Month: October 2021

The title for this week’s reminder comes from one of the lines of text in Chapter 7, “Love Must Resist Hate”.

Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you….” (Luke 6:27)

The one thing that I find is most constant in practically every book we’ve read is the feeling of “well, that’s certainly easier said than done.”

Do I have things and people in my life that fall into a category of “hate”? Sadly, yes.

If you subscribe to the title I put above this page, then you probably have things and people that you hate too.

But aren’t there degrees of hate? According to our author, the answer is no.

Hate is hate.

“If someone loudly represents a social, political or religious viewpoint we strongly disagree with….we hate. If someone hurts or betrays us…we hate. If we feel threatened…we hate. If we are treated unjustly … we hate. If someone rejects our love…our love can ominously invert and we hate.” Tyson, pp 116-117

Jesus has the answer though.

Pause…..

Rob Miller leads us this week and he’s going to pull all these pieces together.

Fresh coffee and a propane heater are my promises for the treehouse in the morning. And if that’s not your thing, Zoom remains available.

See you in the morning. I’ll hate it if you miss out.

Peace.

I got no dazzling preview for this week’s chapter.

Nothing.

It’s been that kind of week….plain and simple.

But I’m leading tomorrow morning and I will be ready to go then!

Coming in hot…..that’s me tomorrow morning.

Chapter 6: Honor must resist Contempt. That’s this week’s assignment!

Think about this as you read (or re-read) the chapter. Do you look down upon others when having conversations? If you’re scratching your head when someone says something you don’t agree with, are you dismissing them?

Heads up. The author quotes one of our former authors….Arthur Brooks! No surprise in a chapter on “contempt”, Tyson quotes Brooks!

See you in the morning. Treehouse or virtual.

Peace!

Short and sweet this week and typing this update has been on my back-burner until today! This week has been “a year”, it seems!

Our assignment for this Friday is chapter 5, “Hospitality Must Resist Fear”. It’s very natural for us to feel comfortable in our own neighborhoods, among our own “people”, even among our own demographics and society status levels. And, admittedly, it’s uncomfortable for me (“us”) to mingle with others “who aren’t like us”, right?

How do we tackle this reluctance? Maybe we take the stance of waiting for the other person to make the first move? See who flinches first, as I’ve said in the title of this post.

I found it somewhat timely that our author quotes Andrew Shepherd, a teacher of theology, as follows:

“Building relationships with the stranger has become increasingly difficult in an age where the dual discourse of the “war on terror” and “the market” hold sway. The influence of these pervasive discourses means Others come to be conceived as threats. The stranger is either to be explicitly feared…..or, is simply another abstract commodity….one to be struggled against.”

pp. 81-82, “Beautiful Resistance” by Jon Tyson

I get it, however. There is evil the world and we cannot, nor should we (in my humble opinion), have blanket trust for everyone and every situation.

But…..what would (and what “did”) … Jesus do?

I’ll leave you to noodle on that until tomorrow.

Ernie Meland is leading tomorrow. I think he’s already read the book five times, so he’s ready for any type of discussion!

Same time as always. Treehouse is open, or hit us up over Zoom!

Peace, my brothers!

Have you ever skipped meals, either through dieting or forgetfulness? I know I have! In Ranger School, my classmates and I were living off one MRE (Meal Ready-to-Eat) a day! I remember thinking I was so hungry! I would convince the medic assigned to my platoon to give me throat lounges every few mornings. My throat was fine, but the “candy” aspect of the lounges suppressed my hunger…..for a little while at least. I still managed to lose 25 pounds over 2 months before graduating.

This week’s chapter talks about hunger from a different angle: “Fasting”. Both the old and new testaments have story upon story about how God uses “fasting” to refocus our attention. Isn’t it ironic that in today’s culture, we spend so much attention on keto diets, intermittent fasting, and juice cleanses, but little mention on the practice of fasting? If you, like me, think the concept of fasting is no longer applicable in today’s cultures, then this week’s chapter is for you! Our author describes fasting as “pushing ourselves to a fresher dependence on God….”

David Parker is our leader this week. You won’t want to miss him! Please gather at 7:30 am ET over Zoom or in the treehouse. Lesson starts at 7:45 am ET.

See you then!