Monday, September 15, 2003
Hi all. No posting since Friday. Right now, that's going to be typical since Sunday's busy with chuch most of the day, then I drive in to Colorado Springs for my Bible study, stay the night in town and don't come back to Limon until Monday afternoon.
We're getting it figured out which things to buy here and which things to buy in Colorado Springs. At first we thought we should just buy every thing in Colorado Springs, but that turned out to be wrong. We need to at least buy our meat in the local store. It's local, fresh, and awesome. Probably a lot of the produce too, for the same reasons. We will continue to buy our marijuana in the Springs though. Haha, just kidding. No, really, board of elders. Just kidding.
Bible study was on the parable of the sower. A key parable, Jesus implies at least in Mark 4. It's one of those really fascinating paradoxes that Jesus seems to be so fond of. He's of course telling us that we need to be fertile ground for the word, and not the rocky or thorny ground. Our sinfulness and our worldliness cannot get in the way of the gospel taking root in our lives. All of this is of course true. But why tell us? If we're that bad ground, then we can't hear the parable anyway, and if we're good ground, do we really need it?
So, wrestling with the paradox, one digs deeper into the truth that Jesus has for us. As with all parables, it's the one central actor who makes it all happen. The kingdom of heaven is caused to exist by one being, not by many. It's the landowner, the shepherd, the father, the farmer. He creates the kingdom. And the creation of the kingdom and the development of the kingdom is all for this purpose- weeding out, dividing, separating- those who will produce for the master, and those who will not. Glory be to God- I can't turn myself from unproductive ground to productive ground, especially on the basis of a teaching I can't understand unless I'm productive ground already. So the real lesson is on the nature of that kingdom, its origin, and its purpose.
___
Limon smells nice in the fall. Fall's my favorite time of year, and I believed that even before I read this. I swear. Ask anyone I know.
We're getting it figured out which things to buy here and which things to buy in Colorado Springs. At first we thought we should just buy every thing in Colorado Springs, but that turned out to be wrong. We need to at least buy our meat in the local store. It's local, fresh, and awesome. Probably a lot of the produce too, for the same reasons. We will continue to buy our marijuana in the Springs though. Haha, just kidding. No, really, board of elders. Just kidding.
Bible study was on the parable of the sower. A key parable, Jesus implies at least in Mark 4. It's one of those really fascinating paradoxes that Jesus seems to be so fond of. He's of course telling us that we need to be fertile ground for the word, and not the rocky or thorny ground. Our sinfulness and our worldliness cannot get in the way of the gospel taking root in our lives. All of this is of course true. But why tell us? If we're that bad ground, then we can't hear the parable anyway, and if we're good ground, do we really need it?
So, wrestling with the paradox, one digs deeper into the truth that Jesus has for us. As with all parables, it's the one central actor who makes it all happen. The kingdom of heaven is caused to exist by one being, not by many. It's the landowner, the shepherd, the father, the farmer. He creates the kingdom. And the creation of the kingdom and the development of the kingdom is all for this purpose- weeding out, dividing, separating- those who will produce for the master, and those who will not. Glory be to God- I can't turn myself from unproductive ground to productive ground, especially on the basis of a teaching I can't understand unless I'm productive ground already. So the real lesson is on the nature of that kingdom, its origin, and its purpose.
___
Limon smells nice in the fall. Fall's my favorite time of year, and I believed that even before I read this. I swear. Ask anyone I know.
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