The Commonality of Diversity

Psalm 19
For the director of music. A psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech: night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

What do , Fingerprints , Sunset's , Snowflakes, raindrops, DNA , grains of sand , ocean waves, Butterflies , flowers , clouds, trees... all have in common ?

They were created by God. According the Scriptures , these things all show us something about God ...they show me that God loves diversity , not only between things that are singularly different , like a grain of sand and butterfly wing ,but even more interesting even the butterfly wing and the grain of sand are unique from every other butterfly wing and grain of sand.

We know from watching CSI that no two fingerprints are alike , no two strands of DNA are alike.

While each snow flake is a separate masterpiece , there is a familiarity with Snow that we immediately recognize it.

God not only created all the Diversity and wonder in the Universe , but each individual creation is a unique creation of its own.

So I am wondering ...while the Church of Christ is unique and spacial among all Faiths , why is it we sometimes insist that all Believers believe the same ?

Isn't this insistence the reason we have so many denominations and doctrines ? And if this is the case , and all these differences of Opinion are part of Gods creation His unique template of thought for each and everyone of us , then why does this difference in belief often times become so divisive ?

Each wave that comes ashore is different from the one before and the one behind it , yet these waves wear down the land , the sand and dust left being swept up by the winds ,provide the seed for the snow that falls to earth...the snow and rain that falls to earth , nurtures the land , the trees , and soils and plants provide substance for the animals , we ourselves are fed by this process...we live in a theistic harmony ....and yet as humans we spend most of our lives in disharmony with each other ...

we see the differences of thought and belief as an attack on our selves , not for what they truly are the heavenly fingerprints of our Heavenly father... Our differences are as God given as our similarities and as such our differences should be cherished, nurtured and embraced. Not expelled , shut out or fought over ....

How appropriate that each day ends with a sunset which is different from the day before and begins with a Sunrise different from the past dawn, God has revealed Himself to us in a creation that is refreshingly diverse , yet similar. Maybe God has a good idea working here ...

There are times when I decide to choose what I think God would want me to do and painfully I find I am on a side road looking over at God as he hurtles down the Freeway. I am also convinced when I see God in these cases He is smiling at me ..and riding a Harley.

The past few weeks have been a good example of this. within a few days of the Green Hill Ambush I had determined ( without consulting God ) to get over the issue , move on, and Let God take care of business. I sincerely believe God has a different Idea.

On the day of the " correction in my belief " I was told that one " proof " of the fallacy of Calvinism was the decline of new Calvinists. As if God is looking for Quantity ....And as if you can measure the effectiveness of Evangelism by the number of Baptisms and Conversions.

Anyway the next day..I read in the paper that the Southern Baptist President is concerned that unless the SBC changes its ways it will be half the size it is in a decade.

I carefully looked through the Internet to find a Church I might be interested in attending and the one I zeroed in on I sent an Email for more information and still have not had a reply, but the church we decided to go to just " for the fun of it " now looks like a great haven for us .

I again choose to put the " ambush " behind me ..only to pick up the paper and read that the SBC ( our former denomination ) is choosing which Baptisms to honor and which to not honor...clearly unscriptual.

Phone calls, Letters, emails , newspaper articles ....I Just don't think God wants me to be finished with this business at GHBC ..and I don't think its my Ego getting in the way either ...I really want to walk away ...but I am not sure its possible.

The more I find out , the more that trickles out of the wall of silence and self deception from this Church, makes me realize that this kind of behaviour thrives like mold in the dark and secret places of the foundation.

I am not sure where all this is Going but I need to pay careful attention to what God's will is in this matter , and to amp up my prayer life with Him .

This morning I woke up deciding to write about " what should a church be " and instead this is what seemed to come crashing out ... Kenn

Meditation on a Sunday Morning

Genesis 1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

I am guilty of taking so much for granted , I am guilty for constantly trying to make God small enough to fit into my Understanding.

Its early Sunday morning , Lori is sleeping down the hall, light is streaming through the window , and there is a steady clack from the dryer as some of my change from yesterday finishes the washing cycle.

There are few diversions, and distractions, I have a better opportunity than usual to look at this verse ...and ponder.

In the beginning God created .... In the Beginning..

In our lives everything has a beginning , this day began with a mockingbird and a motorcycle , Lori and I began with an Chat room discussion on AOL, The computer I am typing on began in a factory...yet everything that begins has an antecedent . Before the mocking bird was the egg, before the Lori and I met her parents and my parents met , before this computer was crafted , the sand was formed.

Science can take us back to the beginning ...but what takes us back to God ..where is God's Antecedent ? In the Beginning there was nothing but God ...

The current Scientific model has all of the elements of creation , pushed , shoved , crammed into a body far smaller than a grain of sand ...the only thing that comes close to helping me understand this is watching Lori pack our suitcases for a plane trip. And while the packed Suitcase does have elements of a miracle ...the packed atomic particle ...races past miracle and into a technological disbelief for me.

Imagine though if this particle that contained all we know , see , hear, touch , and all we will never see , hear and touch ...was not a physical particle ...what if it was instead a thought ?

After all while it might be difficult to stuff an Elephant in my brain , I can easily imagine an elephant , and a new Camera as well ...

Now what if that thought that contained all that is and will ever be was in the mind of God...and Creation was spoke into existence ? Which seems to make more sense ? A sub atomic particle , suspended in nothing , which means it is not suspended at all , filled with all the matter and DNA necessary for creation. then somehow exploding with such force that all this stuff went hurtling off into nothing to fill nothing with something ?

Or to consider all we know and seek was created by a thought , spoken aloud ?

For me a Cosmos view that not only has God in control of His creation but has Him as the Narrator of this Creation makes far more sense.

I have always been close to the Sciences, in my younger years I worked for the Oregon State department of Geology , At one time my degree program in College was Anthropology. I am pro science , but sometimes watching scientists scramble around the " Mystery " of creation is like watching a group of blindfolded children trying to break a birthday pinata.

They are so close ...much of the evidence is in , and it all points to God ...but its a swing and miss , Yelms, dark matter, quantum physics, red shift. It is at this point that I realize the " Big Bang " is really the sound of my head striking the wall as I keep muttering " you are so close , so close "

At least with the Pinata the target is real , and identifiable , how do you find God in His creation ?

And the answer seems to be right in front of our nose ...He is made evident in His creation.

And there is more ...

It would be easy then to accept Creation as the "thought of God " but God whose ways are not my ways ...whose thoughts are not my thoughts ... transformed the thoughts into substance. Just as the Book of John says " and the word became flesh " so the spoken word of God at the beginning took on form , it took on weight and height and depth ,Gods thoughts could be touched and smelled , and tasted ....

Our God is indeed an Awesome God .

Our part

Ezekiel 36: 24-32

24 " 'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. 30 I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. 32 I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, O house of Israel!

I believe there its Human nature to want to be partners with God. Many faiths are works based , that is to mean that these faiths believe that Eternal life and Gods pleasure with mankind depends on a cooperative effort between man and God. Once this " truth " of cooperation is accepted ....mankind then goes so far as to put themselves first...some claim that God needs to see evidence of our good works before He will claim us , some feel that money can purchase their salvation...and others simply say " I asked Jesus into my heart " " I was saved " " I brought my neighbor to Christ ".

While I firmly believe that God will forgive this human behavior and that for the most part it is spiritually benign , it does give us pause. We need to continually remind ourselves that our hope is based on Jesus Christ ...not on us ...not on our neighbors ... not on our pastors or leaders , our hope is in the Sovereign Lord , maker of heaven and earth. At some point most Christians will agree that God is Sovereign , at least within the " box" we allow ourselves to build around God.

What we will never know as believers is just how God works through us as we exalt our free will above His.

consider this Butterfly...it can feed when it wants ...it can move from bloom to bloom , if it senses my presence it can choose to leave or stay...this butterfly has the free will of a ....Butterfly...If this butterfly could imagine the workings of my Ford Focus it could not choose to drive it .

My free will is far more complicated or at least I like to think so ...but I cannot will myself to fly ...and just as I cannot escape my free will to fly I have a Sinners Free will and I cannot choose God or the things of God without God first changing my will....and Praise God once He chooses to change my Free will ...He also promises to complete that good work and bring me into His home to live eternally with Him.