The other day, while doing a search on information regarding the three dimensions of Physics:

Space, Time, Mass

I came across a blog from several months ago which introduced me to the concept of Spiritual Dimensions.

There are, it would seem, three spiritual dimensions to go with the three primary dimensions mentioned parenthetically above. Well, not so much as MATCHING those above, but in the sense that there are three mentioned. Know what I mean, Vern?

Three spiritual dimensions: Vertical or “up”ward, Horizontal or outward, and interal.

The Vertical dimension of spirituality is the dimension of relatedness between ourselves and the Other “out there”. God in Heaven, in otherwords. According to the site that introduced this to me, the individual strong in this dimension is comfortable with prayer, worship and “other religious-related things and activities.”

The Horizontal dimension of spirituality is the dimension of relatedness between ourselves and others. Our neighbor, friend, and even enemy. The individual strong in this dimension “is into
helping others, community service, social justice, good works, etc.”

The Internal dimension of spirituality is the dimension of relatedness between ourselves our soul, or that spark of Other dwelling within us. According to my source, the individual strong in this dimension is harder to, ahem… PIGEON HOLE than the others, but “tend to find strength, energy, confidence, and peace from within, drawing from an inner source, often unknown to be deeply rooted in God.”

I’ve been thinking on this a lot since reading that site. Three dimensions of spirituality, three dimensions of the physical world, three persons of Trinity.

And one can rather easily relate the three areas:

Space – Vertical – God (Father, Mother, Parent, Creator)
Time – Horizontal – Jesus
Mass – Internal – Holy Spirit

Okay, now, I have a little problem with that last one… But I suspect it wouldn’t be hard to define it better so as to make better sense.

Asked how the concept of Trinity fits with his theology, Spong addresses the Trinity in this way (it’s one of the things from Spong that I can really identify with):

I experience God as that which is beyond all human categories, the Infinite Other. That is what Christians call the “Father and Almighty Creator.”

I experience God as Depth within, closer than my breath. That is what Christians call the Holy Spirit.

I experience God as a reality flowing through human lives and, for me, uniquely present in the life of Jesus.

These three experiences of the Other also fit the pattern above.

I’m not sure where I want to go with all of this. But it’s interesting to me. Something to fill the time while commuting every day. Something to occupy my mind. And, a framework for a way to pray.

Chapter 1

Before time began, One Existed. And the existence of This One can not be comprehended. The One Existed, and the One Loved – for love’s sake. As a result of this love for love’s sake, the One decided to create. So the One whispered “Let it begin.”

From deep within the One, the first dimension, mass, came into being; huge, massive, highly concentrated matter. This mass, which before the One’s whisper did not exist, now came into being and exploded with a force exceeding all force but that of the One who’s whispered command summoned it.

With the expansion of the detritus of this explosion, there came into being the two dimensions of Time and Space. Whereas before the whisper neither Mass, Time nor Space existed, now within the One and contained by the One, Mass, Time and Space came into being. Because Mass, Time and Space now existed, the One, who is One of Orderliness, looked upon the chaos of the explosion and deemed it appropriate that order be imposed. Upon Mass, Time and Space a set of ordinances which would come to be called “Laws of Physics” was imposed. The One was pleased with this beginning.

What is more natural to us as human beings, at least as human beings birthed and nurtured in the epistemological framework of Western Civilization, than to categorize… EVERYTHING?

If we can conceive of it, we must categorize it. In fact, every word in this document can be categorized into at least one category.

So, it’s not unusual that we categorize types of Christians. In short, we pigeon hole them…. thus the title of this entry.

The better we know something, the more we categorize it. So, most of us from the west categorize all Jews into a single category. All Muslims, likewise fit into a single category. But we (I’m speaking in very general terms here) know Christianity fairly well. So we break it down into categories. Were we Muslim, we might categorize Islam into numerous sub-groupings, while lumping all of Christianity into a single group. The same can be said of those of Jewish background.

As Christians, we are aware of the over-arching categories of Christianity, namely Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox.

There are smaller categories as well. There’s fundamentalists, and literalists; evangelicals; conservatives, liberals, radicals. There’re creationists and, well, non-creationists. There are traditionalists and ‘post-modernists’. I could go on and on, I’m sure.

No matter how disorganized we are as humans, we tend to get pretty stuck on these categories. So, it’s unlikely that we would think of someone as a fundamental, evangelical liberal. A Post-Modern creationist? I doubt it. On the other hand, some categories do mix well. I guess it all depends on where various categories fit on the spectrum of Christian thought.

I wonder if anyone has put together such a chart? Probably.

So, why all this discussion of category? It’s because of a small project I’ve taken on, somewhat at the behest of a fellow pilgrim (yes, the one elsewhere addressed in my blog. You know, the one I don’t name, except when I call him Jeremy which may, or may NOT be his or her name, just in case you’re wondering.)

See, it’s like this. How do I categorize myself? Or more to the point, how do I reconcile my theology with the spectrum mentioned above? This is especially troubling because you see, I think of myself as a (takes deep breath) Conservative, evangelical, post-modern, non-creationist, fundamentalist Traditionalist liberal. Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it!

How do I reconcile all this? Should I?

So, I decided to sit down and codify my beliefs, at least to some small degree. And I’ve begun by rewriting the book of Genesis… at least, I’ve begun to. I know the chapter structure of the first 7 chapters. I’ve written the first 2 or 3.

Wanna read them? Ya gotta ask! Just wait, though. Before you say yes, are you sure you know what you’re getting into? I’ve a bit twisted mind, you know. By reading these you may get sucked into the swirling maelstrom of my madness. Or, you might just laugh and throw it away!

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. As we go forward into this Christian season of Lent, I hope to write a little more, but we shall see.

Yesterday, after work I went to church for our Ash Wednesday worship. Normally, Wednesday is reserved for our bible/book study. Doing my duty as this quarter’s worship coordinator, I filled in for those positions that had not yet been filled by other volunteers. In addition to Opening Prayer and the Affirmation of Faith, I did the readings. Unfortunately, I didn’t do my duty as well as I had hoped. Our worship leader changed the order of worship for the night, so after the opening prayer, I lead the Affirmation of Faith, only it had become “The Call to Worship”… not too bad; then I launched into our readings (very interesting, as the worship leader had chosen “The Message” as the version for last night.) That was where I messed up. Seems the worship leader had moved the “Confession” from after the sermon to before the readings… oops. Oh, well.

All this is, however, incidental to what I intend to comment on. The Gospel last night was from Matthew 6:1-21. Here’s a sample from the first verse: “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them.”

This whole pericope from scripture, Matthew 6:1-21, is about not showing off our faith for the sake of appearance.

By about the 5th verse, I was beginning to feel a major case of giggles coming on. It was rather funny, I thought, indeed quite ironic that we were gathered for Ash Wednesday worship, listening to “do not do your acts of rightiousness before others”, and cautions to do our praying in private, and yet, by the time we left, we were all going to be wearing our little signs of the cross in ash spread on our foreheads!

It was all I could do for a while, to hold my guffaws, especially when this message of private acts of prayer and righteousness continued into the sermon. Had I failed, had the guffaws burst out, I’m sure the worship leader would have scewered me… and that would be terrible… the worship leader was my partner, Scott!

Why is it that we do that? This Ash Wednesday observance? I know from my history of christianity classes that today’s little cross of ash is the descendant of earlier times, times when the day was marked, not by a tiny cross of ash, but by pouring handfuls of ash upon ones head.

But, why? Jesus himself said “Don’t do that! Don’t show off your devotions and your ‘holiness’. It doesn’t mean a thing to God, and you receive your rewards from your peers and those about you. I ain’t gonna reward you for it!” And really, it’s nothing new… Isaiah, too, preached these outward signs were meaningless. Hear Isaiah on the topic:

“Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of burnt sacrifices, rams and plump grain-fed calves? Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats? When you come before me, who ever gave you the idea of acting like this, Running here and there, doing this and that–all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship? “Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings–meetings, meetings, meetings–I can’t stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!

You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way.

No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I’ll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.

Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don’t have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down–and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless.” (From “The Message” (MSG) © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)

I can just hear Him now. Both of them, Jesus and our Creator. “No, no, no, no! Why aren’t you listening?” Dang, we’re a hard-headed people!

Hey all,

Just coming out for a second to touch bases.

Into day three of a VERY sore neck and headache. Can’t turn my head to either right or left, and tilting back hurts too… and the soreness I think is causing a really bad headache. On top of that, I’ve been fighting several days worth of severe chest pains. I’m guessing it’s time to go see the cardiologist again. Crud. I really don’t want this surgery. I was hoping the medicine would take care of it.

Other than that, nothing to write about… I don’t create well with these headaches. Keep well.

“Every day I learn something. As long as I show up to class. As long as I show up for my own life.”

Yesterday, Jeremy piggy-backed a portion of his blog off of a statement I made in my previous post. Today, I return the favor…

I mentioned yesterday that the Executive Director of the MCC was the guest preacher at church. Her topic was “Keep walking through those doors”. Keep showing up, in other words.

No matter what other problems get in the way, we need to keep walking through the doors. When conflicts seem to be too much… just keep walking through the doors. Keep coming to church. Keep plugging away at this beautiful ministry we call MCC Omaha. Just do it. Or as the words of our Affirmation of Faith expressed in closing: let us. Let Us. LET US.

For 31 years, MCC Omaha has served the GLBTISEtc community of Nebraska and Western Iowa. For 31 years, conflict has been a part of that service. And for 31 years, folks have continued to walk through those doors, keep on coming. Sure, faces change, but we keep on plugging. We keep coming back, and we keep trying. Maybe we’ll change. We need to change, in order to grow. But change or no change, we’ll keep plodding along. I believe that. I trust that as a promise.

The problem with conflict, and the thing about it that prevents people from coming back through those doors is that conflict is the ultimate in “ungrace”. Conflict can only occur when forgiveness and repentance are absent.

We need to be careful in our interactions at church… and in all aspects of our lives. When wronged, when decisions are reached that we disapprove of, it’s okay to express that. It’s not okay to attack the ones making the decisions, the one who wrongs. That is the kind of conflict I see, though.

When wronged, it’s okay to address that “Hey, you wronged me by…” And there can be only one valid response to that. “I’m sorry you felt wronged by my action.” IMO, it’s okay to express why an action wronged me… or why I took the action that wronged the other, but the paramount aspect of that exchange must be the expression of regret for wronging, and the followup forgiveness. When we don’t do that, we fail to demonstrate God’s Grace to the other, and to the rest of the community.

And when decisions are made that we disagree with, the answer isn’t to walk away. The answer is to walk back in through those doors, and address the decision, and why you feel it’s wrong. Perhaps if enough people calmly and lovingly were to express displeasure (oh, and pleasure TOO) with the actions taken, we could put aside the stupid, petty squabbling that seems to all too often fill the walls of our churches, places of work, places of play, homes.

It’s the grace-filled interaction of people of faith in our churches that demonstrate God’s grace to the world. It’s a form of interaction that all too rarely finds form in action. At ANY place of worship.

I find that sad. I truly believe that is one of the best ways to demonstrate God’s love… loving each other as God has loved us. It’s called Grace.

Jeremy also called me to task (well, I THINK he was calling me to task) for my continued reference to my being too old….

Okay, let’s set the record straight… (Yes, I use that word…) I am not old. I’m not too old for anything except perhaps well, we won’t go THERE.

I am squarely, and centrally, located in the throes of Middle Age. Which means that I still have half my life ahead of me to accomplish. Mission. Whatever.

So, I’ll try to tone down the “Oh, woe is me, I’m too old…” bull hunky. ‘Cause that’s what it is, and I know it.