New Year's Resolution

This year, I'm keeping my traditional New Year's Resolution of not making any at all. It keeps me safe from failure and frustration. I won't feel guilty, either. I just reckon I'll change things when they need to happen.

California Weather

The weather here has been generally on the cold side (okay, James, VF, Gene, Bruce and VS, I know you people are laughing) with lows near or slightly below freezing. Several days of cold, foggyish, misty, dewey, rainy days. Not just rain, but gray weather. I love foggy weather, and it won't get here in full force until January. Jogging in the morning is getting harder.

My Favorite Ten Years After Songs

Who? No, not The Who. Ten Years After. For those who don't know them, or don't quite remember, Ten Years After is (was) an English blues/rock group that entered the music scene during the second British Invasion (1967). They are led by guitarist Alvin Lee and had only a few hits. I'm Going Home became popular as they performed it live at the Woodstock festival, then the 1972 FM radio hit I'd Love To Change The World, which can still be heard occasionally on classic rock stations. Anyway, I became a huge fan, collected all their albums and still listen.

Here they are: Woman Trouble, Spider In My Web (studio version as a never previously released bonus track on the remastered Alvin Lee & Company album), Going Back To Birmingham, Portable People, Once There Was A Time, As The Sun Still Burns Away, Working On The Road, Help Me (both the studio and live versions)

Seasons of Life

"There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven..." Ecclesiastes 3:1

My family is going through what I'll call a distinct season of life. We have added three children to our household in the last four years or so. We are so busy with family stuff that other areas of life like church are placed in a different category of importance. We have trouble making all the church meetings and functions like we used to. Most of the mid-week bible studies we can attend aren't able to accommodate our children, and we can't afford baby sitters to do this. We're mostly home bodies these last few years. We don't hang out with the same people anymore and if we do, it isn't at the same places.

Most other families we talk to share the same experience. It's a phase - or season - of life. As a Christian, I did completely different things before I was married. Then after marriage, we did different things yet. Then after having children, different things yet. Others tell us that it will change yet again after our children grow older.

It is difficult for me to get this, but I know I shouldn't judge my spirituality - or "walk" - by my past experiences. Seasons change every few months, and they do in life as well.

A Starbucks Christmas

A west coast grocery store chain - the recently renewed Lucky chain - was open on Christmas Day from 8 to 5. Mrs. Scott needed some chocolate chips for a cheesecake glaze, so I went to the store to get a pack. There were many people there. I noticed many people coming out of the store with those bright red and green Starbucks coffee drinks. Once in the store, there were many more people drinking Starbucks. Only later did it occur to me that all Starbucks stores were closed on Christmas and that people were using the Starbucks stand inside the store to get their Starbucks fix.

Tis The Season To Be Slow About Blogging

This is the season to be slow about blogging. Last year most of my blogroll was slow. I presume everybody is with famliy to celebrate Christmas. Maybe I'll lighten up on my heavy themes in my blogs this next week and post some fluff and human interest stories. If I get a theology brainstorm, maybe I'll just save them for later. Who knows?

My Favorite U2 Songs

My faves: absolute #1: Where The Streets Have No Name. (One of my all time faves from any group)

Others: Sunday Bloody Sunday, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, I Will Follow, Gloria, Bullet The Blue Sky, Vertigo, A Man And A Woman

Re-Thinking Church Membership (Part 16)

Read the entire series of posts here.

I'm taking a slight detour from the train of thought on pastors' responsibilities and commenting on a very important bible passage that I included in Part 15:

The Apostle Peter exhorts church elders and says, "...shepherd the flock of God among you, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:2-3.)

The phrase "those allotted to your charge" is vitally important in establishing the who and how of pastors' responsibility, but most important of all it establishes how membership is established and Who establishes it. Notice very carefully the grammatical structure of this phrase. "Those" are the sheep. "Your" is a possessive pronoun that indicates that it is the elders (pastors) who have the charge . "Allotted" is the verb that ties the sheep to the shepherds' charge.

Now, it is not possible from the grammar - as the elders of Grace Community Church wrongly claim when they say, "those who have submitted themselves to the care and the authority of the elders" are the ones they have responsibility over - it is not possible that the sheep are the ones who do the allotting. The sheep are allotted to the charge of the pastors. The allotting is passive - it is done to them. If it were the sheep that did the allotting, as the Grace elders claim, then the verse would read, "those who have allotted themselves to your charge." It doesn't say that. The sheep are not the ones who allot, they are the ones who have been allotted.

Also, it is not possible from the grammar that the pastors/elders are the ones who do the allotting. Otherwise the verse would read, "those whom you have allotted to your own charge." It doesn't say that either.

The only possibility from the grammar is that the object that does the allotting is neither the sheep nor the shepherds. So Who is the one who allots?  The bible tells us:

"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body..." (1 Cor. 12:13)

"But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired." (1 Cor. 12:18)

"But God has so composed the body..." (1 Cor. 12:24)

The answer is God. He allots sheep to the charge of shepherds. This He does by assembling the sheep. It is God's assembly, not the shepherd's assembly.  The elders of GCC have made a large mistake in how they view relationships in the church.  Their teachings on the matter are widespread.  It is no great task, then, to realize that large problems can result from large problems in how one views the church.

Part 15 . . . . . . . . Part 17

Rock Anthem Burnout

About 15 years ago I got burned out on the rock anthem songs. You know those long, signature songs by various classical rock groups that were endlessly played on the radio? Stairway To Heaven, Free Bird, Won't Get Fooled Again, Carry On Wayward Son, Hotel California, Light My Fire, Bohemian Rhapsody. You know? Man? Dude? Dude!

Slight Format Change

I have a list of ongoing blog series in the left margin. For some of the series I have taken each post and collected them into one post. I have found that this is difficult, time consuming and frustrating. Blogger's post editor isn't quite what I need for this task.

In light of this, I am now going to use labels exclusively for entire series. The existing collection posts will still be available in the margin, but at the end of each I will put a link to the series label for to access the continuation of the series. I know of at least one link to a series from another blogger, so I want to keep the collection post. I hope this doesn't cause problems for any readers who access them.

Re-Thinking Church Membership (Part 15)

Read the entire series of posts here.

Continuing from the same quote, in Part 14 of my series, from Part 2 of Pulpit Magazine's article on church membership with regards to pastors' responsibilities:

Elders can shepherd the people and give an account to God for their spiritual well-being only if they know who they are; they can provide oversight only if they know those for whom they are responsible; and they can fulfill their duty to shepherd the flock only if they know who is part of the flock and who is not.

The Apostle Peter exhorts church elders and says, "...shepherd the flock of God among you, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:2-3.) The elders of Grace Community Church seem unsure who God's sheep are that they need to shpeherd. But the bible says that they are to shepherd those who are among you. If the sheep are there, they are to be shepherded. All it takes is for an elder to be among them for them to receive shepherding. It doesn't require the sheep's initiation. If a sheep is assembling with other believers, he is to receive shepherding. It doesn't first require the activity of placing himself on a list or having the elders do it for him.

Part 14 . . . . . . . . Part 16

My Favorite Who Songs

I used to be a huge fan of The Who in high school and college. That waned some, but I still like them. Here are my favorite Who songs:

Faves: Bargain, Blue Red and Grey, Summertime Blues (Live at Leeds), I Can't Explain, The Kids Are Alright

Next level: Substitute, Young Man Blues (Live at Leeds), Boris The Spider, I'm Free, Join Together, The Real Me, Heinz Baked Beans jingle

My Favorite Beach Boys Songs

I was born and raised in California, have blue eyes and blond hair, go to the beach several times a year, really like the Beach Boys, but just aquired my first album at age 43. Here are my favorite Beach Boys songs:

Faves: I Get Around; 409; Surfin' USA; Fun, Fun, Fun; Help Me Rhonda; Barbara Ann

Next best: Surfin' Safari; Little Deuce Coupe; Sloop John B; When I Grow Up To Be A Man; Catch A Wave; Kokomo

Re-Thinking Church Membership (Part 14)

Read the entire series of posts here.

Again from Part 2 of Pulpit Magazine's article on church membership with regards to pastors' responsibilities:

Elders can shepherd the people and give an account to God for their spiritual well-being only if they know who they are; they can provide oversight only if they know those for whom they are responsible; and they can fulfill their duty to shepherd the flock only if they know who is part of the flock and who is not.

Jesus said, "Shepherd My sheep." (John 21:16). He did not say, "Shepherd those who you have decided for yourselves are your sheep." Jesus assumed that His sheep were discernible to His shepherds. The pastors at Grace Community church have admitted that they don't know who to shepherd. So instead of shepherding all Christians who assemble, they shepherd only those who both assemble and who come forward to submit themselves to the man-made "formal" membership created by the pastors.

It should be noted here that I am not singling out Grace Community Church and their elders. Their exact teaching is very widespread throughout evangelical churches. It just so happens that they posted an article right after I started this series that contains a great deal of points that I will be writing about. I plan to give many more examples from other sources in future posts.

Part 13 . . . . . . . . Part 15

Re-Thinking Church Membership (Part 13)

Read entire series in one article here, or as a collection of all posts here.

Quoting from Part 2 of Pulpit Magazine's article on church membership with regards to pastors'/elders' responsibilities in shepherding God's sheep:

The specific duties given to these elders presuppose a clearly defined group of church members who are under their care...Those responsibilities require that there be a distinguishable, mutually understood membership in the local church. Elders can shepherd the people and give an account to God for their spiritual well-being only if they know who they are; they can provide oversight only if they know those for whom they are responsible; and they can fulfill their duty to shepherd the flock only if they know who is part of the flock and who is not.

As I've already shown, a "distinguishable, mutually understood" membership in the local church means those Christians who are assembled. This is very simple, yet the authors of this article, along with the elder that interacts in the comments section, have the idea that pastors have no idea who God's sheep are. Their solution is to create a scheme where the sheep are burdened with the responsibility to come forward and submit themselves to these men. Only those who do so are deemed worthy of shepherding. Continuing with their thought process:

The elders of a church are not responsible for the spiritual well-being of every individual who visits the church or who attends sporadically. Rather, they are primarily responsible to shepherd those who have submitted themselves to the care and the authority of the elders, and this is done through church membership.

It must be noted here that sheep are sheep, prone to wander. Sheep may not even know to "come forward" or if they do, they may be in such a difficult spot in life that they aren't even able to. Jesus spoke of the shepherd who left the 99 to go after the one straying sheep. With the Grace Community model of church from this article, the pastors might not even know that a sheep is missing. A comment from JackW in the comments section really brings light to the issue:

Jesse, Is it possible that this formal membership deal came about because Elders wanted to define their own responsibility and accountability? An Elder should have a pretty close relationship with the One who builds His church and knows who His sheep are, right? An Elder should have the discernment to know who is under his overview, right? … or have they exchanged discernment for a list? Will the Elder not be accountable for all the goats that are on his list as well as the sheep that are not? If the Lord builds His church by sending a sheep your way, are you not going to provide accountability or minister to him because he is not on your list? “… all of this necessarily entails membership.” Sorry, that’s not making sense to me.

Here JackW hits the nail on the head. Many pastors are defining their own responsibility and accountability, ignoring what God already wrote on the subject, and as a result they can't even see God's sheep. They have blinded themselves.

Part 12 . . . . . . . . Part 14

300,000 Miles for Mr. Mileage

Today my car turned the 300,000 mile mark. I bought my 1990 Honda Accord brand new in early '90. It was the first year of a new model line, which is supposed to be the worst year, but this one is no lemon. I've been through a few clutches and a few timing belts, maybe an oil filter or two. I have no reservations recommending Honda to anybody. Beats the American stuff I've driven any day.

I have a knack for getting mileage out of all kinds of things. Shoes, boots, sandals, computers, T-shirts and other articles of clothing. My hairdresser, dentist, razor. My wife is cracking up right now as she's feeding me examples. I've had my razor since I was 16. Still going. Records, CD's. Furniture. My sandals lasted 10 years, my boots 8, my new boots are going on four. I have T-shirts that are 10 years old. I'm on my second pair of jogging shoes in the last 12 years, and I jog several miles every day. I had my last computer for 8 years.

My Favorite Rolling Stones Songs

Beatles and Zeppelin down, now for the Stones. My faves:

Top tier: Far Away Eyes, Factory Girl, Love In Vain, Neighbors

Next level: Street Fighting Man, Gimme Shelter, 19th Nervous Breakdown, Midnight Rambler, Paint It Black, Gomper, Dear Doctor.

My Favorite Led Zeppelin Songs

I recently listed my favorite Beatles songs. Now for Led Zeppelin. There's only one song I don't like, Sick Again. Here's the fav's:

Top tier: Hats Off to (Roy) Harper, Boogie With Stu, Hot Dog, Misty Mountain Hop, Since I've Been Loving You.

Next to top tier (really close): Rock and Roll, Battle of Evermore, Lemon Song, That's the Way.

Coming soon: Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, The Who, U2.

A Different Kind of Conspiracy Theorist

It just occurred to me that there might be a different kind of conspiracy theorist than the ones we read about. First there are the conspirators. Those who engage in conspiracy. Then there are the conspiracy theorists. Those who make up wild stories about supposed conspiracies, but who have little or no evidence readily available.

A different kind of conspiracy theorist would be one who takes the truth [of a real conspiracy - edit 12-07-07] and twists it so that it appears like a mere theory, one that looks bogus enough that nobody will believe it, and makes anybody who does believe it look foolish.

We Love You, Vianna

The lady that has been cutting my hair for the last 20 years - her name is Vianna - is retiring at the end of the month. Today was our last time in the chair. The rest of my family kind of joined her client list as they became my family.

I first came to her through a now ex sister-in-law. Later that year, my dad retired. She was at his retirement dinner. We saw each other and asked what each was doing there. Well, it was my dad, so that's why I was there, but I didn't know that her husband was my dad's boss. Anyway, through 20 years, the gossip and chit-chat has been wonderful. We wish you well.

My Favorite Beatles Songs

My favorite songs from the Fab Four include: Number one is Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da; number two is And Your Bird Can Sing; number three Your Mother Should Know. The others in no particular order: You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, Day Tripper, Norwegian Wood, Helter Skelter, She's So Heavy. I also like some of the odd songs like Rocky Raccoon, Good Night, Yellow Submarine, Maxwell's Silver Hammer.