welcome to the story.

PART ONE (random thoughts and ideas from Monday night's session) Theology for a way of life and not for an abstract explanations of scripture. Theology & preaching is not a descriptive work but a constructive work. At the heart of every theology there is a spirituality. The right question to be asking is how do things fit together? The standard is not the �rightness of the fit� (which will always be centered out of rationality and thinking of men) but in the �goodness of the fit� (which is centered around the practice of faith). There is a very unsystematic character to Scripture. Theology is kind of like a suitcase. You can neatly pack some things away, but some things just don�t all fit together or make perfect sense. So its better to let those parts hang out and not be neatly packed away than it is to force them into the suitcase. They end up being a domesticated version of the truth instead of letting it simply be what it is. Need those parts later and not forced and crammed in. Boundary making should be about central affirmations and not ways we are separate. And is always shaped and informed by the narrative of CREATION, FALL, REDEMPTION, and CONSUMPTION. Spirit moving through all creation informing and leading and how that gives validity to non-spiritual voices on things. We can use anything we want to build around the skeleton of what we already have. Defined by the center and not by the margins. What do we do as a church scattered and not as a church gathered? Preaching is not about moralizing. It is about gospel, the good news. If you spend 70% of the time moralizing, its no wonder the church is defined by these tight, strict boundaries of what we are not. God. Who is God. What is God doing in the world. How is God achieving this. Us. Who are we. Where are we going. How are we supposed to get there. Connecting the two. What should we ultimately trust. How should we order our trusts, provisional and ultimate.