Don’t Question the Church
I was having a good discussion with a friend/ co-worker the other day about different ways to approach belief and faith. One of the things that I was talking about was the importance of questioning my belief set on a regular basis. I'm almost constantly living in a state of semi-doubt. I know this may seem heretical to say this, but I think honest and openness are important too.
Anyway I guess the thing I wanted to say was I'm really glad to be going to a church like Second Baptist that encourages and welcomes questions. We/ I don't proclaim to have all the answers, but we/ I want to be apart of the journey of life with others. And the one thing I can't get past is that the teachings of Christ seem to be the best way that I've found to the best life. That is a pretty loaded statement that is influenced by a lot of aspects of the life I've lived, but I suppose that's something I can probably talk about better than typing out quickly. :)
Anyway, just something to think about. I encourage you to question everything so you can have a good foundation for your life. If you're in a situation/ group where questioning isn't welcome, question that. :) And if you want to be apart of this life journey with me, I want to be apart of it with you too.
Best,
JEE
Garden’s Blooming!
Ok so not so much yet, but it's gonna happen soon.
There are plans in the works to develop an awesome (and small) garden on the lot at 8th and Scott.
One of the things that we as Americans are losing is the connection between the food we eat and where it comes from. I can't profess to be an authority on bridging the connection, but that's part of the reason I'm a part of the group that will be participating in the garden. We'll learn about strategies that come with growing certain foods, when they're in season, what are helpful and harmful fertilizers and insect deterrents.
Another cool part of the garden will be partnering with people in the community that we may not normally interact with. The garden will hopefully help us build relationships with each other.
We're going to use raised beds that look something like this...
We plan to build the garden and plant on April 23. Regular maintenance will happen through the summer and assigned to group participants.
If you want to participate, let me (Jesse) know and we'll get you in on it. We'll have a meeting to discuss the garden with the group on April 10. Attend if you can, but if you can't just let me know.
Holla!
Picture from the Poteet Class
Here's an artistic representation of the view of a breakfast snack in the Poteet Sunday School class.
The Poteet Sunday School class is by far the most awesome class ever invented. We've wrapped up our discussion on "Women in the Bible" and are moving on toward our discussion of the formation of the Cannon. In case you didn't know, the books contained in the Bible are different for many different faiths. Also the Bible was formed by men centuries ago, and is still influenced by translation and interpretation. We're going to talk about it. The discussion should be pretty good.
The Poteet class gets things going around 9:00-9:15 on the 3rd floor in the back of Second Baptist on Sundays. Come if you'd like to check it out. That's Jon Poteet in the pic. He leads our class.
Buffett
So I was watching Warren Buffett on an internet video. In case you didn't know, he's loaded. And accordingly folks want to envy him and give him all the social acclaim that comes with money. And I admit that my ears perk up anytime I hear news of WB. But what's interesting to me of late is that he's been on this whole philanthropy kick. Recently he, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates got together to challenge some billionaires to give a way half to all of their fortunes.
What's interesting to me about all this is that it causes me to challenge the way I view money, it's role and relationship with society, people and Christianity. I'm not saying that Buffett is or isn't a super Christian, but it's causing me to think about how I view money and what does it mean.
I believe in giving of your money, time, talents, etc to God and others. That can come in many forms, but I'm a simple person raised from childhood in the church. So I can easily translate that into, "Give the church 10% of my income." Which that philosophy has good scriptural backing, but I do believe it's an overly simple way of looking at this issue of giving.
Now if you think I'm going to go on about giving your time and talents you're right. And if you think I'm going to down play the significance of giving money, you're wrong. Give time, talents, love and all that stuff. But I want to harp for a second on money.
From what I hear, the younger generation is pretty crappy about giving money. So we need to get on the ball here. I'm not saying 10% to your local church, but I am saying a predetermined amount to "Jesus-work". (Do you like how I just made up a word there?) It's really hard for me to go to Southeast Asia every month to love people, but I can contribute every month to Jesus-work in Southeast Asia. And maybe 5 years down the road I can go there. I can't spend 50-60 hours a week being a discipleship minister in downtown Little Rock, but I can give a portion of my income to help Betsy do that. So let me challenge you to set a predetermined amount, percentage, figure to give and find one, two, three organizations to give to and do it.
Now we all need to give of our time and talents. So just be sure you're doing that. Maybe that can take the form of scheduling a time to give blood. Maybe you use your professional skills in a non-profit way like tutoring or volunteering at a non-profit. Or maybe we just take time to visit with someone who needs some social recognition and attention.
So in conclusion... Give in all aspects.
The End
JEE