Ten Points

Well, it's January so I'm doing the Weight Watchers thing again. I'm counting points. I'm up to ten points for today (for most people doing WW - that's close to half their points - at my weight, it's a third of my points for the day). Not too bad, considering I just finished lunch (chili...mmmm -- gotta love foods with high fiber - well, from a points perspective...there are all kinds of down sides...heh...)

Anyway, Weight Watchers is the easiest program for me to follow because it's pretty easy for me to track how I'm doing. I can have a donut - but then I can have less "real" food... Check off the boxes for water, milk, fruits and vegetables...easy...

So, I want a points system for my spiritual life. Ten commanments -- check. Prayer -- check. Fasting -- um... I know that's just the old "works righteousness" mentality - but without some kind of framework, I get spiritually lazy. And don't talk to me about schedules. Mine is insane (yeah, everybody's is, I know...). How do I squeeze in the spiritual disciplines with the meetings, prep work, family time, etc. that is my life? Well, if I had a checklist...

But then I remember. This whole thing is about relationship -- it's not even about identity. It's about having an ongoing, living, vibrant relationship with Jesus. I was thinking yesterday. I think God lets me "slide" on my devotions on Sundays (I attend two worship services and lead a third). So, while I'm not putting in my "personal" devotion time - I'm joining in devotion within the context of community. I wonder how many points that's worth?

But, just like my wife (who loves me WAY more than I deserve) lets our relationship "be on hold" on Sundays, I think God understands... I could be way wrong in that. Next week I may completely reverse myself. But today...

So, it's not about a checklist... It's not about points... I guess I don't REALLY want it to be, either...

Mmmm, a donut sounds pretty good right now... How many points?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

B C Comic

Image
So ten years ago Johnny Hart (who died like 4 years ago) ran this strip (click to enlarge): And there's been controversy since.  Okay, I get it.  Hart was a Christian and he expressed his faith in his comic strip - lots of people calling him a fundamentalist...dunno what his particular Christian religious persuasion was - except that his funeral was in a Presbyterian church. So, anyway, it's just clear that lots of people missed the point****.  In fact, Hart himself claimed to be shocked that people thought he was an advocate for  replacement theology  based on the strip...  He could be clever - a 2006 strip that I think has a well played double entendre: (And, for the record, I'm no more or less offended by that than I am by people who use  Fred Phelps  as the posterboy for Christianity - every religion has it's crazy fundamentalists...well, the big ones I know about, anyway...)  Nice double joke on "moon shaped" and bug - Luna-Tic...
Read more

Buzzword Bingo

Image
Everybody has buzzwords - business has theirs, the entertainment industry has a lingo, in sports, and in church work we have ours, too. Dilbert the other day had the pointy haired boss try to lead via catchprhases: copyright Scott Adams I have threatened to make up "Buzzword Bingo" cards for Annual Conference. You know, put words like "Holy Conferencing" and "Inclusiveness" and "Core Value" and, oh yeah, "Jesus" on the card and when you get five in a row you can jump up and yell "BINGO", or maybe "Holy Spirit" I don't know... We're not allowed to play bingo, so we definitely shouldn't yell out that word. Maybe if I had people yell out "Hallelujah!" when they got 5 in a row, the powers that be at conference would just assume that the person was powerfully moved by the point being made.* But we would know - and would secretly give them a prize.** The point being that we like to use the t...
Read more

It's Official

I know that when spring comes our minds all turn to the things that are going on around us - robins singing, flowers blooming - if you're a United Methodist, then you start thinking about pastors moving. So...I can officially announce (well, I HAVE officially announced - but this is for all of you far away) On July 1, 2008 I will be one of the Associate Pastors at Christ United Methodist Church in Bethel Park, PA. www.christumc.net I will be leading the 11:01 and the 6:00 contemporary/modern/non-traditional/emergent... well, whatever adjective we use... worship services. It is difficult to leave Warren. This has been home for 6 years. Elie was born here. Rachel went to kindergarten and first grade here. This church has been an amazing blessing to us and we are so loved. We are stepping into...well, we don't know what. So stay tuned. I know one thing for certain: God is leading us to Bethel Park so I know that God has amazing things in store for us, for Christ UMC and fo...
Read more