sermon notes

This morning we visited the church at which our kids go to AWANA. It is a Christian & Missionary Alliance Church, and as such, shows short videos of missions work during the service. The one we saw today shared the story of a young woman in Cambodia who put her faith in the Lord and then went home and burned the ancestral worship shrine. Then her mom came over and had a fit.

As I was watching I thought, "What a pity to separate someone from their cultural traditions." I have a strong negative response to image of the Great White Christian going in to save the pagans from their idols, and their poverty, and their filth, and their illiteracy, and all the other stereotypes that are just British Manifest Destiny reworked with a religious overtone. Yuck.

Then I felt guilty because I know I am supposed to think "Yeah, another person saved!"

Then of course I had to analyze my two conflicting selves. Pretty much it comes down to this: If there is no truth, then yes, it is a pity to separate a person from their cultural traditions. If there is absolute truth -- setting aside the two questions of whether or not we can know it and whether or not we as Christians do know it -- if there is absolute truth, then separating ourselves from anything in order to access truth is more than worth it.

So my first line of thought was pretty much that of an unbeliever, and my second line of thought -- the line I should have taken, and felt guilty for not taking -- is that of a believer. Once again I find the Secular Me and the Sanctified Me debating in my head.

On to other notes:

• Luke 11 7-8 pretty much come down to the idea that boldness trumps friendship. I'm not sure why this is useful to point out.


• It's a pretty big deal that dads and God share the same name: Father. It does make it simple for fathers to pray: "Lord, make me worthy of the name." Don't you think that would pretty much cover it?
  

None of these, btw, are the pastor's observations, just my scribblings that I am jotting down here so I can mull on them later.


:: one year ago today: Friday Poetry: Elsa Beskow and feta pie
:: two years ago today: A Happy Day