Friday Fragments: Rob Bell Returns, Sex Issues and Prayer

To close this week, I want to put a few random things in your hands that I found interesting this week.Rob Bell has released a new "Nooma-like" video.

There are plenty of people waiting to pounce on anything Rob Bell says that sounds "controversial" or like heresy but I'm not interested in that discussion. All of us are heretics from time to time, because we see through a glass darkly. One day we'll get it. However, this video reminds us that if we recover our sense of wonder, we'll find God in place where we may have missed him before:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF-V_t_NSHw]

 Sex Issues

In the past week, there has been an explosion of discussion about the roles of men and women as followers of Jesus. The issue centers around sex in terms of gender and also around sex in terms of physical intercourse. The thing that has pumped this discussion up is the success of the novels starting with "50 Shades of Grey" which has been described as "mommy porn." The thing that has happened, in the midst of this debate, is that I have seen Christian brothers and sisters descend to virtual insults and twists of vocabulary that are out of keeping with Jesus' admonition to "love your enemy" even when that enemy will one day sit next to us at the great banquet in God's completed kingdom. We must not forget that despite an issue's relevance and importance to humanity, it can never lead us to create enemies of those who are our family in Christ.

A Prayer

For a while, I was including a prayer on Fridays to close the week. Here is a short one:

Lord, you have sent rain to the midwest. Finally. Thank you.

Lord, there has been a downpour of bullets in Colorado. We seek you.

Lord, you know our hearts are both restless and hopeful. We need you.

Come Lord, come in beauty and swiftness and truth so that our would evaporate and Your Kingdom would materialize.

Thank you.