school were: John 14:6, John 8:31-32 and 2 Tim 2:15.

As Don was talking about the American zeitgeist that those things he mentioned (consumerism, fast food, money, hummers, celebs, google, etc) all are thing our culture is trying to tell us are TRUE values; that those are the values we should not only aspire to, but also advocate for. And I can admit that I frequently get caught up in it. I love being able to communicate quickly with my family and friends who are scattered literally to all the corners of the nation, I love being able to look up the phone number and address to a restaurant by text messaging google or even getting driving directions to that location - at any time. (Recently, we texted google during a BU football game, to get the number of Pizza Hut, so we could find out if they still do that percent off deal after the game... they don't)

Its this weird dichotomy, I think, that we can be more fully present with our friends in town because we have a blog that updates people without us having to call them... and yet we can be totally not present because we are text messaging, listening to i-pods, watching TV, sending emails, all while people are trying to talk to us face to face. Its not just a weird dichotomy, I guess, its a painful one for me to think about - because I know I don't always give my full attention to either the people that are in front of me, or to those who are far away.
As we continue this discussion, how does Jesus enter into it? Don says that Jesus comes in and presents an alternative to the zeitgeist (not a similar but "christian perspective" but a real alternative) - that He turns the culture upside down.

I love that Don said (my paraphrase): "The goal of the church {universal} should not be to be relevant but to empty herself and be an alternative, presenting new ways of being, new ways of living and new ways of seeking God" He added that we should be LEADING art and culture - because we have TRUTH as our banner and at our center, if we have Jesus as those things.
How does that look for us this week? What are your thoughts about how we as individuals, and how the Christian church at large, can empty and simply represent Jesus? Should we shun modern technology? Should we literally sell everything and give it to the people around us? Lets discuss! What are your thoughts?