Top Posts
- The God Pharaoh Should Have Been
- Annie Dillard Quote on Crash Helmets needed for worship
- Dallas Willard on not having to have the last word
- Judy Garland sings the Battle Hymn of the Republic after JFK Assassination
- Links and Notes from May 3 2012
- Extinction, Conservation and Assumptions
- Trimming the CRC Denominational Tree
- "A church to hold us while we weep"
- Consciousness is just observing. Hot Tub Harry is just an illusion, like the rest of us.
- Noah's Ark Damaged by the Rain
Category Cloud
Blog note book review book writing CRC Culture commentary Daily Links and Notes Devotional Reflection How to become a Christian Institutional Church Link Compilations Links Missional On the way to Sunday's sermon Pastoral Identity philosophical reflection Quotations Saved Blog Comments Saved CRCVoices Posts Sermon Illustrations Sermon Outline Sermon Recordings Tech tools theological the self Tweets Uncategorized Understanding the Bible Video Wisdom YouTube Comments to RememberTag Cloud
- Abortion
- Acts
- Advent
- Advent 2014
- age of decay
- age to come
- Benedict Option
- book of Leviticus
- Calvin College
- Charles Taylor
- Christianity
- Christmas
- City Church San Francisco
- Confessional conversation
- CS Lewis
- David Brooks
- Donald Trump
- Douthat
- Dreher
- Esther
- Exodus
- faith
- Genesis
- hell
- Inspire2017
- James
- Jesus
- John Suk
- Jonathan Haidt
- Jordan Peterson
- Katy Perry
- Keller
- Kierkegaard
- King David
- King Saul
- Lent
- Leviticus
- Meme of the week
- Moses
- NT Wright
- Palm Sunday
- Pentecost
- Peter Enns
- Peter Kreeft
- Pope Francis
- Progressive Liberationism
- raising of lazarus
- RCA
- reflected self
- relational polarity
- Religion
- resurrection
- Rob Bell
- Rod Dreher
- Ryan Bell
- Skye Jethani
- SSM
- Steve Jobs
- Synod2015
- Synod2016
- the book of exodus
- The Book of Judges
- The book of Kings
- The book of Leviticus
- The Book of Luke
- the book of Numbers
- The Book of Samuel
- the Gospel of John
- The Gospel of Matthew
- The Road to Character
- the self book
- The Ten Commandments
- Tim Keller
- Tom Holland
- transgender
Twitter Feed
Tweets by paulvanderklay
Ministry in Post-Christian Seattle
The wildness and sense of abundance contributes to a sense of possibility. This aura of openness continues to lead an explosion of entrepreneurship allowing a lot of creativity of what you might do with your religion. Whether it’s in a church, synagogue, mosque, the cathedral of the great outdoors, or a yoga class, Seattleites have options when it comes to fulfilling their Spiritual longings.”4
High value is placed on having the option to remain comfortably secular while pursuing a wide range of spiritual paths and communities. For the 21st century Seattleite, traditional religion is confining. Strict doctrine and regulations is cause for suspicion and disregard for the religious institution. Bottom line, Seattle appreciates a vast variety of spiritual options in their pursuit of connecting with a higher power. What is needed most is “to be better than I was yesterday”, to contribute to the well-being of society, and to find and live in peace.
Posted in Daily Links and Notes
Leave a comment
Damon Linker on Francis Paper on the Family
The Catholic conservative doesn’t want to live spiritually within a debating society or an ongoing, open-ended conversation. He wants matters to be definitive — done, settled, fixed for all time. Even if, considered objectively, the teachings of another authoritative Christian tradition in one area of doctrine appear more humane and less prone to alienating millions of parishioners. Because that’s just not the way Catholics do it. We had that debate. It’s over. End of discussion.
I once wanted that, too — the Catholic Church serving as the final, infallible guardian and guarantor of timeless, immutable Truth — though I never really believed it. Now I don’t even want to believe it. (I have no wish to be taken in by a lie, no matter how beautiful.)
Middle Ring Relationships
Civic life has suffered. As Marc J. Dunkelman writes in his compelling book “The Vanishing Neighbor,” people are good at tending their inner-ring relationships — their family and friends. They’re pretty good at tending to outer-ring relationships — their hundreds of Facebook acquaintances, their fellow progressives, or their TED and Harley fans.
But Americans spend less time with middle-ring township relationships — the PTA, the neighborhood watch.
Middle-ring relationships, Dunkelman argues, help people become skilled at deliberation. The guy sitting next to you at the volunteer fire company may have political opinions you find abhorrent, but you still have to get stuff done with him, week after week.
Middle-ring relationships also diversify the sources of identity. You might be an O’Rourke, an Irish Catholic and a professor, but you are also a citizen, importantly of the Montrose neighborhood in Houston.
With middle-ring memberships deteriorating, Americans have become worse at public deliberation. People find it easier to ignore inconvenient viewpoints and facts. Partisanship becomes a preconscious lens through which people see the world.
