Tuesday, January 31, 2006

..::Freedom, O freedom, that's just people talking, your prison is walking through this world alone::..

We all want a slogan, but it seems there aren't many of us who can palette the truth they expose in us, or the expectations they have for us. Weakness is a life sentence dealt out to all without any sort of preferential treatment. The truth is, we all get the short end of the stick, and worse yet, we spend our entire lives attempting to shrug off the implications of an existence that requires that we ante up to our own inadequacies and self-inflicted solitude.

I want to learn to relish in my weakness and my shortcomings, become more adept at accepting grace, and somehow learn what it means to be a part of a community of people who can’t live without one another and without God.

That’s enough there…

I’ve been doing some minimal thinking about what it means in Acts when Luke says that early believers gathered together and…

..::committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meals, and the prayers::..

What intrigues me is the idea of the common meal. While some would insist that this is an early reference to the Eucharist (Lord’s Supper), I am not similarly swayed. That idea wasn’t actually formally attested until sometime in the 2nd century (don’t contest me on this… I know my shit). So, what does this reference to a common meal actually mean? I’m glad you asked.

I honestly think it means to simply sit and eat some food together. The Greek actually implies that they were eating food simply to sustain physical life. In other words, making sure everyone had a good meal. It seems to me that Luke was yet again making reference to “meeting one another’s needs” as an integral part of serving the Lord and one another in the early Church.

So, to cut to the chase. I think this explains my ineffable affinity for all things Food Network.

jared.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

I started class today. After a 6 month involuntary sabbatical I am back in the classroom where I belong. It feels good.

Really good.

And, no, its not escapism. I think I'm in a good place.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

And then there was...

“Turn it back on…”

I wouldn’t consider myself one who has frequent encounters with desperation. But today I found myself screaming an assortment of badly connected explicatives (in my head for the most part) as I pleaded with a complete stranger as he shut off my electricity. Needless to say, this is a spot I never thought I would find myself in: standing outside my mobile home, wearing the same clothes I woke up in, watching a TXU disconnection order being served, demanding that a company man would just wait a moment so I could get things straightened out. I half expected to turn around and find my overweight, half-naked, Courtney Love-esque wife standing behind a screen door, sucking the life out of a Virginia Slim, clutching my 3 month old, and barking for our other offspring who had turned a hubcap into a hat to get her ass back in the trailer. Then I realized that I’m only 23 and such a thing shouldn’t come to fruition for another 6 months or so… if all goes well.

Well, long story short and $300 later, I’ve set up camp in a local coffee shop while I anticipate the re-turning on of my lights. It’s uncanny how such an event can get you to thinking about the grand scheme of things. Honestly, I’ve been in a shit-hole of an existence for about 3 months now. I haven’t been attempting much social interaction, except with those whom I feel some sort of obligation, and I have little to no desire to converse with God. I’m enrolled in seminary because I feel like I have no place else to go and nothing else that I could be good at. But today was a good day, and I can’t think of one damn reason why that’s the case.

About me

  • I'm jared slack
  • From Waco, Texas, United States
  • Only God can judge me.
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Truett Seminary

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"A God who cannot suffer is poorer than any human. For a God who is incapable of suffering is a being who cannot be involved. Suffering and injustice do not affect him. And because he is so completely insensitive, he cannot be affected or shaken by anything. He cannot weep, for he has no tears. But the one who cannot suffer cannot love either. So he is also a loveless being." ------ Jurgen Moltmann

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