Dark

11/27/10-  Is it terribly wrong that I think of Christmas as a dark time? 

Not dark as in hopeless or evil, but as in a breathless, nearly fulfilled time.  A small, thin time at the end of a journey.  I love the dark.  Hope shines brighter in the dark.

Hope of what?  I think the Christian faith here in our culture, our time and place in history, bears a distorted sense of hope.  It is not financial breakthrough, nor happiness or an easy life.  I think sin has very little to do with naughty deeds, and I doubly don't think that material prosperity is a sign of an obedient heart.

Hope.  I've been walking through "The Practice of the Presence of God" (Brother Lawrence) on Tuesday nights with some folks in a local coffee pub.  I'm not sure what, if anything, they have been getting from it, but it is changing me inside out.  Like a baby born some 2100 years ago on the far side of Earth, YHWH is near... uncomfortably, inexcusably near.  Not to bring wrath but to render love.  Not to keep account of my misdeeds but to cover my nakedness.  Hope for me is that someday the man who is writing this drivel and the man whom the Lord actually sees may be melded together (if nowhere else but in my own heart).

This not exactly a status quo Christmas meditation.  But it's what I've got.
More to come.

If you'd like more info about Scum of the Earth Church, please visit us at www.scumoftheearth.net (pay attention to the "dot-net" part as "dot-com" is the site for a death metal band).
If you'd like info and how to partner with me in ministry through prayer and/or financial support, drop me a line on Facebook, here on the blog, or at saintjohnskeep@yahoo.com.  If you wish to offer financial support, you may do so via PayPal through the Scum website (follow the DONATE link, then select my name), through automatic payments through your bank or with a plain ol' check in the mail.  Send to Jeff Warner c/o Scum of the Earth Church, P.O. Box 101808, Denver, Colorado 80250.  Please reference ACCT#18 (not my name) in the memo.
You can follow Scum Morning Church on Facebook.  Search "GROUPS" for Scum of the Earth Morning Church.

Manger

10/16/10- I've been neglecting my poor blog, to say nothing of the monthly letter that is to accompany it.  But if I could play any old excuse card, I'd like to play the WE HAD A BABY card. 

And, yes, that's me boo-hooing.  Little Maggie is amazing.  It was the most beautiful moment of my life, I think, to see her being born.  This little person that I've only sort of known for the last few months was suddenly here, face to face.

Indulge me in what may seem to be a terribly religious thought.  It is from the heart, though.

YHWH as a baby.

This not referring to some god-myth or some god-in-me philosophy.  I'm talking about Christianity (and I am not slamming on other doctrines or beliefs here, but Christianity is what it is just like apples aren't oranges).  And I'm marvelling at Phillipians 2:5-8.  This is really one of the most astounding passages in the Bible.  The God of the Hebrews, YHWH, the Creator, when time had come, looked very much like my little Maggie.  And I don't buy that "no crying He makes" business.  If as a baby, he lay there thinking god-thoughts, that would be cheating, wouldn't it?  He mad himself nothing.  He cried when he was hungry.  He cried when he had filled whatever passed for a diaper at the time.  He was in all point human as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15, interpretation mine).  The Book of Hebrews also tell us that, "though He was a Son, He learned obedience through the things He suffered" (5:8).

WHAT?  If you're not stunned just a little by that, then I wonder if you've ever really engaged it.  It's scandalous.  It's crippling to our own agendas.  It's a killer.  And so I hold little Maggie feeling both blown away and like a jerk at the same time

But mostly blown away.  I've been wanting to write about this for awhile, but I finally had a nice little segue.  Seriously, though, she really blows her daddy's mind.

WELCOME HOME, MAGGIE JANE!

A Religious Man?

09/30/10-  Hi.  This is Jeff.  I help watch over Scum of the Earth Moring Church in Denver, Colorado.  And this is my blog. 

Somebody asked me the other day if I was a religious man.

All of the ususal religious answers filled my head, like, "I don't have a religion, I have a relationship."  Or, "I'm not perfect, I'm forgiven."  And even, "I just know who I am." 

But those are stupid things to say, or, rather, I would feel stupid saying them.  I would feel fake and completely removed from the fellow human being who asked me a sincere question, a kid who knows nothing of the "religious silliness" (thank you, Phillip Yancey, for the excellent phrase) that those of us bearing the brand of "Christian" sometimes wash in.  I've said them all.  And worse... or, stupider, I guess.  I didn't want my young friend to walk the Romans Road or get the Holy Ghost or anything like that. 

I told him that I help people get over religion and find God, if that's what they want.  And I gave him my card.  And maybe I'll see him again.

That's sooo important to me.  In twenty years, I have been just about every "kind" of Christian there is.  And with all of that to commend the Christian religion, at the end of the day, I find myself right back at the first step, the very beginning, because it works the best.  I talk to God, and He listens.  God talks to me, and I sometimes listen.  But we have peace.

I push this every Sunday.  When it's time for communion, I encourage, admonish, beg and plead that people take just a minute or two while the music plays and go meet with God and to believe that they can have peace.  And every Sunday I get anxious about it, I worry about what kind of man I am that I would have the gall to get up and do this, but I see people scattered around the room weeping, laughing and whatever else, but they find God.  So to that end, I'm a bit superflous, really.  Anybody can stand up there and say these things, and God would still probably show up.  But I get to do what I do as a gift, and I always, always leave a little awed.

I hope I'm not religious, because, if Kierkegaard was right ("If a proclomation is true, it must produce what it proclaims."), then I don't want to be around me.  I think that there is peace with God because of Jesus, and I would hope to be a man of peace.  I think that's where practice comes in...





 If you'd like more info about Scum of the Earth Church, see http://www.scumoftheearth.net/  (pay attention to the "dot-net" part as "dot-com" is the site for a death metal band)
If you'd like info and how to partner with me in ministry through prayer and/or financial support, drop me a line on Facebook, here on the blog, or at saintjohnskeep@yahoo.com
You can follow Scum Morning Church on Facebook.  Search "GROUPS" for Scum of the Earth Moring Church.
May it be said of you that you have been with GOD,
-J

Introductions Are In Order

09/23/10-  Hi.  This is Jeff.  I help watch over Scum of the Earth Moring Church in Denver, Colorado.  And this is my blog. 

Today, I am staring into space... a lot.  My wife, Ginny, is now in the final days (DAYS!!!) of what has been a picture perfect pregnancy.  Our little daughter inside has now rotated and dropped, and the clock is ticking.  I'm geeking out about it pretty hard.  I'm also pretty anxious about the logistics of it all.  I have a simply wonderful family.  I have two jobs.  I watch over a  small congregation.  I don't even know what day it is half the time.  I used to think that was still alright as long as I knew when I had to be to the next place.  But I'm losing my grip on that, too.  I don't want to do anything anymore becasue I'm afraid I'll miss the big moment.  Did I mention... DAYS?!

That's about it for tonight.  I have lots to say... er... write.  But later.  Thanks for reading.

If you'd like more info about Scum of the Earth Church, see http://www.scumoftheearth.net/  (pay attention to the "dot-net" part as "dot-com" is the site for a death metal band)
If you'd like info and how to partner with me in ministry through prayer and/or financial support, drop me a line on Facebook, here on the blog, or at saintjohnskeep@yahoo.com
You can follow Scum Morning Church on Facebook.  Search "GROUPS" for Scum of the Earth Moring Church.
I'm in the process of having this ALL linked together through my tab on the Scum website.  Give it a few days.

May it be said of you that you have been with GOD,
Jeff