Don't Read This

Sorry, in advance.  Constipation of thoughts recently.  

My task this week is to write a section of my Philosophy of Ministry paper that explains the Ultimate Purpose.  I know God, so I guess I can presume that there is a purpose.

I have heard Ultimate Purpose expressed in a variety of ways, and have written a similar paper previously.  Instead of simply ripping that idea off, I decided to poke around the thought world to see what the Tradition had to offer.  Brian McLaren's mentions the Eastern Orthodox view that that Christ's coming to earth was a way of allowing creation to join in the perfect dance of the trinity.

I googled "Ultimate Purpose Trinity".  It didn't take long until I was bored of reading the debates between wether or not to call Jesus a "person", "expression" or "distinctinve/indistinctive essence".  I found a blog post that link to another, and another that had a cool name.

I read about how the author was shutting down the blog.  I also read some of the posts, mostly because some people are getting hurt.  The blog is re-opened and looks about the same.  My thought is: with things like this on the site, how do you expect people not to respond in a way that hurts someone, even if they are brothers in the faith?

Switch gears to the laundry room in Morris Hall last night.  My dear friend Christian Leman and I were about an hour into a discussion about what the Gospel means.  One of my guys from the floor comes down to hear the end of me ranting about about how debates in theology can be divisive, and how they can become "essential" rather than "important".

Christian left while his clothes were in the dryer, and the other friend said to me, "I really didn't expect to hear you say something like that."

A little aback I said "What do you mean?"

He said, "I just think of you as kind of person who likes to think about all that stuff"

It strikes me that I would be the person that is perceived to place thought above love.  

            You are burning to know what I think is essential.

  LOVE GOD, LOVE ALL PEOPLE.