Orange Peel Philosophy

Gee...Don't those oranges look good, so...pale and blotchy...
As it happens, oranges are actually dyed to give them their lustrous orange hue (a fact I learned from Pastor Greg, making this post small-time plagiarism). So while you may find bright, shiny, orange oranges at your local supermarket joint, a trip to a Whole Foods or co-op may yield visually unattractive results. However, the results on the inside are quite the reverse. Many conventional fruits are picked far in advance and coated in wax to prevent decay. When they get to your table, they are far past prime. But who notices if they have a hyped-up facade? No one. Exactly.
This has two major implications for us:
Are there people out there with modest outward appearances that we snub? Probably. Yet people who don't wear zeitgeist fashion or look like supermodels can have enormous potential for emotional and intellectual depth. Naturally quiet people might require more time to warm up than others, and might provide far deeper conversation given a social investment. Women that have "just" been stay-at-home moms may nonetheless be highly knowledgeable and intelligent, even if they have foregone a major career. The list goes on. We all know people like this.
Is my interior at least as nice as my exterior? Maybe... Maybe you are like one of the people in the above category. But many of us, especially depending on the day or situation, are not necessarily so. In an appearance-obsessed society, many of us spend significant amounts of time any money investing in clothes, hair styling, and the like. Our focus should instead be on encountering and dealing with people with kindness, an open mind, and a willingness to listen, learn, and cooperate. Furthermore, this is not simply a battle between visual external presentation and personality but external and internal morality. Too many people invest in cheesy smiles, lip service, good "manners," and a willingness to be someone's friend when he or she is all fun and games, requiring nothing in return. The best people follow through on a moderate but consistent amount of promises and obligations and invest time with others through good times and bad - the same way God loves us.

Don't think me jaded. I have encountered a significant amount of people who are extremely genuine, sincere, and truly kind. And I am by no means where I want to be either. But we should all take little steps wherever possible to improve the quality of our selves, even if it doesn't make our outside more orange.

An Ungodly Schedule

This topic is probably the most fitting, considering that I haven't written in quite some time. If someone asked me to describe my schedule right now, "unGodly" might be one of the first things to come out of my mouth, and it may indeed be just so.
Business (busy-ness, not commerce) certainly can function as an indicator that we are living in sync with God's wishes. It may very well be a marker that we are being properly industrous - working hard to provide for a family. It may also indicate that we're using our time effficiently - surely being busy is better than complacently filling up all free time with Halo 3, shopping, or my personal vice - The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
But I think that it can also be a red flag indicating that a lot is missing. There should be no schedule that is too busy to allow time for relationships with the community, relationships with people, and relationships with God. When I finish a long day of hard work, my instinct is almost always to let my mind rest - maybe wasting time online or watching a movie with a friend. This makes little sense when I live in a dense area with plenty of kids that could use tutoring; when I haven't yet written my grandparents to say hi and tell them about college; when my communication with God usually involves: "Hi. Um...I guess everything's going really well. Thank you for that. Keep on trucking." (Okay, so it's usually a bit more sophisticated than that, but it's not optimal, either.) And even though peace of mind is important, I don't know that it is actually found on Facebook. More often, these things that I'm not taking the time to do are far more satisfying, even if they require a greater ignition cost (usually not much more than getting off the couch). So as I look forward this semester, even though I know it will be very very busy, I want it to be a busy that is really fulfilling and valuable. I hope others can find that balance too.

A Specific Time and Place

"She felt that faith need not be connected to a presence at any time or place."
This is true, I think - to an extent. Someone washed ashore on a desert island does not become any less of a Christian because he or she cannot make it to church. Neither do people who live in areas of religious persecution or people have to work Sunday mornings to feed a family. Neither do people who have taken a Sunday off for a vacation at their lake cabin.
Neither do they grow - at least at the same rate. Certainly, introspection is an integral part of one's spirituality. But I think that exchange is, too. About a year and a half ago, my family and I began attending Jacob's Well, a church in South Minneapolis. The messages were not pretentious or preachy, but rather honest and relevant. I had considered myself to have a decent faith for some time, but hearing others discuss theirs solidified everything for me. It was in a way inspiring to share faith with others, and being a part of a community has been rewarding on many levels.
I wonder what would happen to somebody who had moderate faith but was placed in a community that had none or discouraged it - I think that the conformity could stifle it. And I think that a church community does the reverse.
So for me, Sunday, 10:30 A.M., 4645 4th Ave. S. - a specific time and place - is important.

Me

In writing my last post, I (knowingly) ran the risk of sounding as though I am some sort of living saint, bemoaning how far behind me the rest of the Christian population is with their faith. Au contraire. I think that part of my ability to sense defects with our faith is the fact that I’ve experienced them myself.

As a younger child, it was difficult for me to grasp the concept of God because of the lack of plain, concrete “evidence” around me. And while my mother is and has been a very spiritual person, I was raised outside of any church community. As I understand it, she felt that faith need not be connected to a presence at any time or place. Furthermore, it was not something we really discussed.

Yet as I got a bit older, I visited various churches from time to time with extended family and friends, and I began to pick up the messages of God’s love for us and our obligation to extend that love on Earth as well as we are able. I can’t say that there was a particular moment of epiphany, but gradually, it all began to solidify and make sense to me. Even though my life is not always easy or carefree, things in my life constantly seem to turn out for the best and consequentially, I have developed a sense of security – that I am cared for by God.

I think that this order extends across the world and history. Things like the Hagia Sophia or Montreal's Notre Dame, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Stradivarius violins, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, or paintings by Rembrandt, Monet, Renoir, and VanGogh are not from a world of coincidental particle collision and genetic mutation – but rather, serve as a testament to a divine influence and aegis.

The Raison D'être

A blog is added to cyberspace every two seconds, bringing the total to about 50 million. In that case, it seems difficult to believe that another one is necessary. But I think it is.

As I go out into the world, I seem to meet two kinds of people. The first has varying but limited interest in religion. Some seem to shy away from the mass mind control of an institution that dictates what and how people think. Some might hate perceived bureaucracy. Others may have had an affiliation in the past, but didn’t connect with the message or community.

On the other side of the fence are people who have faith, but possess it in an empty, blind, or otherwise defective way. Some of these people hide behind their religion, using it as an excuse to judge and discriminate. Others have subscribed to a particular denomination’s dogma and attend church because they feel they ought to.

In the end, it seems that we have either not enough faith, or have it in the wrong form – perhaps both. In either case, we do not do enough to spread Christ’s love and teachings into the world which, rife with war, poverty, and illness, has great need.

Let us approach membership in a third group: One defined by firm faith, but also a clarity of vision that allows us to see where we can apply that faith and the love that accompanies it in the world around us.