Easter is coming...you need to read this:

Merry Easter? by Frederica Mathewes-Green

I have a dilemma.

I read the weblog of one of my pomo church "heroes" a couple of days ago, and it really troubled me. He spoke of a going-away party for one of the members of their community. That's not the bad thing. The thing that bothers me is this: they had a bar-b-que, chanted the evening psalms, and then all went out to a gay bar, danced, and drank like the best of them. He made the statement, "I know I'm in the right church when I can chant the evening Psalms then go dancing for several hours with my friends at a gay bar."

Now, before you all brand me as a narrow-minded bigot, let me explain some things:
- I have no problem with dancing,
- I have no problem with having a drink,
- I don't even have a problem with going to a gay bar.
What I'm having trouble swallowing is all of these in conjunction--and asking the question: "What makes us different?" I mean, if we go out and tear it up with the best of them, what distinguishes us from the world?

I suppose the answer would be, "Our love." And I know this guy is loving.

Understand, I'm not questioning the morals, ethics, or character of this man. I'm just questioning--wondering why. He never mentions getting drunk, so as far as I know, he never sinned--technically. I also don't think that those who follow Christ should be fuddy-dudds. What I'm wondering is exactly what Paul meant in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 when he said:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
"Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

What defines clean or unclean? Apart from blatant sin, is it the mind of the person perceiving? Is my mind unclean because I question?

Loaded question, for sure.

AAAARGH! LIFE IS FRUSTRATING! (Do I hear an "amen"?) If I could add about 16 hours to each day, I think I would do well. Between frustrations with kids, adapting to my "new" life, and frustration over our lack of movement on The Gateway, I'm about ready to explode. And add to this that my sister had her baby last night, so today I have our two youngest and her youngest--a toddler who's never been away from mommy. Yay. Thankfully, our two have been angels so far today.

We've begin talking publicly about the community now--and people are getting excited. Next week, I present it to the Ministerial association, hopefully avoiding being branded as a cult by the church community. This is different...some will like it, others will have to just resign us to all of the take-the-box-away thinking and not worry about it. I just know the church's penchant for friendly fire, so I'd like to keep our colors in plain view. After all, we're not about veiling the Gospel here--just pouring it into a new container (as Len Sweet would say).

So where do we go from here? Ideas? Email me...